Research by Stipendium has revealed how the stress of buying a home can impact our professional lives, as well as our personal lives. Financial stress costs the UK economy £121 billion each year and 18 million working hours in lost productivity, and it’s not just workplace stress that contributes to this; external events can also play their part.

A recent survey commissioned by Stipendium found that half of UK office workers feel their ability to work to their full potential is impacted by stress from outside of the workplace, with almost a third also taking time off from work due to external stress factors.

One of the most testing life experiences is buying and selling a home, so it’s no surprise that 83% of recent homebuyers found the endeavour stressful.

How does buying a home impact our ability to work?

The biggest issue many faced was the dent in their productivity due to the number of calls and emails they made about their purchase during the working day. Heightened stress due to complications during the selling process also impacted productivity. Many also found it a struggle to sleep, preventing them from being at their best the next day.

A lack of time to rest and recuperate during the weekend also caused issues as they spent their Saturday and Sunday trying to progress their sale, with some even having to take time off work.

Merge is the first product launched by Stipendium that has looked to address this property purchase, stress-related overlap into the workplace, providing a super-powered value proposition that UK businesses can gift to employees when they come to buy a home.

From mortgages, property searches, selling, valuations, conveyancing, surveys, home services, utility deals, and insurance. Merge takes care of everything to do with your transaction, leaving you more time to tackle your workload and currently sits on several of the UK’s largest employee benefit platforms.

Christina Melling, CEO of Stipendium, commented: ‘The process of purchasing a property is a long and stressful endeavour and one that can take a significant hold over our personal lives until the point we reach completion. However, we also fail to consider how it can impact our professional lives and our ability to deliver within the workplace.’

‘The property industry is understandably a largely nine to five sector, but the downside to this is that many homebuyers are also busy with their day jobs during these hours, meaning that they can’t be on hand to progress their sale, receive updates, or remedy any issues that may arise.’

As a result, they can often find the task of buying a home spills over into their working life, and so too does the stress associated with it.’

‘While we can’t change the opening hours of the property industry, we wanted to enable businesses across the nation to better help their employees during this monumental life stage by empowering them to have better control and visibility over their sales, which in turn will reduce the stress it causes them while at work.’

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