“People were coming up with custom strategies to fit what they needed - but it required constant decision-making under pressure."

- Anne Angsten-Clark, Nest Insight

As financial wellbeing moved up the board agenda, salaried executives unintentionally made policy decisions in a vacuum - clouded by their personal financial circumstances an lived experiences.

We heard from two of the UK’s leading researchers on financial wellbeing that it’s time for a reality check.

An underserved majority - 25 million people just in the UK - are earning a volatile income. Many are resorting to financial coping tactics outside mainstream financial services. Some are making as many as 150 financial decisions for their household every month. Some actively choose lower-paying jobs which offer more predictability.

In world-first research, we saw how lower-income workers are underestimated by their higher-earning colleagues. Not only for their financial savviness, but their ability to find workarounds, provide for others and live a meaningful, dignified life.

To really understand how money works for their workforce, employers will have to confront complexity. Those who do will find direction on ways to provide far more meaningful financial support to more of their people.