It’s that time of year. The leaves are turning, the air is starting to have that hint of a chill and stores are beginning to display their holiday wares. Not far behind is winter. And along with winter comes the winter storms. Even though you may not live in a climate where blizzards are the norm, that doesn’t mean a nasty winter storm in another region can’t impact your business — especially your payroll.
Bad weather and natural disasters are an unfortunate fact of life. But they don’t have to derail your payroll schedule or keep your employees from receiving their pay in a timely manner. Paid employees are happy employees. That’s why more and more staffing companies are turning to direct deposit and paycards instead of payroll checks. One paycard company estimates that by next year, more than $550 billion of wages will be disbursed through paycards. Plus, this year over 600,000 Americans received their tax refunds via their paycard.
You can’t control the weather or any natural disaster, but you can control when your employees receive their pay with the use of direct deposit or paycards.
Why encourage direct deposit or paycard use?
Convenience:
1. Bad weather or disasters in other parts of the country (or even around the world) can impact your payroll. Direct deposit and paycards eliminate this risk because payroll funds are deposited directly and automatically — so your employees receive their pay rain or shine (or snow or ice).
2. Employees still receive a pay stub, but distributing these stubs isn’t as time sensitive. You don’t have to immediately take time out of your busy day to distribute checks either at your office or at your customers’ locations; you can do this at your leisure.
3. If employees don’t have a bank account for direct deposit, paycards are another viable option and don’t require a credit check. For example, Tricom has partnered with rapid! PayCard (www.rapidpaycard.com) to provide Visa-backed debit cards that require no checking account and no credit check.
Security:
4. Direct deposit and paycards limit your exposure to check fraud, one of the fastest growing forms of corporate fraud.
5. You don’t have to deal with issues stemming from lost or stolen checks, or the data transmission and check storage security issues from printing checks in-house.
6. If employees are affected by a natural disaster, you can still ensure they receive their paychecks without disruption.
Higher Employee Satisfaction:
7. Direct deposit and paycards make getting paid easy, which translates to happier employees.
8. Most banks don’t charge for direct deposit, and the paycard fees are much lower than the high fees charged by check cashing places.
9. Employees get paid regardless of weather or natural disasters, either in your region or across the country.
10. Employees won’t experience any delays like they would with cashing their checks due to bank holidays or other bank closures.
11. Paycards can be used anywhere Visa is accepted, and employees can get cash back from purchases or ATMs.
12. Best of all, it’s free for staffing companies if their employees use direct deposit or paycards, and most fees are lower than any check cashing charges. Plus, with rapid! PayCard, employees can make one withdrawal a week, free of charge, to access their funds.
We’ve also created a list of direct deposit and paycard benefits from the employee perspective. This includes the ability to have other payments such as tax refunds and pension payments deposited to their card, free online access, increased security over carrying cash and 24/7 access to pay.
Click here to see the full list of employee benefits.
State regulations regarding requirements for employees to go from paper checks to direct deposit or paycards vary from state to state, so check your state’s regulations. Also, you may wish to selectively offer direct deposit or paycard options to employees as you deem appropriate. Regardless, direct deposit and paycards can be a safe, convenient option for your payroll. Interested in learning more? Contact Rick Gehrke at Tricom Funding at 1-800-348-4815 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .
y once in a while as I speak with staffing company owners, I’ll meet someone who doesn’t use any source of outside payroll funding assistance. 
