It’s time for a change

By Darlene Miranda

VP and General Manager, Enterprise Product, DailyPay

I don’t take my job lightly. Every minute of every day someone is using the DailyPay platform to make their life better. Maybe it’s to pay a phone bill. Maybe it’s to save for college. Or maybe it’s just to see how much money they’ve earned on a shift so they know if they have enough funds to make a rent payment at the end of the week. 

My role at DailyPay as VP and General Manager is to make sure that experience is as easy and effective as possible. After all, when it comes to work, there is nothing more personal than pay.  

At a recent conference, I had the opportunity to have real, open conversations with representatives from America’s largest employers. And I learned so much about the challenges employees are having and the potential impact we can make.

We all know that real life happens between paychecks whether it’s an unforeseen car payment, a medical bill, or an important anniversary. For far too many Americans, a financial setback can have an outsized impact that takes a long time to recover from. Because when a bill is due – there are only so many ways to pay that bill. And most of those have pernicious financial effects that can spiral into a cycle of poverty. Sadly, it’s often not a one-time occurrence. And who benefits? The payday loan industry is a plague on underserved communities preying on those who can afford those exorbitant fees the least. Overdraft fees are a billion-dollar line item for banks –  though they are paid by those with the smallest accounts. 

Something had to be done to end that constant fear of the downward spiral. 

Fortunately, advancements in technology have turned the power dynamic back to hard working Americans. My company, in particular, has created a powerful and innovative technology platform that gives employees access to the money they have already earned. It’s not a loan. It’s not borrowing money. It’s the money you’ve already earned. As we like to say – It’s YOUR money.

Over the last seven years, DailyPay has partnered with America’s leading employers in nearly every sector from retail to hospitality to healthcare to offer our on-demand product as a financial wellness benefit. With DailyPay employees can pay bills, save, spend, or invest on their own schedule. Or they can just use the app to see how much money they’ve earned on a given shift. 

This flexibility and visibility is critical for someone making the most “right” decision at a given moment. All of a sudden the financial stress associated with trying to make ends meet every week dissipates. And, as those “right” decisions add up, the mental tax and burden they pay thinking about the downward cycle starts to fade. They become empowered and with it comes a sense of dignity that living a positive financial life can bring. 

Employers will notice too. When an employee is less stressed they are more productive and engaged at work. They call in sick less and even take extra shifts. The bond between employee and employer is strengthened leading to a happier workforce. 

So why haven’t more companies joined the earned wage access movement? For starters, there are misconceptions about how it really works. For years, we obsessively fine-tuned the back-end of the product to ensure a positive experience every time your employee uses it. And the implementation is seamless because we have worked so hard to create relationships with the companies you already use for payroll and timekeeping. From funding the payments to handling all customer service inquiries ourselves, we handle it all. 

We see this as a definitive win-win situation for both employees and employers. For employees, it’s the first step on a path to financial wellness that an employer can help pave. It’s not about planning for the financial stability “end game,” but rather methodically moving in the right direction by staying out of debt and away from suboptimal ways to make ends meet. 

For employers, DailyPay is a benefit that has proven to drive employee retention. We are steadfastly committed to a great user experience which directly correlates to driving higher enrollment and happier employees. It’s the zero-cost benefit to employers that your employees will love. In fact, more and more employees are requiring on-demand pay as a must-have benefit in their next job. With the labor market still tight in many industries, offering on-demand pay can give a company a critical competitive edge.  

At DailyPay, we are committed to our mission of providing on-demand pay everywhere. We see a world where payday loan shops are a relic of the past and overdraft fees no longer are an issue. We see a world where the timing of pay has no impact on one’s ability to pay bills. We see a more equitable world where we are successfully able to change pay…for good.