What Healthcare Employers Need to Know
The financial challenges facing healthcare workers haven’t eased.
According to PwC’s 2026 Employee Financial Wellness Survey, 59% of employees report experiencing financial stress. The burden is particularly heavy among frontline healthcare workers. In skilled nursing, CNAs earn an average of $20.16 per hour, often with little financial cushion behind them. More than half of employees have less than $5,000 in emergency savings, and 59% of Americans cannot cover a $1,000 unexpected expense using savings alone.
When an unexpected bill arrives, workers are often forced to bridge the gap however they can. Nearly half rely on credit cards for everyday necessities, while others turn to payday loans, wage advances, or other costly forms of borrowing. In many cases, they are paying fees and interest simply to access money they’ve already earned.
Financial Stress Doesn’t Stay at Home
For healthcare employers, financial stress is more than a personal issue, it’s a workforce issue.
The effects show up every day in turnover, absenteeism, disengagement, and staffing instability. CNA turnover in skilled nursing exceeds 42% (AHCA/NCAL, 2025–26), while home care providers face annual turnover rates approaching 80% (PHI, 2025). Hospitals feel the impact as well, with each RN departure costing an average of more than $60,000 to replace (NSI, 2026).
Financial stress doesn’t disappear when employees clock in. Workers who are worried about paying rent, covering childcare, or handling an unexpected expense are more likely to consider a second job, pick up shifts elsewhere, or leave for a slightly higher-paying opportunity. In care settings, those distractions can affect not only retention and productivity, but also patient outcomes
Why Traditional Financial Wellness Programs Miss the Mark
Many organizations have invested in financial wellness initiatives, but most focus on education rather than access.
Budgeting workshops, financial literacy courses, and savings tools all have value. However, they assume the primary challenge is a lack of financial knowledge. For many healthcare workers, the challenge is much simpler: cash flow.
An employee can understand budgeting perfectly and still struggle when an expense arrives days before payday.
Even pay increases don’t fully solve the problem. While higher wages can help attract talent, they don’t eliminate the timing gap between when employees earn their wages and when they receive them. For workers living paycheck to paycheck, that gap can create the need for expensive borrowing.
Closing the Gap Between Work and Payday
Healthcare organizations invest heavily in recruiting and retaining staff, yet one of the most common sources of employee stress often goes unaddressed: access to cash between paychecks.
Earned wage access (EWA) helps solve that problem by allowing employees to access a portion of the wages they’ve already earned before their scheduled payday. Because the funds have already been earned, EWA is not a loan. There are no credit checks, no interest charges, and no debt cycle.
For healthcare workers facing an unexpected expense, access to earned wages can mean the difference between relying on a payday lender and using money they’ve already earned.
Keeper makes earned wage access simple for healthcare employers. The platform integrates with existing payroll systems and comes at no cost to employers. Keeper handles disbursements and compliance, making implementation seamless for HR and operations teams.
Closing the gap between work and payday helps employees feel more financially secure, strengthens retention, and demonstrates meaningful support for the people delivering care every day.
Earned wage access is no longer just an employee perk; it’s an expectation.
