Kroger had first thought about offering the benefit, which allows its workers to cash out a portion of their earned salary prior to their schedule payday, in 2019 as a pilot. The idea then was to “meet the needs of our associates who get paid weekly and who typically live paycheck to paycheck,” said Theresa Monti, vice president of total rewards for Kroger, according to the article.
But during last year’s pandemic, Kroger realized it needed to speed up its initial slow rollout as many employees had to contend with layoffs, furloughs and fewer hours. The company linked up with DailyPay, an app that informs workers how much they have earned since their last payday, and allows them to withdraw wages they have already earned prior to getting their next pay check.
“A lot of times if you’re in an hourly role—with overtime, with shifts shifting, with different hours—you’re not really able to know for sure how much your paycheck is going to be,” said Jeanniey Walden, chief innovation and marketing officer at DailyPay. “But with an earned wage access, employees log into the app to see how much they have earned from their employer, so they can associate that with their budget and their bill. For example, if I made $417 dollars so far and there’s only three days left until payday, but I know I need $500 to take care of my rent and my other expenses, I might decide to pick up another shift.”