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Welcome to the Bringing the 
Human Back to Human Resources 

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podcast. 
I'm Tracy Chernoff, and I've 

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spent my entire professional 
career in HR Each week, we'll 

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explore the delicate balance 
between people and business with

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the aim to reconnect the two and
create meaningful outcomes. 

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Listen in as I share my own 
experiences, challenge the 

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status quo, and chat with guests
from various industries about 

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our mission to bring the human 
back to human Resources. 

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Hi everyone, welcome back to the
podcast. 

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Thank you so much for being here
for another week. 

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Don't forget to rate review, 
subscribe wherever you're 

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catching this episode, whether 
you're watching or just 

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listening. 
And if you're watching, if 

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you're on Spotify, do all of 
those things that I just 

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instructed you to do. 
And if you're watching on 

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YouTube, make sure to subscribe 
and give this video a thumbs up.

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This week I want to talk about 
earned wage access, which is a 

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topic I believe I've spoken 
about on the podcast before. 

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Earned wage access is basically 
the philosophy and the ability 

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for employees to access their 
wages as they've earned them 

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ahead of or before or really at 
any time ahead of their regular 

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scheduled payday, or regularly 
scheduled payday I should say. 

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So let's say someone gets paid 
usually bi weekly and they have 

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a week left until that payday, 
but they really need to access 

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the wages that they've already 
worked and earned. 

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So let's say it's a Wednesday 
and they've worked Monday and 

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Tuesday and they are really 
interested in accessing those 

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wages. 
That is essentially what earned 

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wage access is where then they 
would that that employee in 

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particular would be able to 
access, let's say the five hours

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per day that they had already 
worked. 

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This is a, a topic that I wanted
to talk about a, because it's 

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something that I really believe 
can improve greatly the lives of

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hourly employees especially, but
also just employee engagement 

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overall. 
And it's something that has been

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definitely more popular in 
recent years. 

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And one of the reasons why also 
I wanted to talk about it this 

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week is because recently I want 
to say in the last two days, I 

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think yes. 
So this was, Oh no, sorry, a 

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little bit longer than that. 
Last week, I should say. 

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On May 21st specifically, South 
Carolina became the 5th state to

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enact a law regulating earned 
wage access providers, But it 

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doesn't subject them to lending 
laws, which we're going to get 

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into. 
But because this is a recent, 

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you know, kind of news article 
that is relevant to those of us 

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in HR but also those of us who 
are employees, I thought it 

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would be an interesting topic. 
Before I get into some of the 

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stuff that I just mentioned, 
like lending laws and things 

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like that, I just kind of want 
to reiterate what earned wage 

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access is. 
It is effectively the 

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opportunity where employers are 
able to provide employees access

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to their earned wages. 
This again, as I kind of said in

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the beginning or just just a 
little a little while ago, I 

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believe that this is something 
that hourly employees especially

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can benefit greatly from. 
Hourly employees are more often 

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than not working a minimum wage 
or maybe slightly above. 

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If you think about hourly 
employees and the perspective of

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exempt versus non exempt, there 
are salary requirements to be 

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exempt. 
So let's just say non exempt 

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employees there for those who 
are earning an income on an 

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hourly basis, while there may be
people who are well above the 

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minimum wage based on their 
salaries, it's highly possible 

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that they also are working 
paycheck to paycheck in order to

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make ends meet and or working a 
second job or even a third job. 

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A term that I recently learned 
about is this term over 

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employed. 
And I've learned this term 

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because technically I'm over 
employed because I have my 

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podcast and my own business 
while also working full time for

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a tech company and actually a 
tech company that that provides 

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earned wage access to employees 
that use our product. 

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So, you know, it's this idea of 
over employed, you know, we can 

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come back to to that and as a 
separate podcast episode 

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probably. 
But anyway, I don't want to 

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digress too much. 
Earned wage access is really to 

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me again super beneficial for 
those who are working on an 

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hourly basis. 
When we think about the common 

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issues that hourly employees are
faced with, it tends to be 

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income driven issues, whether 
we're talking about the amount 

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that they earn and when we think
about minimum wage and things 

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like that, that's one element 
there. 

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And then the second is that 
because of their salary or I 

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should say their, their hourly 
income, it is highly possible as

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I mentioned that they are 
interested or potentially part 

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of generating other income 
streams for themselves. 

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In my experience, having worked 
in retail, let's take Target as 

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an example where roughly 80% of 
store employees are hourly. 

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We I found, I shall, I'll speak 
from my own experience, I found 

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that those employees more often 
than not were, were working 

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second or third jobs. 
And again, we're quote, UN quote

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over employed. 
And these individuals were 

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always looking for more hours in
order to gain a higher income or

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or earn a higher income. 
And I can only imagine, I don't 

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know what Target does today. 
It's been a while since I worked

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there, but I can only imagine 
what would be if those employees

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had access to their earned wages
ahead of paid periods, ahead of 

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pay dates. 
And while I remember Target did 

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do advances for employees, it 
wasn't, you know, it, it's not 

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the same as what I believe 
earned wage access is. 

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So when we kind of break this 
down a little bit further, 

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earned wage access, when we 
think about what it means for an

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employee, not necessarily what 
it is, but what it means for an 

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employee. 
It means that that employee then

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potentially doesn't necessarily 
need to work a second job. 

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If they can get more hours at 
their existing job and have 

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access to more hours, 
potentially be able to receive 

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the money that they've already 
earned ahead of time. 

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They're not in this position 
where they're necessarily, I 

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should say, where they're 
actively looking for pay when 

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they need it. 
Now, of course, if a business is

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not able to give an employee 
more hours than they are still 

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kind of in that same position, 
but earned wage access does 

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provide that flexibility for 
employees, for people, for human

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beings who need flexibility in 
their pay. 

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Now with that background, I do 
want to read you a little bit 

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from this article from HR Dive, 
which goes into this new law in 

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South Carolina. 
So again, a a new law was signed

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in for May, on May 21st 
requiring Earned Wage access 

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providers operating in the state
to register annually with the 

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Department of Consumer Affairs. 
And as part of the registration,

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the state will require the 
Earned Wage Access or EWA 

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providers list fees to be 
imposed on the employee or 

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employer in providing the 
services and include at least 

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one option by which a user can 
receive earned wage access 

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services at no cost. 
Now, one of the things that I 

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want to continue with here is 
this idea of a loan being 

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provided, or I should say the 
lending laws as part of the 

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laws. 
Because sometimes when earned 

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wage access is part of the 
conversation, people 

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automatically kind of jump to, 
well, is this a loan? 

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Is this in advance that is then 
either paid back or you know 

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what, what does that look like? 
How does that work? 

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So the article continues. 
While the new law imposes other 

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limitations on such providers, 
the big win for the industry is 

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that the law specifically says 
Ewa. 

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Again, earned wage access 
services won't be considered 

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loans and their providers won't 
be treated like lenders. 

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Which for me, and I'll go into 
some of the logistics behind 

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this too, but for me, I think 
this is a really important part 

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of the law. 
Earned wage access to me is not 

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a loan lender relationship 
because effectively an employee 

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who is participating in an 
earned wage access program or 

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has access to earned wage 
access, they are they have 

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already earned the hours that 
they're quote UN quote cashing 

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in on. 
So to me that doesn't feel like 

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a loan. 
Obviously when you compare it to

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something like a 401K and you 
take out from a 401K, you can 

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make the same argument. 
Well, I made those contributions

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and so taking it out is a loan, 
but it's different because 

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earned wage access is 
specifically on income. 

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Whereas if you look at something
like a four O 1K or another, you

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know, maybe I should say 
specifically with a four O 1K 

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loan or a different type of 
loan, it's not income driven. 

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Those are either based on 
specific personal or company 

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contributions or state provided 
benefits in depending on or I 

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should say bank provided 
benefits depending on the type 

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of loan. 
You know, you could also look at

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like the federal government 
loans for student loans. 

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It's different, right? 
Like that to me, and I'm not an 

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expert in finance, but to me the
relationship is different 

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because if we again, take a 
different example with a, a 

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federal student loan, you've not
necessarily yet earned your 

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degree and yet you're receiving 
loans from the federal 

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government in order to do so, in
order to be able to pay for the 

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services that you're rendering, 
which is essentially the 

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education you receive. 
And then when either as you 

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complete your degree or when you
finish your degree, you then owe

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money to the loan provider, to 
the lender. 

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In this case, in my example, the
federal government. 

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So with earned wage access to me
the relationship is different 

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because an employee is in a an 
employee employer relationship 

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with the employer providing 
earned wage access and the 

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employee has already worked the 
hours, they've already provided 

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the service that they are 
contracted or obviously not 

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contracted in at will states, 
but that they are hired to 

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provide that service has been 
provided, right. 

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So essentially the way I see it 
is almost as a payment. 

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And so when we think about 
earned wage access relative to 

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pay, pay dates and regularly 
scheduled pay dates, I see it as

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well. 
If an employee is typically paid

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on this Friday and they are 
looking to access their wages 

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the Wednesday prior, it's not a 
loan, it's them effectively 

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advancing their paycheck. 
And there shouldn't be any 

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penalty or fee or anything like 
that because they've already 

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earned those wages. 
Now of course there are 

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companies that provide earned 
wage access opportunities who do

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charge a fee. 
But to me that should that fee 

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should be incurred by the 
employer. 

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Because again, as I said in the 
beginning, I believe this drives

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employee engagement. 
When an hourly employee who's 

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earning $16.00 an hour works 25 
hours a week and they have a 

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leak in their home and they need
to pay for a repair person to 

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come out and fix it that day. 
But they are working paycheck to

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paycheck and they don't have the
means until payday. 

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Their employer is driving for 
them a very serious level of 

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engagement because that employee
now can take out wages that 

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they've already earned and be 
able to pay for a repair person 

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to fix their leak again with 
this example, rather than having

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to wait. 
So the the type of engagement 

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that it it drives is pretty 
personal. 

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This is not, you know, liking 
the environment that we work in.

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And that's where the engagement 
comes from. 

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This is like a deeply personal 
level of engagement. 

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So and, and maybe it's hard for 
some of us to relate to some of 

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these examples because maybe 
we've never had to live in this 

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type of experience or we haven't
had these experiences or we 

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don't know someone with these 
experiences. 

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But I can tell you from my own 
personal experience that it 

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really makes a huge difference 
when someone has total 

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flexibility in how they live and
the money that they earn and the

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way that they can have 
flexibility just around 

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accessing their money that 
they've earned. 

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So that's the first thing. 
The second thing is, in my 

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opinion and from what I've seen,
again from my own experience, 

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especially in retail, when 
employees have access to their 

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wages ahead of or in part with 
their regularly scheduled pay 

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dates, they are much more 
interested in working the shifts

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that they're scheduled. 
And it's not to say that people 

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who are working on an hourly 
basis aren't interested in 

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working their shifts. 
That's not what I'm saying. 

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What I mean is that very 
specifically reduces attendance 

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issues because they can see 
physically how much money they 

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could be earning for that shift.
And I can tell you, at least 

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with the company that I work 
for, Legion Technologies, we 

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provide our clients earned wage 
access and you can literally see

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how much your shift is going to 
earn you. 

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And when you know, I think for 
some of you have been here for a

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while, you know that I was 
actually on when I was still in 

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retail, we use the technology 
that Legion Technologies offer. 

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So I was technically a a client 
before I was an employee. 

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So it's an interesting story for
another time if you haven't 

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listened to that episode, I 
think from probably 2 1/2 years 

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ago at this point. 
But anyway, what I saw in my 

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experience is that effectively 
employees are really less likely

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to skip out on their shifts 
because they see how it's going 

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to impact them. 
If someone's going to earn or 

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has the ability to earn $200 for
their shift, there's an 

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opportunity cost there. 
If they call out or if they're 

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late, they see the the the 
actual monetary impact by 

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attending or by not attending 
their shift, and so on. 

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In the same breath, when someone
sees a shift that is then 

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available for them. 
When a company offers earned 

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wage access, they are likely to 
work more or they're likely to 

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00:15:30,520 --> 00:15:35,080
take on more shifts, which only 
benefits them more greatly if 

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they are an individual who is 
actively seeking higher income, 

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higher income level, or an 
increased access to wage, or I 

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should say an increased access 
to income. 

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00:15:48,880 --> 00:15:52,040
So, you know, again, this kind 
of comes back to this idea 

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around hourly employees who are 
more often than not working more

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than one job in order to make 
ends meet. 

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When you have this perfect storm
where it's earned wage access, 

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shift flexibility and the 
ability for hourly employees 

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00:16:06,760 --> 00:16:10,720
especially to take shifts from 
others or swap shifts and things

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like that. 
And I could talk about that for 

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a whole other episode too, 
because it's another thing that 

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I think is really, really 
helpful for the hourly 

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population. 
And you then also have, you 

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know, an employer that sees 
these things as driving 

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engagement. 
It is the perfect storm for 

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allowing. 
I realize storm sounds kind of 

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negative, but I mean it in a 
positive way that then you have 

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this experience where employees 
are really experiencing a type 

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00:16:37,360 --> 00:16:41,400
of flexibility that enables them
not only at work, but also in 

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their personal lives. 
And flexibility, you know, it's,

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it's a term that I've used 
especially for myself as a 

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salaried employee, as a person 
who works remotely, obviously as

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a new mom, flexibility is really
important to me. 

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Hourly employees make up over 
60% of the US working 

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population. 
So if we're only thinking of 

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40%, meaning the salaried 
employees, when it comes to 

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flexibility, then we're missing 
the majority, We're missing what

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their needs are. 
And flexibility is not something

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that is just in the context of 
remote work versus hybrid work 

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versus in person work. 
Flexibility is so much more than

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that. 
And so to me, earned wage access

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is one of the pillars of 
flexibility, especially for 

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hourly employees, because it's 
income based. 

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And when people have flexibility
with their income and they have 

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a say so over their earned 
wages, I to me, the sky is the 

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00:17:41,480 --> 00:17:44,840
limit for the opportunities that
they feel that they have with a 

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business. 
It again, the engagement is huge

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00:17:47,520 --> 00:17:49,840
there. 
I think because a company that 

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offers earned wage access versus
a company that doesn't, to me, I

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think there's a, there's a huge 
recruitment factor there and 

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00:17:57,240 --> 00:18:00,760
employees are just generally 
happier when they feel more in 

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control of their finances and of
their income. 

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And certainly there's, you know,
I'm sure that there's an 

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argument to be made saying, Oh, 
well, you know, and I know 

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00:18:11,400 --> 00:18:14,280
sometimes people say this in the
same breath, Oh, well, earned 

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00:18:14,280 --> 00:18:19,320
wage access isn't driving a 
financially sound experience for

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employees. 
But that's not true. 

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00:18:21,000 --> 00:18:24,800
Because whether so let's say 
even more specifically, if 

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00:18:24,800 --> 00:18:28,600
people think that it's 
counterintuitive to or 

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00:18:28,600 --> 00:18:31,840
contradictory to saving, it's 
just simply not true. 

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Because let's take an hourly 
employee who earns $16.00 an 

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00:18:35,960 --> 00:18:38,600
hour and they work 25 hours a 
week. 

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00:18:39,760 --> 00:18:45,440
Whether you have earned wage 
access or not, saving might not 

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00:18:45,440 --> 00:18:47,520
be the first thing that they're 
able to do. 

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So, you know, businesses have to
really think about what is 

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their, what is their audience? 
Who is their audience? 

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00:18:56,680 --> 00:18:58,800
And what is it that their 
audience really needs? 

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Someone who's earning, Let's, 
let's do the math. 

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00:19:01,560 --> 00:19:06,400
So someone who is earning $16.00
an hour and works 25 hours a 

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00:19:06,400 --> 00:19:10,000
week, that's $400.00 a week 
before any taxes and deductions.

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00:19:10,520 --> 00:19:15,960
So times 52, that's $20,800 a 
year depending on where they 

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00:19:15,960 --> 00:19:18,920
live, that is. 
I mean, in general, this is 

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below the poverty, poverty line 
because I think the poverty line

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00:19:22,640 --> 00:19:25,920
is in the 40s in the United 
States, at least it is I think 

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00:19:25,920 --> 00:19:28,200
in New York. 
So depending on where they live 

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00:19:28,200 --> 00:19:30,560
and what their cost of living 
is, this is potentially not 

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really a livable wage. 
So when a company says, Oh, 

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00:19:33,520 --> 00:19:38,760
well, earned wage access doesn't
promote saving or it's 

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00:19:39,040 --> 00:19:43,040
counterintuitive to saving, it's
just not a realistic part of the

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00:19:43,040 --> 00:19:46,240
conversation. 
If you as a business want your 

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00:19:46,240 --> 00:19:50,840
employees to save more, that's 
separate because then it comes 

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00:19:50,840 --> 00:19:53,840
into, it pulls into the the 
conversation. 

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00:19:53,840 --> 00:19:57,000
What are people earning? 
Do you have a four O 1K match 

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00:19:57,000 --> 00:19:59,480
program? 
Do you have four O 1K for people

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00:19:59,480 --> 00:20:03,440
who are working part time? 
Because someone working 25 hours

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00:20:03,440 --> 00:20:06,560
a week is most more often than 
not part time. 

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00:20:08,320 --> 00:20:11,400
And do you have financial 
literacy programs? 

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00:20:11,440 --> 00:20:15,120
That's what promotes saving. 
Earned wage access promotes 

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00:20:15,120 --> 00:20:18,520
flexibility and engagement. 
So there are two totally 

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00:20:18,520 --> 00:20:20,760
separate things. 
And it's not to say that someone

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00:20:20,760 --> 00:20:26,800
who has access to earned wage 
access products or services 

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00:20:27,200 --> 00:20:29,520
isn't doing that in order to 
save. 

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00:20:29,880 --> 00:20:34,760
But most likely that person is 
someone that needs to access 

327
00:20:34,760 --> 00:20:39,720
their wages when they need them 
because of expenses, not 

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00:20:39,720 --> 00:20:42,640
necessarily because of 
investment or saving. 

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00:20:42,960 --> 00:20:48,520
So, you know, to me as an 
employer if, or I should say as 

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00:20:48,520 --> 00:20:52,720
an HR person for an employer 
that values earned wage access, 

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00:20:52,720 --> 00:20:57,080
I think it's, you know, it's 
really interesting to hear the 

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00:20:57,160 --> 00:21:01,880
opposite argument around saving 
or this being a loan. 

333
00:21:01,880 --> 00:21:05,960
Like it's just that's a, a 
mindset thing to me. 

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00:21:06,120 --> 00:21:09,320
We have to change our mindsets. 
We have to really think who 

335
00:21:09,320 --> 00:21:11,560
again, who is the audience and 
what do they need? 

336
00:21:11,560 --> 00:21:15,280
What are they benefiting from 
when we institute or don't 

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00:21:15,280 --> 00:21:20,800
institute these perks, right? 
Or these, it's not even a perk 

338
00:21:20,800 --> 00:21:22,240
actually. 
It's really just kind of, I 

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00:21:23,160 --> 00:21:26,040
don't know, I guess we could say
benefit because just like health

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00:21:26,040 --> 00:21:28,320
benefits aren't necessarily a 
perk. 

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00:21:28,400 --> 00:21:31,760
They are a benefit of working 
for a particular company. 

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00:21:31,760 --> 00:21:35,560
So let's let's call it a benefit
because when we talk about a 

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00:21:35,560 --> 00:21:38,720
perk, it's almost like saying, 
Oh, well, you get, you know, X 

344
00:21:38,720 --> 00:21:42,160
number of dollars for lunch 
reimbursements, But that's not 

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00:21:42,160 --> 00:21:45,280
what this is. 
This is saying, hey, employee X,

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00:21:45,280 --> 00:21:47,680
you have access to the hours 
that you've already worked 

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00:21:47,680 --> 00:21:50,480
because we understand that 
flexibility is really important 

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00:21:50,480 --> 00:21:56,280
to you and your bills might not 
fall in the timeline that we pay

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00:21:56,280 --> 00:21:59,000
you on. 
So, you know, change the mindset

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00:21:59,000 --> 00:22:01,240
a little bit. 
Anyway, I kind of just want to 

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00:22:01,520 --> 00:22:06,760
wrap by sharing a little bit 
more on this on this law. 

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00:22:07,000 --> 00:22:11,280
So the article does talk about 
here, the earned wage access is 

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00:22:11,280 --> 00:22:13,840
increasingly being offered to 
employees as a means to tap 

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00:22:13,840 --> 00:22:16,600
their earned wages before a skit
regularly scheduled payday. 

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00:22:16,880 --> 00:22:21,160
And the article continues by 
saying that in contrast to the 

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00:22:21,280 --> 00:22:24,360
South Carolina law, California 
and Connecticut have taken a 

357
00:22:24,360 --> 00:22:28,160
different track, moving to 
subject EWA payments to lending 

358
00:22:28,160 --> 00:22:31,160
laws that are provisions for 
policing interest rates and 

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00:22:31,160 --> 00:22:34,720
dictating transparency. 
I am feel really strongly 

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00:22:34,720 --> 00:22:40,520
against imposing interest rates 
on earned wage access 

361
00:22:40,640 --> 00:22:44,560
opportunities because again, 
these are earned wages. 

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00:22:44,560 --> 00:22:48,880
To me, it's like, what is the, I
guess I, I question what is the 

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00:22:48,880 --> 00:22:54,320
difference between an employee 
taking out money from their bank

364
00:22:54,320 --> 00:22:58,760
account, right? 
Let's say on, on a Friday when 

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00:22:58,760 --> 00:23:05,440
their paycheck is, is dispersed 
to them versus a day a week, a 

366
00:23:05,440 --> 00:23:10,280
few days before when they've 
already earned those wages. 

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00:23:10,280 --> 00:23:14,480
Again, it's, it's not, it's not 
access to wages before they've 

368
00:23:14,480 --> 00:23:16,880
been worked or they before 
they've been earned. 

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00:23:17,000 --> 00:23:21,520
It's like an this employee who 
works 16 for $16.00 an hour, 

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00:23:21,520 --> 00:23:24,360
works 25 hours a week. 
They've already worked 20 hours.

371
00:23:24,680 --> 00:23:27,920
Why should they not be able to 
access those 20 hours? 

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00:23:28,120 --> 00:23:30,920
Why is that a loan? 
They've all they're, they're 

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00:23:30,920 --> 00:23:35,400
expected to receive that payment
in on their next regularly 

374
00:23:35,400 --> 00:23:38,000
scheduled payday. 
Why would there be interest on 

375
00:23:38,000 --> 00:23:40,920
that? 
And ultimately, I also think 

376
00:23:41,520 --> 00:23:46,600
it's a company's decision that 
as much as regulation helps and 

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00:23:46,600 --> 00:23:52,640
supports not only us in HR, but 
also it provides employees 

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00:23:53,000 --> 00:23:57,240
greater safety Nets. 
And it does, you know, 

379
00:23:57,240 --> 00:24:01,040
regulation certainly keeps 
employers in check, so to speak.

380
00:24:01,480 --> 00:24:03,680
There is such a thing as over 
regulation. 

381
00:24:03,680 --> 00:24:06,480
Like why? 
I really am curious as to why 

382
00:24:06,480 --> 00:24:08,680
earned wage, again, it's in the 
title. 

383
00:24:08,680 --> 00:24:14,560
Earned wage access would be 
considered a lending and 

384
00:24:15,040 --> 00:24:18,000
borrower relationship. 
Just doesn't make sense to me. 

385
00:24:18,080 --> 00:24:21,960
Anyway, that is my take on 
earned wage access. 

386
00:24:22,200 --> 00:24:25,680
I'm going to link in the show 
notes the article that I 

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00:24:25,680 --> 00:24:28,160
referenced from HR Dive so you 
can take a look. 

388
00:24:28,480 --> 00:24:31,960
And if this is a topic that you 
really enjoyed and you want to 

389
00:24:31,960 --> 00:24:35,520
hear more about, let me know. 
You can message me on Instagram.

390
00:24:35,520 --> 00:24:38,400
You can write me an e-mail at 
contact at hrtracy.com. 

391
00:24:38,680 --> 00:24:40,240
You could also reach out to me 
on LinkedIn. 

392
00:24:40,240 --> 00:24:43,200
I check my messages, but I have 
a lot of people to get back to. 

393
00:24:43,200 --> 00:24:47,560
So maternity leave is still kind
of catching up to me. 

394
00:24:48,680 --> 00:24:51,640
So if you're one of the people 
that has messaged me and I have 

395
00:24:51,640 --> 00:24:54,280
not gotten back to you yet, 
don't worry, I will. 

396
00:24:54,280 --> 00:24:57,560
I apologize for the delay, but 
thank you for your patience. 

397
00:24:57,960 --> 00:25:00,400
Anyway. 
Thank you so much for hearing me

398
00:25:00,400 --> 00:25:04,320
rant about earned wage access. 
And hopefully it's opened your 

399
00:25:04,320 --> 00:25:07,120
eyes to the possibilities of 
earned wage access. 

400
00:25:07,120 --> 00:25:10,560
And maybe this is something that
you as an employer or as a 

401
00:25:10,560 --> 00:25:14,880
representative of an employer 
will maybe offer one day to your

402
00:25:14,880 --> 00:25:19,160
employees, hourly or otherwise. 
Thank you so much for tuning in 

403
00:25:19,160 --> 00:25:22,320
this week. 
I'm sure we'll see you back here

404
00:25:22,320 --> 00:25:24,280
next week. 
Don't forget to rate review and 

405
00:25:24,280 --> 00:25:26,440
subscribe wherever you're 
catching this episode and 

406
00:25:26,440 --> 00:25:29,440
connect with me on Instagram, 
head to my website, sign up for 

407
00:25:29,440 --> 00:25:32,760
my newsletter, HR tracy.com. 
There's so many ways to stay 

408
00:25:32,760 --> 00:25:34,440
connected. 
Thank you so much everyone. 

409
00:25:34,440 --> 00:25:37,320
Have a great week. 
Hey, just before you go, don't 

410
00:25:37,320 --> 00:25:40,360
forget to subscribe to this show
so that you are the 1st to hear 

411
00:25:40,360 --> 00:25:44,280
when an episode drops each week 
and maybe leave a 5 star review 

412
00:25:44,280 --> 00:25:46,440
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413
00:25:46,640 --> 00:25:49,200
Plus if you have someone in mind
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414
00:25:49,200 --> 00:25:50,800
episode, make sure you share it 
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415
00:25:50,960 --> 00:25:53,760
Thank you so much for tuning in 
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