adminThis research is part of a series of reports that are aimed at identifying the factors or variables that explain differences in financial well-being of the Zimbabwean employee.There were 830 participants in this survey.
Differences in financial well-being between groups defined by a list of several employee demographics are investigated and explained.
These differences in financial well-being, in certain instances, translate into differences in the way employees prioritise when spending their finances. We take an in-depth look at how different demographic groups prioritise their spending.
Key Summary of Findings
- Zimbabwean employees’ priority list is a follows:
- School fees
- Food and groceries
- Rent and accommodation
- Utility bills
- Transport to work
- Health and medical bills
- Clothing
- Other
- There are no significant difference between males
and females in relation to their priorities.
- Employees in rural areas and employees in urban
areas set their priorities similarly.
- Marital status induces differences in how Zimba-
bwean employees set their priorities when they
want to spend their money. The differences in
priorities observed between groups with differ-
ent marital statuses may be explained by dif-
ferences in the size of family (number of children)
which employees have to support.
- Generally, the way employees set their priorities
remain the same regardless of differences in
income level. In other words, priority areas are
the same for different income classes although
budgets are different.
- There are as many employees who own a house
as there are employees who rent in this survey.
Employees who own houses worry more about
utilities than employees who do not own houses.
Employees who do not own houses regard rent
and accommodation as a high priority.
- Race (or ethnicity) has an impact on how each
employee prioritises their spending. Members of
the African ethnic group tend to prioritise food
and groceries more than the other groups. A closer
look at these groups reveals that members of the
African ethnic group tend to have a larger family
(immediate and extended) under their care than
the other two groups which implies more mouths
to feed.
Methodology
This report is portion of the main reported. We included a section on how employees set their priorities when spending their finances in our Financial Well-being of the Zimbabwean Employee Survey. The questions prompted employees to rank the following:
- School fees
- Food and groceries
- Rent and accommodation
- Utility bills
- Transport to work
- Health and medical bills
- Clothing
To calculate the overall priority of each item above, weighted averages were calculated.
To gauge the differences in priorities between different demographic groups, we compared the proportions of employees that ranked each item as the highest priority. A non-parametric statistical test (Mann-Whitney U test) was then used to test if the differences in priorities were significant or not.
Note that when priorities of different groups of employees are compared, we use a bar graph whose height corresponds to the importance of the respective priority areas.
Participants profile
There were 830 participants in this survey. The following diagrams describe the distribution of participants according to the various demographic variables that we investigated.
Results – Overall Priorities of the Zimbabwean Employee
The diagram below shows the priorities from the highest priority to the lowest priority with regards how respondents spend their money.
School fees, food and groceries and rent are the three most prioritised areas where respondents spend their money.
The following sections describe the differences (or lack thereof) in respondents highest priorities as a result of differences in demographic variables.
Comparison of Priorities by Gender
One would expect the priorities of male respondents to differ from priorities of female respondents. The diagram below shows that there are no differences in the priorities between males and females.
Comparison of Priorities by Location
Some employees prefer working in rural areas because life is supposedly cheaper. Therefore, one would expect the priorities of employees in rural areas to differ from employees in urban areas. The diagram below shows that employees located in rural areas do not have any significant differences with employees located in urban areas in relation to their priorities.
Comparison of priorities by marital status
It is common knowledge that priorities are driven by whether or not a person has a family. In our data, married respondents, single (divorced respondents), and widowed respondents have two children on average. The diagram below shows the differences between priorities of employees by marital status.
Single and never married employees do not have school fees as their highest priority. This is true for widowed respondents as well. Widowed employees had an average age of 46 years.
They no longer support their children. As such, school fees is not a high priority for them. Food and groceries are the priority for these two groups followed by rent and accommodation.
Comparison of priorities by race
There is a hypothesis that race influences culture and culture influences priorities. The diagram below shows the differences in priorities brought about by the differences in race.
It is interesting to note that respondents who fall in the “black” category put as high priority, rent and accommodation after food and groceries whereas the other two groups put rent and accommodation after utility bills.
A possible explanation is that black respondents tend to have more family members to support, which implies more mouths to feed.
The average number of extended family members for a black respondent is four whereas the other groups have an average of at most three extended family members under their care.
Comparison of priorities by income bracket
Regardless of how much an individual earns, school fees, food, rent and accommodation still remain the most important things that employees consider when spending their money. See the diagram below.
Comparison of priorities by accommodation
The diagram below shows the distributions of accommodation types and priorities by type of accommodation respectively.
The diagram above shows that we have as much home owners as there are people who rent.
Due to the different responsibilities home owners and renters have, there are bound to be differences in the way these two groups set their priorities.
It is interesting to note that the results of the survey are consistent with expectation.
Respondents who own a house (mortgage or not) do not have rent and accommodation as their highest priorities. This group of respondents already has accommodation and, therefore, does not need to worry about rent. Instead, they worry about utilities more.
Conclusion
At the end of the day, some priorities are consistently ranked high and some low.
School fees, food, rent and accommodation consistently came up as high priorities whereas transport to work, utility bills, health and clothing were consistently ranked as low priorities.
One may find it worrying that health and medical bills do not come up as a high priority.
However, given the economic environment where unemployment is high and cash is scarce, people tend to seek medication or healthcare when sickness befalls on them.
The implications of these findings for human resources practitioners is that employers who ensure that their employees have a house, cater for school fees and pay enough for people to be able to afford the basic food stuffs are likely to be able to attract the talent they require.
The Financial Wellbeing Survey Report: Priorities of the Zimbabwean Employee was conducted by Industrial Psychology Consultants (Pvt) Ltd
Tinaye Agere
Online Reporter