New scheme urges businesses to give staff time off to budget
A new national initiative is asking employers to get their staff to commit to spending one hour a month sorting out their finances, as part of drive to make people take better care of their finances.The 'My Budget Day' scheme, led by AXA, is backed by Richard Lambert at the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) and the union Unite, and will mean that staff will once a month be given the first hour of their working day to dedicate to organising their finances.AXA has already pledged to give the hour to all of its 12,000 staff, with Steve Folkard from the company explaining: "Money is one of the major causes of stress for adults and as such it is a major cause of employee absenteeism. "The annual cost of stress to UK plc is estimated to be around £9.6 billion. That's equivalent to £18,264.84 per second or £329.89 per employee."It is AXA's belief that rather than adding to the cost of running a business, encouraging adults to take greater control of their finances could actually go some way to reducing not only the UK's levels of personal debt, but also the cost of stress to UK businesses."Richard Lambert, director general of the CBI said: "My Budget Day is a breath of fresh air and should be seen as a new and innovative way for employers to engage with and motivate their workforce. "It is a brilliant example of corporate responsibility in action and shows how an employer's role really can extend beyond getting the job done."
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