Pay Cards, Flex Pay Options Help Employees During Pandemic

As the public worries about contracting the coronavirus, many Americans have a second concern: getting paid.

And the pandemic appears to be accelerating the shift from paper checks and direct deposit to more flexible electronic payments such as PayPal and DailyPay, CNBC reported.

DailyPay, the New York-based provider of software that allows employees to access their pay without waiting for their next pay period, saw a 400 percent rise in use between March 14 and March 17 as workers rushed to access their money to stock up before shelter-in-place rules took effect, the news outlet said.

Starting earlier in March, the biggest reason for withdrawals was to stock up on supplies because of COVID-19, according to DailyPay Chief Innovation officer Jeanniey Mullen. Typically, she said, transportation costs are the primary reasons for early access to pay.

Paper checks come with concerns about lack of personnel in the office to print them amid the pandemic, along with worries about mail delivery delays, the report noted. And while direct deposit remains the dominant form of payment at 80 percent, nontraditional payment methods have been making inroads.

Nearly half of the nation’s employees are willing to accept nontraditional payment methods, such as mobile payments, digital platforms or pay cards, according to research by ADP, the New Jersey provider of human resources management software and services.

ADP, Fiserv, Green Dot and others are rolling out pay cards and virtual bank accounts. There’s also Zelle, debit accounts linked to Venmo or PayPal, and other competitors.

Venmo and PayPal, for instance, allow users to keep money in the app and then pay for things, also through the app, CNBC said.

Earlier this month, DailyPay tapped into Fiserv’s Digital Disbursements to allow workers access to their earned, but unpaid, wages to improve employees’ financial well-being. The solution sends these funds quickly and securely through multiple methods instantly, the same day or the next day, according to a case study from Fiserv.