23 Feb 2023

Wagestream whitepaper: Unlocking the pay cycle

This whitepaper summarises research into the objective and subjective impact of giving workers choice over their own pay cycle – specifically through Wagestream, a financial wellbeing app accessed by employees through their employer.

The research is part of Wagestream’s ongoing commitment to ensure its service positively impacts the financial wellbeing of workers, and to improve public understanding of the blockers and drivers of financial wellbeing.

Based on primary quantitative and qualitative research, this paper explores the impact of a flexible pay cycle across three areas: demographics (‘who’ and ‘why’), behaviours (‘how’), and financial wellbeing implications.

The broad-ranging analysis surfaces nine key findings on the impact of flexible pay, and aims to begin a conversation on positive actions that providers, employers and researchers can all take to ensure flexible pay cycles positively impact the financial wellbeing of people in work.

Key findings:

Flexible pay is most popular among financially excluded workers
Low income is the primary challenge for many who prefer a flexible pay cycle
Flexible pay is not just ‘for emergencies’—its use cases are wide ranging
Flexible pay does not correlate with worsened financial health outcomes
People feel positive about flexible pay, but have mixed feelings about work and money
Flexible pay can have an impact on pre-existing credit reliance
Flexible pay can exist in conjunction with a savings habit
Choosing a more frequent pay cycle is not inherently negative—but can surface pre-existing financial stress
Providers can do more to put workers in control.