Pay Advance Requests Spike by 46% Amid Pandemic; Salaried Employees With Household Incomes of $100k+ More Likely to Ask

Immediate, a financial wellness company, today announced findings from new surveys of 1,250 hourly and salaried workers and 200 CEOs and human resources leaders across five industries. Employee respondents overwhelmingly expressed concern about their current and future financial wellness, and a desire for more financial wellness benefits from employers. Meanwhile, employers revealed an overestimation of their employees’ financial security.

The latest report from Immediate, The unseen costs of financial stress in the workforce, probes workers’ financial pain points and how they’re coping with them today, while assessing the extent to which employers are supporting their teams’ financial wellness.

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Key findings include:

Employers overestimate the financial health of their employees, though they admit that requests for pay advances have increased, particularly for higher-income workers

1. The majority (87%) of employers characterize their employees’ financial wellness as good or excellent in the midst of the pandemic, though only 62% of employees would say the same.

2. Almost half (46%) of employers report an increase in requests for pay advances since the start of the pandemic. 84% of employees who have asked for a pay advance at least once say they have needed to do so more frequently since that start of COVID-19.

3. Employees with household incomes of $75k+ report asking for multiple pay advances at a higher rate than those who make less than 50k.

4. 24% of those making $75–$100k, and 26% of those making $100k+ have requested pay advances six or more times.

5. Despite this, more than a third of employers do not offer pay advances, or lack a standard process for offering them.

6. Just under half (40%) of employers offer no employee benefits for financial wellness.

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Unexpected financial needs are the norm for employees

1. More than 80% of employees surveyed say that they have experienced at least one unexpected financial need in the past 12 months. About half of employees faced this six times or more in the same time period—or about once every other month.

2. Three-quarters (75%) of employees surveyed feel concerned about their financial stability this year; 36% of salaried workers say they are very concerned.

3. Nearly 60% of employees who say they are very concerned with their financial stability in 2021 are part of households that make over $75,000 a year.

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