SoFi Blog

With the rise of millennials and Generation Z grads, the workforce is rapidly changing. Young, educated professionals bring a lot to employers for sure—like energy, enthusiasm, and a thirst for innovation. But these days, they also come with some financial baggage: high levels of student loan debt. That debt can be crippling and distracting, and on top of that, it’s also an obstruction to both short- and long-term financial goals.

It’s no secret that organizations directly feel the impact of the hardship. According to PricewaterhouseCoopers’ (PwC) 2016 Employee Financial Wellness Report, 28% of 1,600 full-time U.S. employees surveyed admit that personal finances cause them to be distracted at work—up from 20% in 2015. Among those workers, 46% spend three or more hours a week, while at work, dealing with or thinking about their financial situations, compared to 37% in the previous year. Yet few HR teams are taking steps to address the problem effectively and help their employees—and their company’s ROI.

In this first part of our new series on employee wellness, recruitment, and engagement, we at SoFi want to provide actionable insights on how to better understand the financial burden of student loan debt that these employees face, and what to do to help ease the pressure through financial assistance, education, training, and support.

A company’s success is partially driven by how well it anticipates the future. But even a top HR manager clinging to a Magic 8 Ball can’t foresee the next hot job trend. One thing is clear, though: as a generation of baby boomers readies to retire in the next 10 to 15 years, companies must not wait to attract top candidates who will grow into tomorrow’s top leaders.

Unique talent acquisition techniques are key for recruiting today’s sharpest millennial minds. While we don’t know what will entice job seekers in 2025, we do know that today they’re greatly focused on benefits packages.

Is financial stress keeping your employees up at night? If your employees are highly educated, they probably have student loans. Lots of student loans. That debt, along with other money worries, could mean they’re suffering from financial stress—and that anxiety can cost your business big bucks.

ING U.S. Inc. (now Voya Financial Inc.) reported in early 2014 that employee financial stress costs businesses an average of $5,000 per employee, per year. The good news: it’s now easier than ever to help employees struggling with financial stress. Welcome to a new era of financial wellness programs and benefits that truly make a difference in employee performance and productivity.

Big news: We’ve now funded over $1 billion in student loan refinancing to borrowers through our corporate partners (i.e. companies like Microsoft, Workday, and more).

What’s better? We’ve made student loan assistance a benefit for our own employees. Which means we’re helping them pay down student loan debt with $200 a month.