Financial services is a demanding sector. Long hours, tight deadlines and constant pressure come with the territory, and so does less time for exercise and rest. New research from Epassi shows what that pace costs people’s health, and how few feel able to say so.
We worked with Opinium to survey 2,000 UK employees in June 2026. Here is what the financial services responses showed.
Two in five financial services employees (39%) are not satisfied with their work/life balance. More than a quarter (27%) work beyond their contracted hours at least multiple times a week.
That shows up in the gym bag and the fridge:
22% say their work schedule makes it harder to exercise regularly.
26% find healthy food options too expensive.
If you finish at 7pm and the only affordable dinner is a meal deal, your health pays for it. Add the cost of living and the squeeze gets tighter.
Heavy workloads are one problem. The second is that 36% of financial services employees do not feel comfortable raising wellbeing concerns at work.
When people stay quiet, employers lose the early warning. Burnout, poor sleep and stress go unspoken until someone goes off sick or hands in their notice.
Exercise is one of the simplest ways to protect your health when work is demanding. Regular movement helps with stress, mood and sleep, which are the first things to slip when the working day stretches past 6pm. Yet 22% of financial services employees say their schedule gets in the way of exercising regularly.
Cost adds to the problem. When 26% find healthy food too expensive, gym memberships and classes are easy to cut from the budget.
This is where an employer’s benefits package can make a practical difference:
Flexible and hybrid working opens up the lunchtime gym session, the early class or the walk before the first meeting.
Mental health days give people time to recover before stress turns into burnout. A day off also leaves room for exercise, which can help ease stress.
Fitness and wellbeing benefits that cover gym access, classes or activity discounts remove the cost barrier, so people can fit exercise around their working day.
Employees in financial services already use their benefits at higher rates than the UK average (54% against 38%). A fitness offer that is easy to find and easy to use has a good chance of being taken up.
Asked what would most improve their wellbeing, financial services workers named these benefits: View one pager to find out.
The research shows how much weight employees put on their package:
70% say the economic climate has made company benefits more important.
58% say a good benefits package is the most important thing they look for in a role.
54% would leave their current job for a better one.
Salary still matters, and 59% would move for more money. But benefits compete on equal terms, and for many people they matter more.
Financial services employees are among the best informed about their benefits. 65% know exactly what their employer offers, against 59% across all sectors. Over half (54%) use the full range, compared with a UK average of 38%.
That engagement pays off. 67% of financial services workers believe they get good value from their benefits, against 47% overall.
So the appetite is there. Employees use what they are given when they understand it. The gap is in what firms offer and whether it matches the pressures people face: long hours, rising costs and little room to speak up.
If you work in HR, reward or people strategy in financial services, four questions are worth asking:
Does our benefits package cover the top four things employees say they want?
Does it help people fit exercise into a demanding working week?
Can people in our teams raise wellbeing concerns without worrying about the consequences?
Do our people know what is available, and can they use it around their working day?
That is where Epassi comes in. Our health and fitness network gives your people practical ways to look after themselves around long working days, and our benefits technology gives HR teams the data to see how support is being used and where to focus next. The full findings are in our one-pager.
Are financial services organisations doing enough to support employee wellbeing? View the one pager.
Research conducted by Opinium, which surveyed 2,000 UK employees weighted to be nationally representative, between 11th and 22nd June 2026.