Financial resilience tied to employee performance and retention

The retention data is harder to wave off. Highly resilient employees were more than four times as likely to recommend their employer, and their employee Net Promoter Score (eNPS) was 75 points higher than the least resilient group’s.

Financial resilience scored lowest

Zurich scored resilience in five areas: psychological, physical, social, financial and digital. Financial came in last, even though it was one of the biggest contributors to the overall score. Only 51 percent of workers were confident they could get through a few months without income, and 61 percent thought their insurance protection met their needs.

Zurich separates resilience from wellbeing, which is a useful distinction for anyone evaluating a wellbeing program. Wellbeing is how someone is doing now. Resilience is how they would cope with a layoff, a serious illness or a death in the family.

“Resilience provides a forward-looking indicator of how prepared people are to navigate future uncertainty,” said Jan-Emmanuel De Neve, director of the Wellbeing Research Centre at the University of Oxford in England.

US employees are cutting back to cover premiums

US numbers show why financial resilience is slipping. More than three-quarters of US workers saw medical premiums go up in 2026, according to LIMRA’s Benefits and Employee Attitude Tracker study. Half changed their spending or benefits choices because of it. Sixteen percent cut back on other benefits, and 12 percent lowered their retirement contributions.