How HR leaders can successfully implement on-demand payroll

Employee expectations are shifting in our changing world of work. Workers expect more than just a few health benefits and a 401(k). They're expecting financial wellness benefits like on-demand pay, too. According to recent Ceridian research surveying users of Dayforce Wallet, an on-demand pay solution, 20% say they wouldn’t even work for an employer that didn’t offer on-demand pay. [1]

Including on-demand pay in your talent offering helps empower your people with financial wellness and drive engagement and retention. However, many leaders are understandably concerned about the challenge of implementing a new solution. With the right provider, implementing on-demand pay doesn’t have to be time-consuming or stressful for your team. Let’s explore the value of offering on-demand pay and some keys to achieving a smooth implementation.

What exactly is on-demand pay?

On-demand pay – also known as earned wage access (EWA) – is the process of providing employees access to their earned wages when they want it, instead of requiring them to wait for their scheduled payday.

Why on-demand pay/earned wage access?

Employee financial stress can introduce many challenges to productivity and organizational performance. A recent study from Ceridian and Canada’s Financial Wellness Lab showed that North American workers’ stress contributes to an estimated US $664B in lost productivity.

Ceridian’s recent research shows that surveyed employees believe on-demand pay has a positive impact on their mental health and financial wellness: Seventy percent of respondents in our study of Dayforce Wallet reported that on-demand pay has a positive impact on their mental health. Offering employees easy access to their earned wages creates better engagement and less distraction, which ultimately supports productivity and performance.

On-demand pay can also directly influence employee performance and retention. In the same study, 45% of users aged 18-29 said on-demand pay is one reason to stay with their employer. And 56% of users in the same age group said they feel more inclined to pick up extra shifts because they know they will have access to those wages by the end of the shift.

Challenges to overcome for a better on-demand pay implementation

The word “implementation” is often associated with a long, complicated, and stressful journey ahead. The first step toward a better implementation is to understand the potential pitfalls and challenges that could arise prior to selecting your vendor.  

Here are two implementation challenges to avoid:

Challenge #1: Third-party integration. This type of technology increases the risk of unexpected challenges. Implementing a solution that isn’t native can introduce complications in how the platforms in your technology stack share data. Third-party integration often creates a much longer process to configure the technology to meet your organization’s needs. It also takes time from your people that could be spent on higher output activities, putting a strain on productivity.

Challenge #2: Hidden fees. When it comes to fees that are charged for on-demand pay services, transparency can be elusive. This could mean that funds are provided as a type of pay advance, rather than real-time earned wage access. This method of delivering on-demand pay may lead to employees paying a variety of fees to access their own salary. It’s important to have your on-demand pay provider seamlessly connected to your payroll with real-time calculations, so you’re providing employees with their exact earned wages in real-time – nothing more, nothing less.

Benefits of a native on-demand pay provider

Successful HR leaders create a streamlined and reliable journey for their people and increase efficiency where possible. With on-demand pay, that can be achieved with a native solution that’s an extension of your existing payroll provider. This will help with labor and software costs, and significantly decrease the likelihood of complicated hand-offs during implementation, which create additional stress. Plus, there’s the benefit of cutting the implementation time from several months to a matter of hours.

Finding the right on-demand pay provider doesn’t require a large budget or a complicated and strenuous implementation. Ideally, there should be no disruption to your standard payroll processes, zero change to your payroll funding schedule, and no ongoing maintenance required.

Here are a few benefits of selecting a native on-demand pay provider over a third-party integration:

• There are no integrations. This eliminates a potential failure point and prevents additional steps and maintenance that would fall on your people, decreasing their productivity.
• Implementation is faster and smoother for everyone involved, so you can get your people set up with financial wellness benefits sooner. Organizations can configure earned wage access to their employees in a matter of hours, and fully roll it out to your organization in just a few weeks.
• It acts as an extension to your current payroll software. For example, with Dayforce Wallet, on-demand pay is easily bundled and implemented with Dayforce Payroll.[2] Meaning, it uses real-time continuous calculation to ensure employees can only withdraw their exact earned pay. Without a direct line of sight into your payroll data, bolted-on solutions can actually create more work for your payroll teams in the form of post-pay reconciliations. This puts your people at risk of owing money back or being charged a fee in the process.
• No steps are added to the payroll process or schedule, keeping the focus on efficiency and accuracy. Each request from employees to access their earned wages is treated as a regular payroll, so taxes and the required deductions are automatically remitted.

The right on-demand pay solution can enable an easier on-demand pay implementation, so your organization can start seeing the benefits of offering EWA, such as better employee engagement and retention, and higher productivity. Real-time on-demand pay technology is here, with little time commitment and no hidden costs. It can be, and is, that simple.

Here’s a recap of what to look for so you can secure a successful implementation, with little time, effort, and budget commitment:

• Native to your payroll software
• Low-touch implementation
• No hidden fees, or recurring fees
• Significantly faster implementation
• Configurable to your company’s needs

Learn more about the benefits of a native on-demand pay solution