As the economy continues to soar, there is a war brewing. It’s a war over talent and workers. Many companies across the country right now, including the industry that they work in, are facing a vast worker shortage. Here at Financial Helpers, we’ve covered this topic several times. We shared how in order to compete and bring in the best talent, as well as preventing turnover, many companies have been adding more perks.
Salaries have been rising. The unemployment rate has been plummeting. Still, there’s a massive shortage of workers. This is also prevalent in the fast food industry. Because there are higher-paying jobs out there, there are less people working in fast food. There was a time not too long ago when fast food jobs were the only reliable work you could probably find. There were plenty of college graduates with degrees forced to work for minimum wage.
Now, we live in a completely different time. If you want a job, odds are, you can easily find one. That isn’t stopping many industries thinking of new perks to draw people in. Those perks can include paying off student debt, generous benefit packages, more paid time off, and even paid health care. Companies will even contribute to your 401(k) and retirement fund.
One new weapon in the fight to attract new workers is offering next day pay. In particular, GPS Hospitality is looking to offer next day pay for thousands of fast food workers across the country. GPS Hospitality is the main company that owns numerous fast food restaurants we probably eat at all the time: Burger King, Popeyes, and Pizza Hut are among the most popular.
Give Employees a Hand Up
While the economy is soaring, there are still a lot of people living paycheck to paycheck. Even if you are doing fairly well, there may be a time or two when you run into an issue and need money. That’s why GPS Hospitality is offering a new program for their employees called “Work Today, Pay Tomorrow.”
“Everybody runs into issues with money at one time or another, and I’ve seen people go to the Payday Advance places and pay a hefty percentage fee for a short loan. There’s no fees involved in this whatsoever,” Laurie Covieo said. Covieo is the Senior General Manager of Burger King in Fenton, Michigan.
This Word Today, Pay Tomorrow program will allow employees to take out as much as 50% of what they earned the day before. For example, if an employee worked for 10 hours yesterday, they can get an advance of 5 of those hours today if they need it. There are no fees and is designed to both attract new employees and help current employees not worry so much about daily finances.
“If you work eight hours, a four-hour pay isn’t going to solve your problems the next day, but if you’re short gas money, that can be a big help or short some groceries for your family and trying to make it to payday, that can be a big help,” Covieo said. “As there’s lesser and lesser employees and everybody is hiring, it’s just another avenue for us to try to attract people,” Julie Linton said. Linton is the District Leader for GPS Hospitality, Burger King franchise.
This new plan has been undergoing testing since 2018, but is expected to roll out across the country later in August.
