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Employees are stressed, and that stress doesn't stay at home; it comes into the workplace.
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Employers can help with free solutions like EWA.
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Valueable solutions don't have to be hard to implement: ZayZoon is easy for employers to implement and even easier for employees to use thanks to its partnerships with Scotiabank and Interac.
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Country Fair cuts employee turnover by 22 percent with ZayZoon
ZayZoon and Scotiabank partner to bring Earned Wage Access to Canada powered by Interac e-Transfer® for Business
In this article you’ll find:
Key learnings
The challenge
Employees under financial stress
Picture a restaurant worker wrapping up another busy Friday night shift. The tips were decent, but her car broke down earlier in the week, and payday is still five days away. She has bills to pay and groceries to buy, and now she’s scrambling to figure out how to cover the cost of repairs so she can make it to work tomorrow. It’s stressful, frustrating … and all too common for many of today’s workers.
Research shows that 56% of working Canadians surveyed live paycheque to paycheque, which means unexpected expenses can become a major financial burden. Stress follows a person into the workplace. Missed shifts, distracted workers and high turnover rates are just some of the ways that stress impacts employers.
But what if there was another way? What if employees could access a portion of their earned wages whenever they needed them — without jumping through hoops? That’s the mission for ZayZoon.
8 hours estimated average monthly reduction in absenteeism per employee who uses ZayZoon
Our solution
Earned Wage Access (EWA)
ZayZoon’s Earned Wage Access (EWA) solution revolves around a basic, yet transformative concept: It allows employees to access a percentage of the wages they have already earned, whenever they need them. It’s not a loan or an advance from the employer; it is access to the employee’s own money, made available on their schedule.
“People used to get paid every day. But as payroll systems evolved, paydays became less frequent—weekly, bi-weekly, even monthly. ZayZoon brings financial flexibility and control back to workers, without creating extra burdens for businesses.”
–– Sean Paulseth, Director of Enterprise Sales at ZayZoon
For employers, the benefits are immediate and substantial. Businesses offering EWA report attracting up to twice as many applicants and seeing up to a 29% reduction in employee turnover.
Scotiabank and ZayZoon bring EWA to Canada
After proving value to American customers, ZayZoon is making EWA more accessible in Canada, where the company was founded. Canadian employers say they need a solution to the financial stress faced by their employees, especially those in deskless roles in retail, hospitality, and healthcare. They want a reliable, responsible way to offer support, without administrative hurdles.
Enter Scotiabank. As one of Canada’s leading financial institutions, Scotiabank has long been committed to supporting businesses with innovative solutions. When the bank’s strategic partnerships team learned about ZayZoon, it saw an opportunity to help bring the benefits of EWA to Canadian employers and employees.
“We kept hearing from our clients that managing payroll was already a challenge, made even more challenging when employees ask for advances,” says Flora Wu, Senior Manager of Strategic Partnerships at Scotiabank. The bank’s team knew its clients cared about employees’ financial well-being but were constrained by their own cash flow and administrative limitations. Committed to innovation and putting the needs of their customers first, Scotiabank found a solution in ZayZoon.
ZayZoon is an agile, purpose-built platform that integrates easily with many existing payroll systems. Scotiabank is a trusted financial institution with strong Canadian business relationships ready to bring this solution across the country. Together, their partnership allows employers to seamlessly implement an enterprise-ready EWA option that lets them offer on-demand pay to their employees without taking on any financial risk or administrative burden.
“We recognized that the concept of Earned Wage Access was still relatively new in Canada, but it would be a game changer for a lot of our commercial and corporate clients and many working Canadians.”
— Flora Wu, Senior Manager of Strategic Partnerships, Scotiabank
Payday, reimagined: How it works
The strength of the solution is its simplicity. Getting started is easy for employers; ZayZoon’s technology integrates directly into a business’s existing payroll systems. “For some of them, it could be as fast as just turning on a button,” Wu says. There are no changes to a business’s cash flow, because ZayZoon funds the payouts. And there is no ongoing administrative work — ZayZoon handles employee support inquiries. Employers simply offer the benefit.
For employees, accessing their earnings when they need them is both convenient and empowering. Through the ZayZoon app or website, users can see their available earned wages and, with a few taps, and have a portion sent to their bank account via Interac e-Transfer.
An important link in the chain is Interac Corp., Canada's leading network for digital money movement. To ensure the payouts are instant, secure, and accessible to virtually everyone, ZayZoon’s EWA solution leverages the Interac e-Transfer for Business real-time payments platform through Scotiabank’s TranXact™ APIs. This payment rail can service nearly all Canadian bank accounts and is used for account-to-account transactions by nearly 9 in 10 Canadians. The result is a seamless flow of funds that may arrive in an employee’s account in seconds.
“Canadians already know and trust Interac, and our real-time payments capabilities with Interac e-Transfer for Business are a perfect fit for Earned Wage Access. We offer the speed, flexibility, consistency, and dependability that businesses and consumers need to have confidence in their cash flow.”
— Randy Sandler, Senior Product Lead, Interac e-Transfer for Business, Interac Corp.
The Results
Benefits for businesses and their employees
True financial wellness isn’t just about access to cash. It also includes building and maintaining healthy financial habits and practices. ZayZoon offers a suite of tools and resources designed to break the paycheque-to-paycheque cycle, including courses and budgeting tools designed to help Canadians improve their financial literacy. About 74% of customers said ZayZoon helped improve their overall financial well-being and reduce financial stress.
The platform also offers employers new ways to connect with their employees by offering perks, discounts, rewards and recognition, polls, and announcements. With a few clicks, an employer can celebrate a birthday or offer a gift card as a thank-you for going the extra mile. It’s a win-win: Employees who receive recognition are reported to be approximately five times more likely to be engaged at work and approximately 45% less likely to leave.
Challenges
High turnover and financially stressed employees
The convenience store industry has notoriously high turnover rates. The National Association of Convenience Stores reported turnover rates for full-time and part-time employees in the industry averaged 141 percent in 2022.
Driving employee retention was a priority for Country Fair, whose customer-oriented mission was negatively impacted by the operational burdens caused by high turnover.
While Country Fair’s turnover rate was much lower than the industry standard, at close to 60 percent, the high costs associated with hiring and training new employees still presented the company with a challenge.
“We're always looking for ways to improve that turnover rate. We do that by finding vendor partners and offering products and services to our employees. This was just a really good opportunity for us to add something to our arsenal that we thought would help us retain folks.”
–Steve Seymour, Director of Personnel Training & Development, Country Fair
Financial stress among employees was another significant challenge, contributing to absenteeism and productivity issues. This is common for most workplaces today, as ZayZoon’s State of Employee Financial Wellness Report found that:
- 35% of employees are stressed about their finances daily
- 63% of employers said that financial stress negatively impacts employees’ performance at work.
Employees who experience financial stress are likely to not show up for work or have productivity issues during their shift. This affects the consistent and high-quality customer experience Country Fair strives to provide.
Country Fair needed a cost-effective solution that drove retention and supported employees’ financial wellness.
Our solution
Earned wage access (EWA)
To help decrease employee turnover rates and manage hiring and training costs, Country Fair worked with ZayZoon to introduce earned wage access (EWA) to its employees.
When considering competitors, ZayZoon’s people-driven product, no-cost-to-employer model, and quick and easy onboarding process was the obvious choice.
ZayZoon’s emphasis on employee well-being, with features like fee-free early wage access through gift cards and bonuses, aligned with Country Fair’s commitment to supporting its team members. This was a key factor for Country Fair in choosing ZayZoon over other EWA providers.
ZayZoon offers fee-free gift cards that encourage employees to get early access to their wages via bonuses for gas or groceries that actually give them more money than their regular paycheck.
“When we vetted other companies, they wanted to charge for this, that, and the other thing. But our employees love the idea of the gift card purchases, especially with the add-ons on the gift cards. I mean if you think about this a minute, a $100 Walmart card, maybe 110 because of a 10 percent advantage on that card, that's ten dollars that might be a dinner at somebody's house one night.”
–Steve Seymour, Director of Personnel Training & Development, Country Fair
Results
22% reduction in turnover with ZayZoon
The impact of ZayZoon’s partnership with Country Fair was immediate. A year-long analysis comparing Country Fair employees enrolled in ZayZoon compared to those who weren’t found remarkable results: employee turnover was 22 percent lower among employees who used ZayZoon.
This is a significant reduction in turnover, which directly contributes to better customer service offered by Country Fair. Reducing turnover means that Country Fair customers aren’t impacted by the gaps in customer experience that can sometimes occur during periods of hiring and training new employees.
Reduced turnover also reduces hiring and training costs, positively impacting Country Fair’s bottom line.
22%
lower turnover among employees using ZayZoon
37%
adoption rate
ZayZoon helps Country Fair employees manage their financial wellness
Country Fair integrated ZayZoon into their employee orientation, ensuring new hires were introduced to EWA on their first day of work. This process boosted adoption rates to 37 percent, helping over a third of their workforce access immediate financial support.
Country Fair employees found that access to ZayZoon’s EWA helped them manage financial emergencies. One employee’s car battery stopped working on his way to work—a nightmare in the tough winters of Erie, PA. Because this employee had access to ZayZoon’s pay on-demand, he received an immediate pay advance that helped him fix the issue and get to work.
Other employees didn’t have gas money for the week, but by using ZayZoon’s gift cards, they could make it to their shifts.
ZayZoon’s earned wage access helps Country Fair employees manage instances of financial stress, enabling them to be more present at work.
“I think [ZayZoon] helps our company in that [it helps] people to come to work," says Steve Seymour, Country Fair's Director of Personnel Training & Development. "Call-offs hurt in a convenience store because customer service is lost when you’re short-staffed. So for people to be able to get access to their pay to get fuel, a new battery, that’s kind of a big deal.”
Empower your employees with earned wage access
ZayZoon’s earned wage access made a difference for Country Fair because it provided a meaningful benefit that helped employees close gaps between paydays. By doing so, ZayZoon directly improved employees’ financial wellness and job satisfaction while decreasing costly turnover and absenteeism rates. It's a win-win for employers and employees!
If your organization is dealing with financially stressed employees or turnover and engagement issues, give your team an impactful solution with ZayZoon.
Contact us for a free demo with a real live person who can walk you through our seamless, payroll-embedded EWA solution today.
“You try to bring programs in and see how they do for your company. Some programs go by the wayside. I have a feeling [ZayZoon] is gonna stay a good while.”
–Steve Seymour, Director of Personnel Training & Development, Country Fair
Looking ahead: The future of payroll
Together, ZayZoon’s seamless offerings, Scotiabank’s modern and reliable technology, and the capabilities of Interac as the country’s leading digital money movement platform form a blueprint for success. As the partnership continues, the goal is clear: to make EWA a standard option for Canadian workers. As part of a comprehensive employee benefits package, EWA adds flexibility to the payroll process and offers a simple, scalable solution that benefits everyone involved.
"There's a lot of great traction in Canada, and I think right now we're at the point where offering EWA is a competitive differentiator that can really help move the needle for companies,” says Paulseth. “In a couple of years, it'll be prevalent, like it is in the U.S."
Faster payments, better experiences
As payroll evolves, so do expectations around how money moves. Interac e-Transfer empowers employers to deliver instant payments not only for payroll but also for supplier payments, invoicing, deposits, and more. By enabling fast, secure, and reliable transactions, businesses can foster smoother interactions and build stronger relationships with suppliers, vendors, customers, and employees. With Interac e-Transfer, businesses can move money in real time, delivering funds to the right person exactly when needed. The result is a better experience for everyone, making it easier for all parties to succeed together.
For some employers, implementing ZayZoon can take less than 30 minutes.
Ready to empower your workforce and help them improve their performance? Learn more about how ZayZoon can help your business thrive by booking a ZayZoon demo, or contacting your Scotiabank representative, or talking to an Interac expert.
A download of this case study is also available.
This article was sponsored by Interac Corporation and written by Interac, Scotiabank, and ZayZoon for publication by ZayZoon. Interac, Interac e-Transfer and the Interac logo are trademarks of Interac Corp. Used under license.