Amid the upheaval of the COVID-19 crisis, grocery store employees have been deemed essential workers—but how has being on the frontlines of the pandemic impacted their job satisfaction? And a year and a half later, what do they want from their employers? Branch recently conducted a survey with UKG to understand the workplace concerns and priorities of today's grocery workers as they relate to these questions. Below is a summary of our findings.

Higher wages, scheduling stability among top desired benefits

It should come as no surprise that higher wages scored high on the list of top desired benefits, with bonus pay also making the cut. A close second, however, was scheduling stability. Grocery workers today want more stable work schedules—this type of predictability helps people better plan their lives and also smoothes out pay variance and improves cash flow.

Earlier pay access seen as critical

Unfortunately, the pandemic caused more than 70% of surveyed workers to delay or miss a bill, with top financial concerns remaining utility bills or rent payments. Of our surveyed respondents, 90% wanted earlier access to earned wages, citing its helpfulness in mitigating late fees or penalties.

Offering earned wage access as a free benefit can help retain more of your workforce while also attracting more applicants. And it doesn't need to cost your company or your employees a dime. Read more about earned wage access here.

Learn more about what grocery workers want

To discover more results from our survey, check out the infographic below: