Dunkin'

NGP Management Boosts Recruiting + Retention with Direct Deposit and Earned Wage Access from Branch

Background

NGP Management Scrivanos Network was founded in 1985, starting with a single Dunkin Donuts location in Haverhill, MA. Since then, the group has grown to operate 115 Dunkin locations throughout Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Vermont, employing over 2,000 employees across all locations. Chrissy Etheridge is the Talent Acquisition Specialist for NGP Management, and she spoke with us about why her team sought out a solution like Branch—in addition to how Branch has benefitted both their staff and their business.

In search of a better post-pandemic recruiting benefit

NGP initially started the search for an earned wage access (EWA) provider in the aftermath of the pandemic, when quick serve restaurants across the country were finding it harder than usual to hire enough staff. NGP wanted to offer something that would give them a competitive edge when it came to getting new talent in the door.

“At that time, hiring was incredibly difficult,” Etheridge says. “Anyone you had hired could easily go down the street and find a different job, it was just really tough. We were looking for benefits that would give us that competitive edge when it came to recruiting.”

NGP knew that faster access to earnings was a huge draw for today’s workers; but EWA wasn’t the only thing they had on their radar. Prior to Branch, NGP was using paper checks for payroll. Etheridge and her team heard from employees that they would prefer digital direct deposit for the speed and convenience it could provide.

“When you deposit a check, you have to wait a couple days for it to clear, and these days, people want their money faster than that to pay bills,” Etheridge says. “We took that feedback seriously.”

NGP would need to find a solution that could replace paper checks while also providing an earned wage access option. The search was on for a company that could deliver both of these important solutions for NGP staff.

Wanted: A fee-free solution for EWA + direct deposit

While NGP evaluated several solutions that could offer both digital direct deposit and EWA, they ultimately went with Branch, citing that a major factor in the decision was Branch’s fee-free options that put the employee first.

“We loved that there wasn’t an additional cost to our employees with Branch,” says Etheridge. “That has been huge.” Branch doesn’t charge fees for the companies who use it either, making it a win-win for everyone involved.

When NGP was ready to get started with Branch they used a thoughtful implementation process that falls in line with their commitment to connect one-on-one with their staff for important roll-outs.

“We always prefer to be face-to-face with our team instead of doing things over Zoom or a big email,” Etheridge says. “So we traveled to all of our districts and spoke about the benefits of the roll-out, handing out Branch Cards to everyone. We preferred that gradual approach and knew that’s what would work best for our employees; we wanted them to be fully aware of what Branch offered and how it could benefit them.”

A recruiting tool becomes a boon for retention, too

NGP had originally sought a solution like Branch for recruiting purposes, and it delivered. As part of their commitment to listening to employee feedback, they send out a survey during the onboarding process. Part of the survey asks new hires about the reasons they chose to work for NGP; 13% of new employees surveyed cited earned wage access as what impacted their decision to work with NGP.

But the biggest surprise has been how offering Branch not only boosted recruiting efforts, but retention, too.

“We noticed that on average, our employees who used Branch pick up more hours than employees who don’t use Branch. This was a positive result we saw very early on, and it’s been a huge benefit to our business,” says Etheridge.

Another unexpected benefit to Branch that Etheridge noted was that Branch was helping employees who may not have had access to banking or financial services before.

“A lot of people don’t have bank accounts or don’t know how to go about getting one, and Branch has also helped those [unbanked] employees a lot. When we introduced direct deposit, many people chose to keep their pay within Branch, using it as their primary bank account. This showed me that offering this account, when maybe people didn’t have access to these options in the past, was very important. It’s allowed them to be more financially responsible and manage their finances better, too.”

NGP employees now enjoy digital direct deposit and earned wage access through Branch, allowing them to forego the hassles of paper checks and have the option to access their earnings ahead of payday if needed—without incurring unnecessary fees. For Etheridge and her team, they’ve been able to implement a truly meaningful benefit that helps attract and retain more talent—all while relying on Branch’s best-in-class support to handle any issues along the way.

“We’ve worked with a lot of vendors, from applicant tracking systems to different payroll systems, and I have to say that everyone we’ve worked with at Branch has been really responsive and helpful. The amount of calls or questions I have to field is really limited; and that isn’t always the case with other vendors.”