45% of Independent Contractors Want to Be Paid Daily or on Demand

As more consumers become familiar with instant disbursements, both traditional employees and independent contractors are showing interest in instant pay.

Forty-five percent of independent contractors say they would like to be paid daily or on demand, and another 45% would like to be paid at least weekly, as reported in the “Expanding Payments Choice Playbook,” a PYMNTS and Onbe collaboration.

Get the report: Expanding Payments Choice

This growing demand has been accompanied by innovations in how workers are paid, from the use of Visa Direct and Mastercard Send by payroll departments to the increased number of vendors offering earned wage access, which allows workers to access wages they have earned but not yet received.

Making Disbursements Faster, Safer and Easier

From small businesses conducting B2B transactions to payroll departments issuing paychecks, many players perceive a growing need for payment options that make disbursements faster, safer and easier.

“We’ve helped many of our customers move away from legacy disbursement methods that were no longer serving them and their recipients toward payment capabilities that empower organizations to pay quickly, reliably, conveniently, securely, across borders and at scale — in short, everything a modern business needs to meet the future,” Onbe CEO Bala Janakiraman told PYMNTS.

Read more: 2021 Was the Year of Adaptability

In addition to gaining efficiencies through modernized payroll practices, businesses can also benefit from digital disbursements for off-cycle payments, such as reimbursing travel or home office expenses to employees, as well as when handling payments to gig workers and vendors that fall outside of normal payroll operations.

Using Instant Payments as a Recruiting Tool

Consumers now want to pay for their purchases using their preferred digital methods, and they are seeking digital payouts in their professional lives rather than waiting until payday for their wages and sending checks in the mail. Gig workers are especially interested in receiving their wages instantaneously, and small businesses report that late payments can stall their operations.

A process that involves issuing thousands of paper checks may be made more manageable through digital disbursements, allowing for reduced oversight and work hours.

Faster, modernized payment practices can free up human resources (HR) and finance teams to focus on other priorities while also helping to ensure employees and customers are satisfied. HR departments can spend more time focused on initiatives to engage and support employees, finance professionals can spend their time identifying potential ways to improve their companies’ finances rather than disbursing payments, and payees at all levels can receive money in a manner that best suits them.

Cloud-based payroll systems offer back-end efficiencies over legacy systems and paper checks, and they can help businesses guard against human error and potential payroll inaccuracies. Faster and more dependable payments can also increase employee loyalty, and instant payments can even serve as a recruiting tool in a competitive talent acquisition environment.