Empowering Women at Work This International Women’s Day Through Financial Wellbeing
International Women’s Day (8 March) is a good moment for employers to consider how well they are supporting women in their workforce. Making progress on gender parity in pay and career opportunity plays a role, but women can experience financial insecurity regardless of their income level. Taking a best-practice approach to financial wellbeing programs offers all employees – including women – the foundation they need to make confident choices about money and their future security.
Key Takeaways
- APAC employers are making important progress in gender parity, with pay gaps shrinking fast in high growth industries like life sciences and technology1.
- Women continue to face structural barriers to long-term financial security, both in their career and through social and economic challenges.
- To be effective, financial wellbeing support for women must be informed by data, culturally relevant and designed around behaviour change.
Why Financial Wellbeing Matters for Women and Employers
Financial wellbeing is the ability to meet current obligations, feel secure about the future and enjoy a decent quality of life. In diverse APAC workforces, poor financial wellbeing can affect anyone — from early-career employees managing rent and debt, to senior leaders balancing family commitments, rising costs and retirement planning. Women can be particularly vulnerable to high levels of financial uncertainty due to life stage, caregiving responsibilities or financial confidence gaps.
When financial wellbeing is low, employees carry a mental load that can show up as anxiety and reduced engagement. For employers, this matters because stress that people bring to work can affect performance, retention and even safety.
How Financial Stress Shows Up for Women at Work
While the symptoms of financial stress — such as reduced concentration, time away from work and burnout — might be easy to spot it’s not always clear that money worries are the cause. Research from Aon and TELUS Health highlights how common financial stress is across the APAC workforce. Among the region’s working population, more than 80 per cent of participants report some level of financial stress and 34 percent lack emergency savings. The same survey revealed that employees without emergency savings are 60 per cent more likely to have difficulty concentrating at work than those who do2.
For many women, financial stress compounds over multiple life stages. Supporting children and ageing parents at the same time, managing career breaks and navigating important financial decisions can all add up to a significant stress burden. The result is a workplace issue that affects focus, confidence, often resulting in a knock-on effect on career progression and income.
Understanding Women’s Financial Behaviours and Needs
Financial behaviours are shaped by upbringing, culture and lived experience. These are all highly relevant in APAC, where family structures and comfort levels with discussing money can vary. In Hong Kong, for example, 18 per cent of employees say employers should support with eldercare or family care and this rises sharply to 31 per cent for employees in Japan3 . This is why a standard approach to financial education is likely to have limited impact.
A practical approach focuses on the traits that have been shown to support financial wellbeing over time:
- Resilience: managing stress and adapting to challenges
- Self-esteem: linked to preparedness and confidence
- Positive outlook: supporting long-term financial readiness
Global employee sentiment data from Aon’s 2025 survey shows 11 per cent of employees receive financial education from their employer, while 37 per cent expect it. Employees want support, but it must be accessible, relevant and delivered in a way that builds confidence, particularly for employees that carry additional financial and caring responsibilities.
How Organisations Can Take Action
Employees don’t need to become financial experts to enjoy better financial wellbeing. A well-designed program focuses on reducing stress by improving employees’ financial decision-making and building simple habits that work for their situation.
Start With Insight
Use employee listening, benefits and EAP trends to pinpoint where support would help most — and where money pressure is affecting wellbeing and performance.
Tailor by Life Stage and Context
Design support for different life-stages such as early-career budgeting, mid-career family costs, caring and eldercare pressures and retirement readiness. Keep women’s needs in mind, including career breaks and family responsibilities.
Go Beyond Literacy to Habits That Stick
Financial wellbeing improves when employees understand their money mindset and can shift habits. Program approaches that create a non-judgemental space, focus on practical ideas and build small, realistic changes help action feel achievable.
Make It Easy to Engage
Use formats that fit busy schedules and make it easier to talk about money. These can include short webinars, videos, podcasts, and manager toolkits that help leaders point people to extra support available through benefits programs.
Measure What Matters
Track outcomes that reflect both employee and business value including confidence, reduced stress, benefits take-up, and indicators linked to performance and retention.
International Women’s Day can be a welcome opportunity to take practical steps that strengthen women’s confidence and choices — now and over the long term. When employers invest in financial wellbeing, they help reduce the harms that money stress creates, and they build a healthier resilient workforce. Done well, financial wellbeing can be a strategic lever for empowering women and improving their quality of life as well as their productivity and resilience at work.
1 Aon Radford McLagan Compensation Database
2 https://www.aon.com.au/apac/insights/blog/default/understanding-financial-wellbeing-at-work
3 Aon 2025 Employee Sentiment Study