Manna

How Manna Improved Employee Wellbeing with Free Earned Wage Access

Background

Based out of Louisville, Kentucky, Manna Hospitality Group is an affiliate of several restaurant concepts, and one of the largest operators of Wendy’s and Fazoli’s in the country. Mary Lazzaroni, VP of Human Resources, is passionate about listening to employee feedback in order to deliver benefits that improve their day-to-day lives. When she and her team discovered Branch, they unlocked a win-win solution that could boost employee wellbeing, eliminate unnecessary fees, and improve recruitment efforts in the process.

The drive to accelerate pay—without fees

Lazzaroni and her team regularly take employee feedback into account when evaluating benefits and offerings. Having heard from employees that earned wage access was a benefit they would utilize, Lazzaroni and her team quickly implemented an earned wage access (EWA) solution for their workforce.

Right away, Lazzaroni saw that this was a benefit people truly wanted: 60% of their employees used EWA at an average rate of 2-3 times per week. However, this provider came with steep fees, which didn’t sit well with the entire leadership team. Every time employees took an advance, they would be hit with an average fee of $3. If they wanted an instant transfer, they would be hit with another $3 fee. Employees who used a paycard to receive their pay experienced even more fees— just checking their balance resulted in an additional $3 fee. In total, employees could expect to be charged anywhere from $3-9 dollars for each advance taken—an amount that bothered the Manna Team and seemed to counteract the point of offering EWA in the first place.

“It kept me up at night knowing what our employees were paying in fees with our previous paycard,” Lazzaroni says. “Especially since the number one reason people were utilizing earned wage access was for food. That was so eye-opening; we just knew we had to make a difference and free up those fees for our team.”

It was clear that earned wage access was a benefit Manna employees wanted—now it was time to make it cost-effective. In the meantime, leadership immediately recognized that every employee should receive a free meal during each shift—an offering that all Manna employees now enjoy.

Finding a cost-effective, all-in-one EWA, tipping, and paycard solution

When Lazzaroni and her team started shopping around for a new EWA solution, they were adamant about finding a cost-effective option for employees. They also wanted to find a holistic solution that allowed for digital tip payouts, since the decline in cash usage over the past few years made it more difficult to tip out employees in cash. Ideally, Lazzaroni wanted an all-in-one solution where paychecks, wage advancements, and tips could all be sent to employees digitally—and without excessive fees. On top of those concerns, Lazzaroni was also looking for a provider that could efficiently verify and onboard employees.

When Manna discovered Branch, they were pleased to find a solution that checked all of those boxes—and beyond.

“There were two other providers that I considered, but their verification processes were a lot more complicated. You can’t make it confusing for [employees] to enroll in a card and be verified. The competitors made it a lot more difficult, plus they still came with fees and didn’t provide additional benefits.”

With Branch, Manna could easily implement a free EWA and card solution that eliminated employee fees—and also came with more robust financial wellness offerings. Through Branch’s rewards program, employees can earn cash back on everyday purchases. The Savings Goal feature allows them to set aside money towards specific savings goals.

“Knowing that [their advances] go to their Branch Card for free—and that it comes with more robust benefits like the rewards program and savings feature—it made it so much more appealing to our employees than our previous solution."

A seamless transition: Saving employees money and improving recruitment

Since making the switch, employees have not only enjoyed the financial wellness features Branch provides, but have also saved money on every advance, since there are no fees for advances sent to their Branch Cards, no fees to check their balance, and no fees to make a standard transfer to an external account.

“On average with Branch, employees have saved at least three dollars for every advance based on our previous provider’s earned wage access fees,” Lazzaroni notes.

Manna has also seen a 10% increase in EWA usage compared to their previous EWA provider, allowing more employees to take advantage of access to their own earnings ahead of payday when needed.

Offering free earned wage access has been incredibly helpful not just to Manna employees, but also to Lazzaroni and her team’s recruiting efforts, especially in today’s labor market where competition for quick-serve restaurant talent is steep.

“The number one question that our applicants ask—especially younger applicants—is whether or not we have earned wage access,” Lazzaroni says. “You will knock yourself out of the game if you’re not offering that to your employees.

Being able to offer earned wage access at no cost to their employees, instant, digital tips and a better paycard alternative from the same solution was a win all the way around for Manna. The extra financial wellness perks—like cash back rewards and savings—were an added bonus for an organization that wanted to have the biggest impact on employee wellbeing as possible.