Eateries experiment with same-day pay
Some workers at Church’s Chicken, Pizza Hut and Rally’s will now get expedited pay as U.S. restaurants grapple with a labor shortage that’s not showing any signs of abating.
Restaurant chains are pulling out all the stops to attract and retain cooks and cashiers amid persistently low unemployment. The latest move: same-day and next-day paychecks.
Starting in June, eight Church’s Chicken restaurants will offer employees half of their earned pay each day after their shift. The test will gauge whether the 50% is enough for workers, and the idea is to roll it out more widely going forward. It’s not a loan, and there are no fees.
“It will give the employee the chance to get spending money quicker,” Church’s Chief Executive Officer Joe Christina said in an interview. “Some people just can’t wait two weeks to get paid.”
Labor is “the No. 1 item” discussed among management, Christina said. “In all my years, it’s the toughest labor market that I can remember.”
Atlanta-based Church’s reached into the city’s northern suburbs to hire another company, Instant Financial, which provides businesses and their employees with an instant pay platform. Church’s and sister brand Texas Chicken have more than 1,500 stores worldwide.
Venture capital-funded Instant Financial also works with Bloomin’ Brands Inc. — the parent of Outback Steakhouse — and recently added Checkers & Rally’s Restaurants as customers. Instant Financial CEO Steve Barha said that the tight labor market has made instant pay “almost a requirement” over the past year for the dining industry.
Instant Financial doesn’t charge any fees to workers but rather makes money by charging the employer for the service.
The majority of working adults are living paycheck to paycheck, according to a recent survey from the nonpartisan research organization National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago. The study found that 51% of Americans wouldn’t be able to cover necessities without dipping into savings if they missed more than one paycheck.
That’s why Pizza Hut franchisee Erik Bittner is considering whether to mention the perk in the ads he uses to attract delivery drivers as he competes for their services with Uber and Lyft. He added the benefit in March through the Branch Messenger Inc. mobile app.
“The expectation in the future from employees is going to be they want their pay now,” said Bittner, a partner at Bittner Restaurant Group, the owner of 12 Pizza Huts in Pennsylvania. “Why do I have to wait two weeks?”