Payroll Integrations, the unified payroll API simplifying employee benefits and financial wellness, released the first part of its two-part 2026 Employee Financial Wellness Report, now in its third year. The report reveals that employees’ confidence in their employer’s financial wellness support has fallen by more than half year-over-year.
As higher everyday costs put more pressure on household budgets, employees are increasingly evaluating benefits based on how much they improve their financial stability. Employers are already seeing the impact, with 45% reporting turnover in the past year that they primarily attribute to employee dissatisfaction with pay or benefits.
Employees aren’t anticipating financial strain, they’re already experiencing it. Nearly half (46%) were unable to cover an essential expense before a recent payday in the past year, including 24% who experienced it more than once. The pressure extends into long-term savings too. Although 82% of employees contribute to a retirement plan, only 34% believe they will be able to retire comfortably. The rising cost of living is now the top barrier to retirement confidence for 45% of employees, while concerns about Social Security (34%) and not saving enough each month (27%) follow closely behind.
“Employees are doing many of the things we traditionally associate with financial wellness, like contributing to retirement, enrolling in benefits and trying to plan for the future, but it’s not translating into a sense of financial security,” said Doug Sabella, CEO and Co-Founder of Payroll Integrations. “The widening gap between how employers view their financial wellness support and how employees experience it is a sign that offering benefits alone isn’t enough. Employers need to understand whether those benefits are actually helping employees manage the financial pressures they face today.”
The 2026 Employee Financial Wellness Report is Payroll Integrations’ third annual study of the relationship between employers and employees around financial wellness and benefits. The research was conducted by market research firm Dynata on behalf of Payroll Integrations and is based on responses from 329 full-time U.S. workers across four age groups and all 50 states.
The Youngest Employees in the Office Are Most Confident About Retirement
Gen Z feels the most confident about retirement, at 48%, followed by 38% of Millennials, 31% of Gen X and 22% of Boomers. Younger employees also expect to retire sooner. Sixty-two percent (62%) of Gen Z employees expect to retire before age 65, compared with 36% of Millennials, 31% of Gen X and just 3% of Boomers.
Twenty-two percent (22%) of workers have withdrawn retirement funds, most often to cover day-to-day living costs (38%), unexpected emergencies (36%), high-interest debt (29%) or housing costs (28%). Another 19% plan to withdraw retirement funds within the next year. Employees carrying medical debt are withdrawing funds at the highest rate of any group: 31% have already withdrawn funds, and 17% plan to in the next year. Employees caring for an aging family member are most likely to plan a withdrawal in the next year (23%).
Employees Are Bringing Their Financial Stress to the Office
Financial pressure is becoming a workplace problem. Thirty-eight percent (38%) say financial stress has strongly affected their mental health at work, while 31% say it has strongly affected their focus or productivity. When asked about the impact of their financial stress in the past year, employees most often point to being distracted or less productive at work (41%), taking on a second job (26%) and declining employer-offered benefits because of cost (23%).
This is also affecting how long employees stick around. Sixty-three percent (63%) of employees have considered changing jobs because of financial concerns in the past year. Pay is the strongest driver of this with 52% of employees naming higher pay as a reason to change jobs, compared with 32% who name better benefits.
When Employees Say Financial Wellness Support, They Mean Higher Pay and More Time Off
Employees are looking to their employers to support their financial stability. Sixty-two percent (62%) say higher pay or cost-of-living adjustments would do the most to improve their financial wellness, followed by advancement and performance bonuses (41%) and more paid time off and mental health days (36%).
The interest in traditional financial wellness resources has fallen sharply year over year. The share of employees who want budgeting and savings tools dropped from 44% in 2025 to 11% in 2026 and interest in financial education or access to an advisor fell from 35% to 13% year over year.
The Financial Wellness Gap is Wider for Some Employees
Only seventeen percent (17%) of employees with less than 3 months of emergency savings and seventeen percent (17%) carrying medical debt feel that their financial wellness is very or completely supported by their employers. Twenty-one percent (21%) of those with a second job or doing gig work say the same.
Among employees carrying medical debt, 69% were unable to cover an essential expense before payday, including 45% who experienced it more than once. Employees with second jobs or gig work and renters also show greater interest in faster access to earnings. Thirty-three percent (33%) of employees with a second job or gig work want earned wage access, compared with 12% of other employees, and the interest is similarly higher among renters (26%) than homeowners (10%).
The full 2026 Employee Financial Wellness Report, including additional findings on benefits access, retirement readiness and generational differences, is available here.
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Tags: finances, financial stress, financial wellness, Payroll, savings
