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Meet Earned Wage Access (EWA): A revolutionary way to get paid

5min read

Reimagine the way you get paid with Earned Wage Access.

Get on-demand access to a portion of your earned wages and reduce your reliance on high-cost credit and payday loans.

Surprised with a big bill before payday? Need a flat tyre replaced on your way to work? Or has a beloved pet suddenly fallen ill? In the past, you’d have to rely on high-interest credit cards, Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) providers and payday lenders to find the funds you needed —or you’d be living on rice and beans until the next paycheck. Not anymore.

Enter Earned Wage Access:¹ an Earned Wage Access (EWA) product that revolutionises the way you get paid. Earned Wage Access gives you on-demand access to a portion of your wages before payday, so you can avoid payday loans and build budgets around your life, not your pay cycles.

What is Earned Wage Access?

Earned Wage Access is an Earned Wage Access product that gives users early access to their earned wages before payday. You can request up to 50% of your earned wages, up to $1000 a week, for a processing fee of 1.3% when withdrawing into a Spend Account, and 1.5% for withdrawals into any other bank account. Because it’s money you’ve already earned, there’s no interest, credit or late fees involved. 

Earned Wage Access was created by the team behind Employment Hero to help employees access their earned wages on-demand. By using Earned Wage Access, you have an alternative to credit cards, BNPL and payday loans —all of which put people into debt.

You can use Earned Wage Access to manage bills between monthly pay cycles, handle emergencies (like taking your sick cat to the vet), and budget for events like Christmas and birthdays. You can even use Earned Wage Access to invest in shares, or save extra towards a special goal.

What is Earned Wage Access (EWA)?

Earned Wage Access is a no-credit option for employees to access the wages they have already earned on-demand. Rather than getting paid in rigid pay cycles, employees can request their pay as soon as they earn it, whenever they need it.

The concept of employers offering Earned Wage Access as an employee benefit is still new in Australia, but it’s taken off in America. Big players in the US market like McDonalds, Walmart, Uber and PayPal offer earned wages benefits to their employees. In fact, 80% of the Fortune 200 companies now offer earned wage access.

The difference between Earned Wage Access and Early Wage Access is significant, even if the names sound similar.

Earned Wage Access: A no-credit feature that allows an employee instant access to wages they have already earned, reducing debt and leaving their credit scores unaffected.

Early Wage Access: A personal/credit loan that an employee can access before they have completed any shifts, which is then recuperated through direct debits.

How does it work?

If your employer uses Employment Hero HR and Payroll, you have access to Earned Wage Access.

To request an Earned Wage Access amount, download the Work app and click on the ‘Money’ tab, then ‘Income’.

Here, you will see a real-time calculation of how much funds you have available to access. These available funds are calculated as 50% of your earned wages to date, and capped at a maximum of $1000 per week.

 

Next, enter in the Earned Wage Access amount you would like to access. The fees per Earned Wage Access transaction are $3 when transacted into a Spend account, and $4 when transacted into an external bank account.

Why we implemented Earned Wage Access

We implemented Earned Wage Access because payroll needs to be brought into the modern age.

People have become accustomed to wait weeks to get paid for the work they did that day. So when an emergency or surprise bill comes their way, they turn to credit, BNPL and loans to bridge the payday gap —even though the technology exists to pay people in real-time.

Out goes the old, and in comes… Earned Wage Access.

Earned Wage Access began with a simple question: Why shouldn’t you get paid at the end of your shift for the work you did that day?

The world’s become more fast-moving and streamlined, and it’s time for pay to catch up.

We’re living in a world of instant access to everything we love: pizza, movies, and music. So why can’t people stream their wages as quickly as they can stream a podcast?

Historically, we’ve been paid weekly, fortnightly or monthly because of administrative headaches like paper-based processes, payroll tax, compliance and regulation, bank management and liaising with accountants.

Today, payroll doesn’t need time-consuming processes. Thanks to leaps in digital technology Earned Wage Access enables employees to be paid in real-time, as soon as they’ve earned it.

How do people use Earned Wage Access?

In January 2023, the team conducted an ‘Earned Wage Access Saves the Day’ survey where we spoke to Earned Wage Access users and asked them how the feature has helped them manage their finances. We received 118 responses and were amazed by the results.

Suzanne uses Earned Wage Access to put food on the table before payday

I am a single mother working full time to support my daughter, sometimes in-between getting paid I fall short.

The last time I needed Earned Wage Access I had run out of basic food in the house and didn’t have enough money to get us through to pay day.

I was lucky enough to have access to Earned Wage Access which helped with a food shop so I was able to make dinners for the next few nights.

—Suzanne, Inventory Controller from Western Australia

Nelson uses Earned Wage Access to grow his investment portfolio 

It makes life easier especially if you are falling short on the month. With inflation and everything going on – it has helped with my portfolio for investments on some short term positions.

—Nelson, Sales Consultant from New South Wales

Stephen uses Earned Wage Access to handle bills and budget better 

We are building a house and right now we have bills coming in everyday.

Earned Wage Access helps by enabling me to take a little of my pay early to help offset the bills.

And it also has a limited amount that I can take out each week, so I don’t get a shock on pay day.

It is a great idea, all companies should be using Earned Wage Access.

—Stephen, Caretaker from Queensland

How do users rate Earned Wage Access?

In the Earned Wage Access Saves the Day survey, we also asked participants about their experience using Earned Wage Access. The results were overwhelmingly positive, with 98% of those surveyed saying they would definitely use Earned Wage Access again.

Results taken from the January 2023 Earned Wage Access Saves the Day research report.

  • 93% would recommend Earned Wage Access
  • 98% would definitely use Earned Wage Access again
  • 89% of users rated Earned Wage Access as excellent
  • 57% used Earned Wage Access for emergencies
  • 36% used Earned Wage Access to manage their bills

Earned Wage Access is a revolutionary solution to the problem of rigid pay cycles. By embracing a modern way to get paid, you can handle emergencies, pay your bills with ease, and even support your saving and investment goals.

To learn more about how Earned Wage Access can help you budget better and manage your finances between paydays, read our Earned Wage Access Factsheet.

  1. The Earned Wage Access feature is available to employees of organisations using Employment Hero HR and connected Payroll.
  2. Users pay a $3 fee to draw down an Earned Wage Access amount into their Spend account. Drawdowns into an external bank account incur a $4 fee.
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