A New Leadership Tool Hiding In Plain Sight

Welcome workers back post-COVID by giving them what they need most

I was sitting in the same place I’d been sitting for the past three months – my desk chair, slowly turning into a skeleton thanks to the Stay At Home Order – when my phone rang.  The caller was an acquaintance, the CEO of a $2 billion company.  

“I could use your advice”.

While I could say that CEO’s call every day to solicit my hard-earned wisdom, the truth is these calls come as frequently as one sees an actual chicken cross an actual road.
 

“We’re re-opening after furloughing 90% of our employees. I worry they will be resentful, unhappy to return, and may not return at all because they’re making more on unemployment.”

This may be the first time in history that every CEO is probably thinking the exact same thing at the exact same time. It also will prove to be an inflection point regarding who is truly showing excellence in leadership, and who is already in the rubbish bin of leadership history…but doesn’t know it yet.

My soon-to-be-revealed advice was based on some stark facts.

The last 3 months have left workers feeling distressed, depressed, and in despair. They are in a state of hopelessness. 

Most hourly workers live paycheck-to-paycheck. Stress was already a part of their everyday lives because every day was literally a battle against time. Could they get bills paid so as to avoid taking out a payday loan, or waste money on overdraft or late fees?

At the start of the pandemic, 53% of households had no savings to begin with¹. What savings workers did have was burned through weeks ago. Now they are strung out on high-interest credit, fearing eviction, desperately trying to feed themselves and their children, and truly feeling hopeless.

Some of them are part of the 890% increase in suicide hotline calls², the 70% increase in domestic violence hotline calls^3, and/or the 50% of Americans experiencing some form of depression or anxiety as a result of the pandemic⁴.

With that in mind, here was my advice:

“Every human being, in every human encounter, wants the same things. Make them feel welcomed, make them feel seen, make them feel heard.”

“How?” he asked.

I asked him to imagine what would happen if he personally greeted every worker in the lobby of their offices on their first day back -- and the look on each and every one of these people’s faces, who have really suffered the past few months, if he then said:

“Welcome back.  I am really happy to see you, Jane. We have a new benefit for you. On-demand pay”.  

There is nothing any CEO can say or do that will be more impactful. Nothing.  

That stress you’ve been feeling about your own business? That needle you’ve been threading for 3 months, cutting expenses to the bone with no revenue, wondering if debt covenants will be violated, and trying to project the impossible – namely when business will return to normal?

Your workers thread that same needle that every single hour of every single day.  

The preoccupation your kids have noticed as you eat dinner or play with them during the lockdown? The inability to be truly present and aware? The creeping feeling that connections with your family and friends are fraying?

Your workers live that way every single hour of every single day.

You now have the opportunity – I would say privilege -- of offering security, dignity, and savings to your employees by offering them Earned Wage Access (EWA).

EWA allows workers to get access to money they have earned but not yet been paid on. This on-demand pay option allows them to pay their bills and pay down debt on a timely basis, without sinking further under the weight of late fees and interest.  

The stress and anxiety they experience every day will be reduced, if not eliminated because EWA allows them to take control of their lives after a period where they had none.

There is no change in the employer’s payroll schedule and funding process because EWA providers manage funding and money movement, synchronize with the payroll system, and are fully compliant with all regulations.

It costs nothing for the employer, and will mean everything to the worker. You will also see an increase in productivity and a more engaged workforce.  

What’s more, you will discover that this single addition to your benefits package will fundamentally alter the DNA of your company’s culture. You will see it in how workers talk about the company, and how they feel at their jobs. Your customers will notice.  

The addition of what some genius somewhere called “radical empathy” will re-define leadership excellence for you.  Just watch.

Notes
¹https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/25/your-money/emergency-savings.html
²Source: Disaster Distress Hotline
³Sources: Aggregated data from domestic hotline call centers
⁴Source: Census Bureau

Larry Meyers is the SVP of Public Affairs at PayActiv, Inc. He is an expert in financial wellness, and previously worked as a crisis communications consultant addressing policy issues across multiple industries. Visit www.payactiv.com  Follow @PayActiv White Paper Power of the Salary Link