Whether they’re telling you or not, your employees are struggling to access their wages. It is often the unspoken pain point in their work lives, miring them in financial stress.

The financial services fees they are incurring are essentially lost wages.

Financially coping and vulnerable households spent 13% of their income (a total of $255 billion) on fees for everyday financial services, in comparison to the 1% of income for financially healthy households in 2020 (FinHealth Spend Report 2021). When you’re making close to minimum wage, 13% is a big hit.

So why are they turning to expensive financial services? Many struggling households are unbanked or underbanked and 63% are living paycheck to paycheck (CNBC). With biweekly or varying pay schedules, employees struggle to access the money they are earning when they really need it and turn to expensive financial products for quick access.

Quick stats on the costs of accessing income (see infographic below for more):

• In the US alone, an estimated 22% of adults (63,000,000) are either unbanked or underbanked. The FDIC predicts that the unbanked rate will rise as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Payday loan borrowers average 10 payday loans per year and spend $8 BILLION on payday loan fees annually
• A borrower will typically pay $458 in FEES for a $350 loan (interest rates can hit up to 652% in states without rate caps)
• $30 BILLION is spent on overdraft fees annually (with the average individual spending $250+/year)
• 1 in 5 title loan borrowers loses their vehicle to repossession

What is Instant Pay (aka early wage access)?

Early wage access (aka instant pay, aka same day pay, aka on-demand pay) gives employees their earnings, wages AND tips, ahead of scheduled paydays.

Currently, about 60% of employees are paid bi-weekly or semi-monthly. Where employees might currently turn to payday loans, the UniFocus and Rain partnership allows staff to access the money they have already earned when they need it.

We connect Time & Attendance data to Rain so that the employee can see their earnings. They can then access up to 50% of their earnings in advance (the rest comes on the regular payday), through multiple payout options including debit cards.

Do employees even want early wage access?

• 3 in 5 employees think they should not have to wait until their scheduled payday to access their earned wages. (Workforce Institute)
• Over 50% of workers expressed a preference for early-wage access over additional paid time off. (Career Builder)
• Nearly four in five (79%) of employees would prefer new or additional benefits to a pay increase (Glassdoor)

You can learn more about early wage access from Rain here.

Employer benefits of providing early wage access

How would you like to turn on a benefit for your employees that costs you nothing and results in lower turnover, higher productivity, increased applications, higher job satisfaction, and more?

Financial stress impacts employees at their fundamental survival needs. Employers who find a way to relieve this stress position themselves to be the employer of choice.

In a recent survey of Rain users, they have seen impactful results:

• 89.9% said they were more satisfied at work after gaining access to Rain.
• 78.5% said having Rain made them feel less stressed, and therefore more productive.
• 77.5% said they were more likely to refer friends to their job due to having early access to wages.
• 68.3% said they were taking on more shifts and showing up on time due to having early access to wages.

What else does the Rain partnership offer?

While instant pay/early wage access is the primary benefit that employees will see, Rain offers a suite of financial wellness benefits and tools. Discount health and wellness programs are available and employees have access to financial wellness tools and information.

How do UniFocus partners get started with Rain Instant Pay?

Our partnership with Rain is available to all UniFocus Labor Management and/or Time & Attendance partners. If you are interested in extending Rain benefits to your employees, contact your Partner Relationship Manager. They will work with you on the easy steps to get started.

What does it cost for UniFocus partners to use Rain Instant Pay? Nothing! We know, it sounds too good to be true. But this is why we decided to partner with Rain in the first place.

How much set-up is involved? How long does it take? Very little setup. Rain can have you set up in just a few weeks.

Not a UniFocus partner (yet)?

Set up a time to speak with us about Rain and the other ways UniFocus can help you through the labor crisis.

Instant pay and wage access data and infographic

All of this data can be overwhelming! So we think it helps to look at it in a visual infographic. Click the image to enlarge.

Infographic and blog data sources

You may be wondering where all of this data is coming from. There is an abundance of reporting and studies available. Below are the sources we used and some further reading on the matter.

Data and reports on the costs and state of financial services:

• See the fact sheets from Responsible Lending for more information on the Debt Trap, the state of Payday Lending, and Overdraft Fees
• FDIC: How America Banks: Household Use of Banking and Financial Services and its executive summary
• FinHealth Spend Report 2021

Further reading on the high cost of being unbanked:

• The Economist - It's Expensive to Be Poor
• The Emerson Collective - The Unbearable Cost of Being Unbanked
• NY Times - How Expensive it is to Be Poor
• The Atlantic - It Is Expensive Poor
• Nerd Wallet - Unbanked Consumer Study
• Forbes - Costs of Being Unbanked or Underbanked
• The New Yorker - The High Cost for the Poor of Using a Bank
• CNBC - Banks Will Get 30b in Overdraft Fees this Year
• CNBC - 63% of Americans have been living paycheck to paycheck since Covid hit