Wal-Mart to Give Workers Early Access to Paychecks
Wal-Mart is instituting a more flexible pay schedule for its employees. Bloomberg reports the big-box retailer is working with two financial technology startups to enable its 1.5 million-strong U.S. workforce to draw on their salary ahead of payday or save some of it away for a rainy day. Employees will receive eight free uses a year of the Instapay tool via a personal finance app, which is linked to the employee's checking or pre-paid account.
“Traditional approaches to workforce well-being often focus solely on physical health, but we know from listening to our associates that financial well-being is just as important,” Wal-Mart Chief People Officer Jacqui Canney said in a statement.
Total Retail's Take: Wal-Mart has the largest private workforce in the United States, and with this new program it's trying to keep them happy. Wal-Mart is giving some financial flexibility to their employees, which they've been asking for. “Every American worker faces unexpected and stressful between-paychecks expenses,” PayActiv CEO Safwan Shah said in a statement. “With on-demand access to earned wages, Wal-Mart associates will be able to save more, avoid the financial traps that reduce their take-home pay, and get a level of stability that few service sector employers provide.”
