Today’s workforce is changing. The traditional bi-weekly paycheck is no longer good enough for many workers in today’s fast-paced economy. Bills, emergencies, and the increasing cost of daily goods have led many workers to seek faster access to their hard earned cash.

Luckily, faster access to pay is possible with payment solutions offering features like earned wage access, digital tip disbursements, and other kinds of same-day payouts to get earnings into the hands of workers sooner than the typical bi-weekly paycheck.

So that begs the question, what should you be looking for when it comes to a payments solution that will benefit your entire workforce?

How Are Your Workers Getting Paid? 

It’s essential to know your workers’ preferences, including how they get paid. Some may use a brick-and-mortar bank, others utilize online banking and digital wallet apps like Cash App or Venmo, and others may be underbanked.

Chances are your workforce falls into all three of these buckets, meaning your business needs an easy-to-manage solution that will allow you to handle payouts to all kinds of accounts—and provide solutions for those without accounts—without placing additional strain and workload on your payroll and administrative staff.

One of the unique challenges that comes with paying workers that use digital wallet apps like Cash App and Venmo revolves around the Know Your Customer (KYC) process. KYC is the due diligence process that financial institutions use to verify the identity and financial profile of a client before account opening. This process often requires users to provide personal information including their name, date of birth, address, and Social Security Number. 

While most workers should be able to pass the KYC process with their local bank or digital wallet/banking app of choice, not everyone will be able to provide the proper documentation to open an account. 

That’s where Branch can offer additional flexibility. 

How Branch Can Pay Your Workforce

With Branch, most of your workforce can be paid out digitally on day one without having to issue a single paper check. There are several key differences between Branch and the other digital wallet/online banking providers.

1. The Branch Card is a fully functioning debit card and digital bank account¹ that is FDIC insured. This allows users to store and transfer² funds, spend, and track payment history through the Branch app.

2. Branch offers fee-free options for both your business and your workers. Say goodbye to inactivity fees, ATM decline fees, overdraft fees, card replacement fees, and ACH transfer fees. We want to make financial services as accessible as possible to working Americans, and ensure that accelerating payments to your workers doesn’t end up costing them in unnecessary ways.

3. Branch is available to a wide variety of workers. Unlike Cash App or Venmo, Branch has solutions that work for minors 14+ and workers with limited documentation. That means most workers within your workforce can open an account with Branch and receive their earnings on day one. No paper checks or payroll alternatives required. We offer two account types to your entire workforce: Premier Accounts for full functionality of the Branch Wallet and Card, and Essential Accounts for workers who may be unable to complete the traditional KYC process. 

4. With your workforce being paid through Branch, you unlock a variety of other payout methods. Now, you can offer a paycard solution, cashless tips, earned wage access, same-day pay, and more to empower your workforce with fast access to earnings.

5. Get fast access to the account and routing number. When a Branch account is created for a worker, your payroll team can get access to the account and routing number seamlessly through our APIs. This means no more handwritten forms or manually copying and pasting from one payment software to another to send payments.

6. Paying out through Branch offers easy reconciliation in the event of payment errors or issues. When your workforce is paid through the same system, it makes it significantly easier for your administration team to troubleshoot when things go awry. If your team is sending payments to workers through multiple avenues (Venmo, Cash App, or checks), you are adding unnecessary reconciliation steps with your payroll team.

7. Branch has a robust customer service, security, and fraud team that will keep your workers identity and funds protected. We offer 365/24/7 AI chat support as well as English/Spanish phone support on weekdays from 8am-5pm CT.

‍Set Your Workforce Up for Success

‍When you are looking for a payment solution for your workforce, you need a tool that you can trust for both your business and your workers. With Branch, you can offer fast access to earnings, more flexibility, and powerful financial wellness tools to set your workforce up for success. Learn how you can use Branch to improve your onboarding, offer flexible pay, and remove the hassles of paper checks and digital wallets. 

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¹Branch is not a bank. Banking services provided by Evolve Bank & Trust, Member FDIC. FDIC insurance only applies for eligible accounts should the bank holding your funds fail. 
‍²Transfer funds is only available with a full-featured Premier Account