Nine in 10 finance and people chiefs receive regular requests from staff keen to access their earnings ahead of pay day, according to research.
A survey of 600 senior decision makers at UK organisations found that 90% were subjected to recurring requests from employees for advances or flexible pay.
The poll, commissioned by Lloyds Bank and finance management platform provider Wagestream, also showed that almost one in five employers now pays staff through a mechanism other than a locked weekly or monthly pay cycle.
A white paper was published alongside the data, written by Wagestream insights director Jamie Lawrence and Lloyds Bank Commercial Banking head of proposition development and innovation Sam Riordan.
The study, Pay: the Biggest Lever to Improve Financial Wellbeing, said there was a “huge opportunity” for changes in pay delivery to “empower and transform society”.
The impact of employees being “locked out of” their income until the end of each month can be significant, according to the white paper, with many Britons “habitually running out of money before their payday”.
The white paper added: “For far too long pay has been locked, but this is now changing, as society and organisations wake up to the costs of poor financial wellbeing, and the power of pay as a lever to transform financial wellbeing becomes known.
“The short-term opportunity is clear; firstly, deliver transparency over pay for all employees so that they have the information they need to budget effectively. Secondly, give employees access over when they get paid and move from a system that works for the employer to one that works for the individual and benefits the employer.
“The longer-term opportunity is crystallising: if we are able to give people additional control over their pay and the information that helps them budget for the future and the ability to control where every single pound goes, then financial wellbeing will improve.”
