Concerns about their financial wellbeing and the strain of the cost-of-living crisis are weighing heavily on Irish workers in the weeks before Budget 2025, a new survey has found, with many employees unconvinced their employers are doing enough to relieve the burden.
The poll of more than 1,000 employees in the Republic reveals a large cohort – 41 per cent – of respondents who said their employer did not adequately compensate them for inflation last year. The research was conducted by iVox on behalf of payroll and HR technology company SD Worx.
Overall, almost half of workers said they were suffering from financial stress while a third said their organisation does not show sufficient concern for their financial wellbeing.
A further 44 per cent said they would like to request a salary advance but just 28 per cent of workers surveyed felt they have “significant influence” over pay negotiations. More than a quarter of the sample said personal performance is not sufficiently rewarded in their workplace.
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A significant 27 per cent of survey respondents, meanwhile, said they were dissatisfied with their complete reward package, including salary, bonus and fringe benefits such as health insurance.
Worryingly for employers in the context of a tight market for talent, some 29 per cent of workers said they would leave a job if they were dissatisfied with their financial stability or job security.
“In the current economic climate, organisations must take into account the impact that adequate rewards packages have on employees’ financial wellbeing,” said Eimear Byrne, country leader at SD Worx Ireland.
“Our research shows that employees are grappling with rising costs and are concerned with their financial stability. When not reflected by proportionate salary increases, the increasing cost of living amplifies the stress and pressure that employees and their families are placed under.”
Concern among households in the Republic about financial deprivation has risen each year since 2021, according to the Central Statistics Office’s income and living conditions survey, as consumer price inflation began to accelerate during and after the Covid-19 pandemic. Last year’s survey indicated that the percentage of people living in enforced deprivation increased from 16.6 per cent in 2022 to 17.3 per cent in 2023.
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