To attract the best talent and keep employees loyal, your benefits need to be competitive. In 2023, small Canadian businesses spent on average $1,822 per employee annually on extended benefits, which equates to $151 per month. ProsperPay’s EWA costs the employer just $150 per month for all employees.
The most common employee benefits offered by small businesses are extended health and dental cover. But what about financial wellness? A 2024 survey found that 42% of Canadian workers experience financial stress daily and two-thirds said that it impacted their work performance.
The purpose of EWA is the alleviate employee stress by providing more financial flexibility – access to wages when they need it most, not just the next payday.
Here is the evidence for EWA, mapping the correlation between reduced financial stress and improved job performance:
1. Reclaiming Lost Focus Hours (Presenteeism)
Employers quantify productivity gains by calculating the reduction in time spent worrying about or handling personal finances while on the clock.
The Baseline: Research from the Valoir Employee Financial Wellness Report indicates that financially stressed employees spend an average of 3.3 hours per week dealing with personal finances at work. This equates to an immediate 8% productivity loss per stressed worker.
The EWA Impact: Studies show that 63% of EWA users gain non-financial focus time back because they can check their real-time earnings dashboard and cover bills instantly. Companies measure this by surveying team focus metrics before and after launching EWA.
2. Behavioral Motivation and Shift Pickups
In hourly and shift-based industries (like retail, hospitality, and healthcare), productivity is heavily tied to labour capacity and shift coverage. EWA acts as a tangible psychological reward system.
The Quantification: Because employees can see their earnings accumulate daily rather than waiting two weeks, 55% of EWA users pick up at least one extra shift per month.
The Metric: Companies track the Average Shifts Worked Per Employee metric. When EWA is implemented, this number reliably climbs because the link between "working today" and "getting paid today" becomes short and transparent.
3. Reduction in Absenteeism and Tardiness
Financial stress directly causes "call-outs" when employees lack the liquid cash for basic work dependencies, like gas, transit fares, or sudden childcare.
The Baseline: Frontline research indicates nearly 25% of hourly workers report missing work or arriving late due to financial emergencies.
The EWA Impact: Roughly 82% of employers report a visible reduction in absenteeism after introducing EWA. HR teams quantify this by tracking the company's Bradford Factor or overall absenteeism rate, finding that giving employees emergency liquidity to buy gas or pay bills prevents workflow disruptions.
4. Direct Controlled Performance Studies
Beyond survey feedback, researchers look directly at concrete output variables. [1]
Controlled Trials: Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) analysing workers with EWA access versus those without have documented a direct 8% increase in raw work productivity.
The Metrics: Depending on the sector, this is measured via hard data points like revenue generated per labour hour, customer service response times, or error/defect rates.
To see how this translates directly to your bottom-line check out our article on The Quantified Benefits of EWA