Employment Hero account and Earned Wage Access (EWA) information for employers and managers

Questions

• How will my payroll team know that an employee has applied for Earned Wage Access (EWA)?
• Is the Employment Hero account replacing bank cards/bank accounts? My employees are asking if they still have access to their bank accounts?
• Once my employees have ordered the Employment Hero account Mastercard Debit card, do we have to start paying salary in the Employment Hero account only?
• Why are employees asked to set up a Employment Hero account? We wish to switch this feature off.
• I do not want my employees using Earned Wage Access (EWA). Can I switch it off?

Answers

  How will payroll know that an employee has applied for Earned Wage Access (EWA)?  

We automatically highlight and apply any EWA repayment transactions to your ‌payroll ABA file. Making it easy to make sure your employees are paid their net balance after the EWA fee, and advanced EWA request deduction amount. All you have to do is not edit the automated balances. The employee's payslip will automatically reflect the EWA deduction amount and EWA fee as a deduction. Employment Hero is working to improve the notifications to Payroll Admins in advance so you know how many of your team have used EWA.

  Is the Employment Hero account replacing bank cards/bank accounts? My employees are asking if they still have access to their bank accounts?  

The Employment Hero account is completely optional. It does not replace any existing employee bank accounts and can easily be used alongside them to make sure employees get easy and fast access to the best benefits and discounts within the in-app and in-store.

  Once my employees have ordered the Employment Hero account Mastercard Debit card, do we have to start paying salary in the Employment Hero account only?  

The Employment Hero account is completely optional. It does not replace any existing employee bank accounts and they can easily use it alongside them to make sure employees get easy and fast access to the best benefits and discounts in-app and in-store. If your employee wishes to stream their salary between their Employment Hero account and an existing bank account, direction your employee to this article for instructions.

  Why are employees asked to set up a Employment Hero account? We wish to switch this feature off.   

The Employment Hero account is the foundation of Employment Hero’s improved employee value proposition (EVP). Employment Hero makes it easier, faster, and cheaper to offer Benefits and rewards to your employees both in-store and online. Employment Hero account is entirely optional for your employees. It unlocks a world of new benefits that Employment Hero is working hard to continually improve the range, accessibility, and value of, for all employees.

  I do not want my employees using EWA. Can I switch it off?  

EWA offers a bridge across the payday gap. It does this by providing employees access to their money now so they do not have to rely on expensive short-term credit traps like Buy-Now-Pay-Later, credit cards, or other short-term loans.

Employment Hero funds the Earned Wage Access requested salary amount in advance to your employees. Your finance team does not have to fund any of the advance payments, and you do not have to change or alter your payroll or finance processes. With no credit, no interest, no ongoing fees, and automatic repayment, earned pay access means employees are at no risk of entering a predatory, compounding, unserviceable debt cycle.

Research shows that employees will use these funds to manage bills and emergencies. We conducted research with 503 employees that represented a cross-section of the Australian demographic (95% confidence, 5% margin of error) on how they would use a product like earned wage access. Research also shows employees would use Earned Wage Access responsibly:

• Managing bills (44%).
• Emergencies (44%).
• Unplanned expenses (35%).
• Investing (13%).
• Improve budgeting (11%).
• Avoid credit/loans/interest charges (9%).
• Minimise use of BNPL (7%).
• Reducing their mortgages via an offset account (3%).
• All the above (2%).