ActiveHours, finally a pay day loan alternative. Technology for payroll and employee benefits.

Brian Brady
Mar 31, 2015
3 min read

Tampa Benefit Advisors, Accurate Insurance Solutions, keeping you informed on the latest technology, compliance, and administrative news in the insurance world.

Topic: Technology

Have you ever worked really hard and at the end of the week suddenly realized you would have to wait until the following week before you actually got your pay check?

I remember growing up my father was a paper salesman in Scranton, Pa. No, he didn’t work at the office of Dunder Mifflin, although it’s a true story.

His pay period was twice a month, once on the 15th and then again at the end of the month.

I’m sure without asking if there was an app that allowed him to take out some of the money he already earned to pay for groceries or bills he would have done it.

We have all been there, maybe not all of us but at some point we have been in a situation where it would be great to have a little money right now to pay for something important to us.

Traditionally, a payday loan, or loan shark as I like to call them would be you’re only alternative. High interest and fees would suck you into a horrible cycle and eventually you would end up in more debt than when you started out.

But now a new company ActiveHours has been formed and they are changing the way we receive our pay in real time.

What is Active Hours? Lightning Pay a real time paycheck?

Active Hours is a new app that allows you to get your pay whenever you want during the work week and not have to wait for your pay period.

The company’s slogan, “No one should have to wait weeks to get their pay when they have already earned it.”

Activehours does not charge any fees or interest. As stated on their FAQ page “We believe that bank overdraft fees are unfair.

We’re supported by voluntary tips from our users and we ask that you tip us what you think is fair.”

With a star studded list of employees from:

Apple
Bank of America
Staples
Home Depot
Lowe’s
Best Buy
Starbucks

And new strategic partnerships with TSheets, WebPunchClock, Brink Software and When I Work, Active Hours is expanding the availability of the service quickly.

The app, in Android and iOS is already available to 75 million hourly workers and on-demand workers in the U.S.

So are they going to be a huge player in the payroll and employee benefits world? Will employers want to initiate and offer this service?

Active Hours suggest the payment tool represents “a new generation of benefits that can be run and managed by employees from their smartphones”

Giving your employees more control over their finances, why not?

As their press release suggest millennials are ready for their paychecks to follow suite to other services they are already receiving like Netflix, Uber, GrupHub Instcart.

A survey of more than 1,000 U.S. Millennials, conducted on behalf of Activehours by Ypulse found among other eye popping statistics:

1 in 4 Millennials paid hourly say having access to their pay as they earn it would have a bigger impact on their finances than increasing their hourly wage. (hmmm.. J good PR)

"We're using technology already in smartphones to update a two-week pay process that hasn't changed in hundreds of years," said Ram Palaniappan, founder of Activehours. "If you've already put in the hours at work and earned your pay, you should be able to access it and use it when you want. Before, people didn't have a choice, but now we're putting the control into their hands."

Accurate Insurance Solutions, Tampa’s Benefits Advisors, keeps you up to date on trends and news in real time. Our solutions for HR, Payroll, and Benefits integrates the latest technologies and is backed by our team of experts.

We would like to hear from employers and employees in the Tampa area on what you think this new technology can bring to you and your business.

Will you use it?

Will you offer it?

Let’s hear you comments below, if you would like to learn more about ActiveHours or have any other insurance questions go to our website and set up a quick appointment.

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