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Financial health, for health’s sake.
Time to read: 4 minutes
Key takeaways
- Burnout continues to plague health care, affecting wellness, morale and overall culture.
- Beyond workday demands, financial stress is a top worry for most healthcare workers, underscoring the need for holistic wellness addressing both mental and financial health.
- By helping workers gain control of their finances, employers can help mitigate stress, improve satisfaction and take wellness to the next level.
Healthcare workers need a mental health reset, starting with financial wellness.
America’s healthcare workers are done. Exhausted. Enervated. And they’re getting more vocal about what they want from their employers.
One in four healthcare workers intends to leave their job in the next two years, according to a
Burnout in health care is hardly new. Mounting administrative tasks combined with higher patient loads and staffing shortages—to name just a few challenges—made it tough to meet standards of care even before the pandemic. Things haven’t improved.
“The shortage of staffing … leaves us feeling like we are drowning. It feels relentless with no time to gather our thoughts, to take the most basic of breaks, let alone recover from what we are witnessing,” a physician shared.2
Almost two in five healthcare workers say financial stress is their top worry outside of work.
Clocking out doesn’t always provide a respite either. Many say they finish a 12-hour shift only to start their next one at home caring for family. Physicians also report spending hours finishing notes and administrative work from the day. It leaves even less time to decompress or find time to tend to personal matters.
Financial health meets mental health
In 2022, the U.S. Surgeon General released a five-part plan aimed at relieving the pressure and burnout among healthcare workers by making well-being a priority.3 Many employers now offer training to help manage stress and build resilience, which has shown positive results for improved mental health, higher job satisfaction and lower perceived stress, but not burnout.4
One way to curb burnout is to look at stress beyond work. Financial stress might be a place to start. Almost two in five healthcare workers say financial stress is their top worry outside of work.5 Growing research draws a strong connection between
TIAA recently interviewed a broad range of healthcare workers, including physicians, nurses and health aides. Their
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“I easily work 11.5 to 12 hours per day. The lack of free time is having an impact on my overall well-being. That is why it is so crucial for me to see if I can reduce my hours and still have enough to live on and to save enough for the future,” a 52-year-old physician said.7
For a 23-year-old nursing assistant, it’s about advancing her career: “I would like to get my degree and become an RN. I am not sure how to make that work with my finances and my life.”8
Supporting financial wellness for healthcare workers
For healthcare employers, it’s important to support workers’ diverse financial needs and goals, but that’s no small task. Still, the solution might not call for an entirely new effort either. Incorporating one-to-one advice into existing wellness programs can help honor individual differences and encourage financial health throughout the organization.
Treat financial stress with advice
One-to-one financial advice can help. A recent TIAA Institute study looked at
Most people seeking advice don’t start off terribly confident, according to Craig Parkin, head of retirement advice and consulting at TIAA. Most feel reluctant to seek advice, worried they’re too far behind to get on track. With that comes a lot of guilt and even shame, but Parkin says the experience is far different.
“When someone meets with a financial consultant, they talk about where they are today and where they want to go. Many want to save more for retirement but they have more immediate needs: getting out of debt or building a budget, or bigger goals of buying a home or paying for college. Together they walk through the steps to meet that goal and the next one, and so on. But the individual needs to take that first, intentional step to meet with a consultant. That's where confidence starts to build.”
Growing research draws a strong connection between finances and mental health conditions.
Getting healthcare workers to take that first step can be hard, says TIAA’s Brian Munnelly, a senior director of financial consulting. A 30-year TIAA veteran, Munnelly has spent the last 15 years serving healthcare institutions and appreciates the demands on healthcare workers, especially that their mission comes first.
“Shifts start and end around the clock and we’re there,” explains Munnelly. “We even meet over Zoom® on off-hours. Sometimes people miss their appointments—usually for very good reasons. We follow up and offer to reschedule. And since it’s the same consultant showing up every time, employees start to recognize them as part of the community.”
Build financial health into overall wellness
Healthcare workers, tired from a long shift, might need an incentive to think about getting advice. Munnelly says some employers grant wellness credits to employees who meet with a financial consultant. “It sends the message that their financial health is an important part of overall health.”
Healthcare workers see it the same way. “I would appreciate it if that discussion included our goals for physical and emotional health as well as financial,” reported a 48-year-old nursing director. “That makes me feel like you care about me as a person.”10
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1 “Toward an Employee Value Proposition in the Healthcare Sector,” TIAA Institute, 2024.
2 “Healthcare in Crisis: Retaining America’s Physicians,” TIAA, 2022.
3 “Confronting Health Worker Burnout and Well-being,”New England Journal of Medicine, July 2022.
4 “Stress Management and Resiliency Training,” Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, January 2021.
5 “The Mental Health of Healthcare Workers,” Mental Health America, 2022.
6 “Connecting Financial and Mental Wellbeing: Insights for Employers,” TIAA Institute, 2024.
7 “TIAA Wellness Interviews with Healthcare Staff,” May-June 2024.
8 Ibid.
9 “Retirement Preparedness in Healthcare,” TIAA Institute, 2024.
10 “TIAA Wellness Interviews with Healthcare Staff,” May-June 2024.
This material is for informational or educational purposes only and is not fiduciary investment advice, or a securities, investment strategy or insurance product recommendation. This material does not consider an individual’s own objectives or circumstances which should be the basis of any investment decision.
TIAA Institute is a division of Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association of America (TIAA), New York, NY