Workers who are struggling financially benefit most from financial education and coaching, even without a global pandemic. A new report from Financial Finesse advises employers to focus their financial support on their most financially stressed employees during the COVID-19 crisis, as the financial education provider sees a shift toward lower financial health levels in the workforce.

Suffering, struggling, stabilizing, sustaining, secure

Financial Finesse divides workers into five levels of financial stability and gives each a financial wellness score range, determined by how they responded to the following:

• whether they have a handle on their cash flow
• have an emergency fund to handle unexpected expenses
• how comfortable they are with their debt level

In addition to the lowest levels of suffering and struggling, the categories range from stabilizing, to sustaining to secure. Those categorized as suffering have a financial wellness score of 0-2, those who are struggling have a score of 3-4, and so on up the scale.

According to the report, most workers fall in the "stabilizing" category at 36%.