Business Payments Blog

With an estimated 68 million1 underbanked consumers in the U.S., employers must find high-quality, flexible payroll solutions that give employees access to the omnichannel payments ecosystem. And, banked consumers want access to a multitude of financial tools to help them manage their everyday finances, too.2 Banked or unbanked, employees look to employers to provide game-changing payroll solutions – like Paycards – that are invaluable for building a financial system that works for their unique lives.

Retaining good employees is a universal challenge, especially in the restaurant industry. Turnover is expensive, too — estimates indicate hiring and training a new employee can cost upwards of $3,5001. This is why Netspend recently partnered with QSR Magazine to outline simple ways restaurants can leverage their payroll processes to boost employee retention and satisfaction, all while experiencing cost savings.

May 29, 2019 -- According to the Federal Reserve, 40 percent of Americans cannot afford an unplanned $400 expense. Let that sink in… Expense volatility is an extremely real concern for consumers across incomes and occupations and causes financial instability that leads to a lack of savings, late fees and, in many cases, debt. Today, we’re excited to share the news that we have joined forces with DailyPay to help tackle financial insecurity for people around the country to take better control over their hard-earned wages.

Barteca Restaurant Group operates 29 restaurants across eight states, staffing up to 80 employees per location. With a staff in the thousands, Barteca knew its employees were handling large amounts of cash to pay out daily tips – a slow, cumbersome process that came with countless risks, including:

By Jeff Johnson, Senior Vice President/General Manager—Commercial Prepaid, NetspendIf you’re a typical U.S. employer, about 80 percent of your employees receive their wages through direct deposit to their chosen bank account or prepaid card.1 This is great for employers (more control over “paperless payroll,” and fewer paper checks to generate and distribute) and great for employees (87 percent of employees are highly satisfied with direct deposit).2 BUT—and this is a big but—that leaves you regularly issuing checks to about 20 percent of your workforce and, possibly, more paper checks for miscellaneous payroll events, like 1099 payments, overtime, out-of-cycle payments, bonuses and incentives.

By Jeff Johnson, Senior Vice President/General Manager, Commercial Prepaid, Netspend

Whether you are a Fortune 500 company or a small business, payroll distribution can be costly and complex. Improving your payroll system by making payments electronically could save your business money in processing costs, while making it simpler for employees to receive their earnings.

Today’s workforce is being shaped by a number of factors, including changing demographics and the growing number of millennials, the onslaught of new technology applications, more geographic distribution, the draw of the gig economy and more. Payroll has evolved over the last several decades but, even so, businesses must continuously work to keep their compensation systems up to speed with the changing market. Doing so will increase operational efficiency, and improve employee satisfaction and retention, while keeping costs in line.

Earlier this year, Netspend partnered with HR Daily Advisor to conduct its annual Payroll Solutions Survey, focused on trends within the payroll field. The survey captured insights on how companies are adapting their payroll processes to respond to the demands of millennials, the forms of payroll payments that are most prevalent and opportunities for improvement. Among the biggest payroll issues reported are that respondents’ current processes are too time-consuming, difficult to track or largely inflexible (per one of the respondents, they “assume everyone works a 40-hour work week”).

Netspend Senior Vice President for Commercial Prepaid Jeff Johnson recently spoke with PaymentsJournal about the use of prepaid for small businesses, including how real-time payments and digital disbursements can revolutionize a company’s disbursement model. Jeff shared details on how Netspend delivers a full suite of prepaid options for its clients, focused on addressing cardholder needs while eliminating unnecessary business costs and streamlining operations.