Attention, business owners: When your employees call in sick, they may have a case of the financial flu.

This illness can strike young and old workers because financial stress is widespread across all employee age groups. Almost half of the people surveyed in Metlife’s ninth annual Study of Employee Benefits Trends report they are “very concerned about having enough money to make ends meet.”

Worries about money are a prime cause of personal stress, and this stress can lead to physical illness and absenteeism. In fact, the recession has caused widespread episodes of “financial illness.”

The Metlife study shows employees who say they are not in control of their finances, or who live paycheck to paycheck, are more likely to report poor health than those who are financially stable.

A human-resources professional in San Francisco reports seeing this every day: “We’ve had so many employees whose homes have gone into foreclosure, their spouse was laid off, they’re sick. We’re seeing a lot of absenteeism surrounding those issues.”

In the survey, 27 percent of employees reported they took off unplanned time and/or were distracted at work dealing with personal finance issues.

So, what can you do as a business owner to prevent an outbreak of the financial flu?

Taking a holistic approach to employee wellness can improve retention, productivity and loyalty. Begin your own mini-wellness program with these easy steps:

Introduce financial education to your workplace. As a business owner, you possess the skills to help your workers. Start with basic budgeting, expense forecasting and long-term goals. While these skills may be fundamental to you, they may be new to your employees. Also, you will discover that employees who practice these skills at home are better able to apply them at work.

Be creative with benefits. Benefits play an important role in employee compensation. When workers are very satisfied with their benefits, they are three times as likely to be satisfied with their job. More explicitly – meaningful benefits can lead to lower turnover rates. Don’t take employee loyalty for granted. As the recession eases, more and more employees who have been dissatisfied with their jobs are on the lookout for new opportunities.

Improve work-life balance. Similar to getting creative with benefits, improving work-life balance can be customized to fit your company. Start by encouraging employees to exercise each day – as little as 20 minutes can make a big difference in people’s physical and mental health. Consider flextime, working remotely and earned time off to run errands as ways to help employees juggle busy lives and work.

Show your appreciation. A little acknowledgement goes a long way in making people feel valued.

Two great books to help you put together a wellness program are 1001 Ways to Reward Employees by Bob Nelson and 301 More Ways to Have Fun at Work by Dave Hemsath and Jeevan Sivasubramaniam.

Savvy employers know it takes more than a paycheck to support their employees’ financial health, wellness and loyalty.

matt.kelly.durango@gmail.com Durango resident and personal finance coach Matt Kelly owns Momentum: Personal Finance. www.PersonalFinanceCoaching.com.