Making it Easy to Pay Employees Faster

26:20

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

pay, payroll, people, workers, businesses, payday loans, companies, brett, platform, job, employees, started, money, gig economy, fast, last mile delivery, talking, verticals, work, apr

SPEAKERS

Brett Barlow, Damon Pistulka

Damon Pistulka  00:04

All right, everyone, welcome once again to the faces of business. I am Damon Pistulka, your host. And I am excited for our guests today, because we’ve got Brett Barlow here today from every and we are going to be talking about making it easy to pay employees faster. Brett, welcome. Hey, thank

Brett Barlow  00:23

you so much. It’s

Damon Pistulka  00:24

a pleasure to be here. Yes, yes. Well, this is this an exciting topic. I really think this is. Well, timely. And the fact that we have so many people that are having trouble with retention, we’ll talk about that for a minute. And it’s it’s applying technology in a place that probably needs it.

Brett Barlow  00:43

Yeah, I don’t think payroll has really been innovated for 50 years, I don’t know, it’s, you know, there’s some really large players out there that do a fair job there just maybe not focused on disruption or changing the status quo things as they are for them. And we’ve set out just to do the opposite, where some of the bigger players kind of hold on to your money.

If you’re paid on the 15th, you have to submit payroll, say on the 12th, or the 13th. And one of the dirty little secrets is that those payroll companies are making money off of that float. Yes. So there’s interest income interest revenue that they’re accruing, by holding on to your money. So we’re just the opposite. We don’t want to hold on anybody’s money. We want to get in people’s pockets. As soon as they learned

Damon Pistulka  01:35

that I am going to write that down, because we will talk about that a little bit more. So, Brett, tell us a little bit about your background. Let’s start there. Let’s see how does someone decide to co found a company that helps to pay people faster? And what led up to that? I mean, obviously, before that, got you to that point? Well, from

Brett Barlow  01:57

a youngster, I always just wanted to innovate in payroll since I was eight years old. No, it wasn’t that simple. There was a different path that I took. I’ve been, you know, my 25 plus years and go to market product, kind of led organizations. Specifically in in marketing roles. I’ve done a lot of kind of technology, also consumer brand businesses. Bout 15 years ago, I joined a headphone brand called Skullcandy. Yep, ran their digital marketing there. And the the person who ran finance gentleman by the Ron Ross, who is kind of whose idea every was worked there.

And so we became fast friends trusted each other took that company public, and ended up being one of the most shorted stocks on NASDAQ. So if you can imagine the type of pressure that that puts on an executive team, you really find out who your people are when the chips are down. Yeah. So we went through a lot of good times, but also some really challenging times. And so when he approached me, most four years ago about trying to help with this business, it was really we met in a like a fast food restaurant.

It was a napkin, he was drawing, like I got this idea. He had been kind of mulling over it for two years before he even talked to me, and seeing if it was a possibility. And I was like, yeah, that’s, that’s fascinating to me, fast pay, I’d never considered that. But when I think back on my own life, being young, married person, two kids, both of me and my wife are working and at times, having trouble making ends meet, or maybe like two or three days till the Friday or Monday when you get paid.

And when you have those moments, you you think to yourself, oh, man, do I need to lean on a credit card or Oh, my goodness is a payday loan, something that we have to do for you know, I hope that’s not the case. But in those moments, financial stress can really create a burden. So it resonated with me what what he was sharing with me. We set out to do that we built a payroll platform that is full featured. And we initially started with targeting hourly workers think restaurants, construction, things like that.

And although we can serve those verticals over the last two years where we’ve felt a poll in the market is over to 1099 or contingent workforces that really value that fast pay. Yeah, I think you know, some of the I don’t want to give the pandemic credit really for anything but in the out the output of the pandemic was an increase in contingent work, people were having no contact, they’re being having things delivered to their home and so forth.

And The whole fundamental how I work in America, I think probably across the globe has changed people flexibility, they expect to be paid when they’ve earned the wages. And they have a lot of choices out there. So businesses really need to focus on how do they recruit and retain people. And what we’ve found is that paying paying employees fast, is a real incredible retention tool, in fact, to the tune of increasing by 30%.

Retention rates in businesses when you pay people faster. The Harris poll just created a poll this last year. And they said that 80% of workers would make a job decision or influence a job decision based on the frequency of pay. So it’s a big thing. And then 90% of businesses are at the same time reporting that it is really challenging to find employees and keep them. So there’s this, there’s just this kind of new age in the world that we’re experiencing, we’re in a real point of transition in our country and in other places in the workforce environment. So we think that this fits really nicely with the needs of the American worker.

Damon Pistulka  06:18

Yeah. So in your clients that have done this, what are some of the things that they’re talking about? As they there’s a you know, they have these options to pay people faster? What What experiences do they have with it?

Brett Barlow  06:33

Well, one, it’s become the accepted the expectation of workers with the, you know, the common usage of Venmo and Zelle, and pay pal, et cetera. It’s just really the expectation. So if you don’t, it’s a surprise. Yeah, more. Now, this isn’t for everyone, right? If we’re talking higher salary, wages, wage earners, this may not be as appealing to them, they may not is vulnerable to kind of financial stresses.

But there is a gigantic portion of the American workforce that is working in, as I mentioned before paycheck to paycheck, but they’re embracing this gig economy, they like to really like the freedom of setting their schedules. But they also have a lot of options. Yeah, right. So I think the average gig worker will work two to three different companies and just kind of rotate that depending on their schedule.

So if you have that competition, and you’re not offering at the very least what your competitors are, that’s a deterrent in your in your hiring. So when we started the business, it was same day ACH. And what we’ve moved to now is, and that was to card or the banking networks, what we’ve now launched is instant pay through the card network. So not necessarily sign up for our card. Although we do have an in every pay card where we can put money, you could just sign up with the card that’s in your wallet currently, and to pay 365 days a year within minutes of a job being completed.

Damon Pistulka  08:11

Yeah, that’s really something when you when you bring the the banking or the payment transaction from an employer to 365 days a year.

Brett Barlow  08:21

Yeah, imagine that you are someone who does say snow removal in the wintertime in Minneapolis, and there’s a huge storm on Christmas Eve, you have to plow the Walmart parking lot, or the local grocery store or something like that. You’re away from your family.

But as soon as you’re done, you click on a button and you’re paid for the work. Yeah, it really harkens back to a time when a harkens that makes me feel maybe a little bit older for using that word. But you know, when I was younger, I had a lot of different jobs. And I remember quite vividly, one of my consistent Summer Jobs was mowing my lawn and my grandparents lawn and, you know, neighbors around.

And at the end of the day, or at least at the end of the job when I was done in my grandfather’s house, he’d give me a $10 bill in a bottle of Coca Cola. Yeah. And that was my payment. I did the work I was paid. And there’s just really no reason why we shouldn’t do that. It’s complex with insurance and taxes. And it’s just kind of, I suppose, easier, where people felt like it’s easier, but we built all of that into our platform and take care of that. So it’s operationally not any more difficult to pay frequently or daily than it is every two weeks.

Damon Pistulka  09:40

Yeah. Yeah. Interesting. Interesting. So as you’ve been building this, what are some of the things that are that cropped up as challenges that you didn’t realize that we’re just like, this is some of those things that we’re gonna have to think about a bit to get around?

Brett Barlow  09:57

Yeah, um, so payroll think is probably the largest industry, or one of I mean, every company that always has paid Yeah, yeah. And so at first glance that feels massive, what a huge opportunity. The total addressable market is, you know, hundreds of billions.

And if we started out with, well, this is good for any small business. Well, if you’re marketing to everyone or selling to everyone, you’re not really selling to anyone. Yes. So one of our challenges is getting really precise. And where does our product fit? Where is there a need? And how do we fit with that need to bring consistency to our revenue? And also better deploy product features that are more focused?

So not too long ago, we we went from the kind of across the board, small business hourly worker profile, two very specific verticals that we’re going after an understanding of building for those verticals, delivery, gig labor, marketplaces, staffing, even door to door sales, where where people are expecting their Commission’s to be to be paid sooner, things like that. And even with those verticals, I call that trim down there. They’re large industries, right there. Yeah, well, yeah.

Damon Pistulka  11:22

Yeah, they are. And that’s really interesting, because you said delivery, I mean, in the last mile delivery services, that could be a huge, huge market, just because of the way that works. I mean, when you look at we, over the years, we’ve done a lot of work with people that are selling millions and millions of dollars through Amazon. And when you go to one of those Amazon fulfillment centers, and you you see how many people in their cars are rolling up there and grabbing product, they get delivered that way. You can imagine how this would, this could be very beneficial.

Brett Barlow  11:59

last mile delivery, when you order something from Walmart, Walmart isn’t delivering it to you yet. There’s a third party that they’ve contracted with that has drivers their brand and Walmart. Yep. You know, partners, but they’re not employees. Yep. So that’s, that’s a massive example Walmart, but Amazon’s the same FedEx. So yeah, last mile delivery is absolutely something that we we focus on.

Damon Pistulka  12:24

Yeah. Yeah. And that’s, that’s not that’s not changing anytime soon. So it’s

Brett Barlow  12:30

increasing. You know, I think that the gig worker population will grow by 30 million over the next year and a half, like 30 million workers. Wow, going kind of that gig economy in some way creator, economy, gig economy, what have you. But again, the I think the the makeup of what people are looking for in employment, is it’s just fundamentally shifted for a large portion of the worker census.

Damon Pistulka  13:02

Yeah, yeah. Because yeah, when you think about it, the availability of different kinds of work, more remote work. And like you said, I can be doing something for three companies, if I can do them all over the globe, or the US and and I could be getting paid by each one of those as I finished projects.

Brett Barlow  13:29

Sure. You could be on vacation, and you can pick up a couple routes. If you if, you know, theoretically, if you wanted to just earn money for an evening out.

Damon Pistulka  13:37

Yeah. Yeah. Good stuff. So when when people are doing this, there’s, I mean, this is a big change. When you think about going into a business and hey, we, we, if I’m paying 1099 kind of people I might be it’s a normal, pay a check run that they’re doing, or if I’m paying workers on a two week schedule or a one, you know, whatever schedule, this is a lot of change for them to have to think about. Yeah. What are some of the challenges that you’re the people implementing this? I have? I shouldn’t say challenges, but what are some of the things that they have to think about? So they waited before they go ahead and do this?

Brett Barlow  14:22

Yeah, well, this goes a bit back to the product market fit that I was alluding to earlier, not all businesses, CFOs controllers, payroll admins are one looking to disrupt. Yeah, it’s status quo. They’re like, hey, nobody’s asking for this.

Damon Pistulka  14:37

And they don’t care.

Brett Barlow  14:41

Like they’re fine until somebody starts pounding on their door. So there’s certainly a large swath of of companies that you know, this they may not be interested in this or Yeah, work for him. So what we need to find in our job is to find businesses with workers that that need it, that are asking for it and are expecting it.

And so that has allowed us to get to a point where they’re coming up saying our, you know, our workers, our drivers are kicking down our door wondering why we don’t do this can we do together and we say, Sure, if you have a platform, we can white label and SSO over to our platform, we have embeddable components from our app that can be embedded in other people’s app. So the user experience of the worker is the same, right? Their onboarding that they’re onboarding with us kind of at the same time. Yeah. And then we also are just standalone. So we just have a standalone platform.

So multiple delivery mechanisms for the way that our technology can connect and deliver multiple different fast pay options, but kind of the secret sauce secret I’m, I’m on a podcast with you telling you about it. So I’m not sure that it’s, you know, secret. But something that is innovative that we’ve done is we really don’t want to change the work, the workflow, the cash flow, the operations of the companies that we’re working with. So one of the push backs, we get as well, running payroll every day would just be ridiculous.

That’s too hard. That would take too much time. So for companies that are approved by us, we offer them what we call every credit, and we actually pay their workers as fast as they want to for hours or jobs and approved, and then they settle up with us on their regular payroll cycle. So nothing changes for them, they have bi weekly or semi monthly, and we take care of the payments in between there. So that’s one of the things that helps power fast pay, it doesn’t have to have that for fast pay, but it’s something unique that we offer.

Damon Pistulka  16:54

Yeah. Yeah. And it would make that a no brainer for him if their employees are are wanting and wants. Sure.

Brett Barlow  17:02

And it provides them with the ability to deploy that capital that they would use on payroll in different ways during those weeks rather than locking it up on payroll. And, and it helps the employee because employees are essentially giving companies an interest free labor loan for Yes, yes, yes, we’re not being compensated for the work that they’re doing. They’re being paid kind of in arrears for work that they’ve done.

So we believe that, you know, getting people their money faster, it actually makes them better employees. 68% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck. Okay, so you’re an employer, essentially, seven out of 10 of your workers are in one way or another, stressed or worried at least thinking about some type of financial challenge that they’re having.

Outside of that comes these larger industries that are somewhat predatory to that specifically payday loans. You’re in credit Kotori. But you also have bank overdraft fees, and you have high credit, credit credit card, excuse me. We have 12 million American workers that are using right now. Payday Loans. 12,000,390% APR. So the font that when I say that the payroll system is broken, it’s just not working? Yeah. Or the people that are you know, providing

Damon Pistulka  18:31

service. It’s yeah, they needed the most. Yeah, that’s right. Yeah, because you think about this, if this. If you have the option, even if you’re not using it, but you have the option, you run into a challenge. You go, Oh, hey, I need it. I need some money. I’m gonna get paid today or tomorrow, instead of waiting until Friday, when it normally comes on or whatever. That’s that’s a big deal, because the alternative is going and getting a payday loan. If it’s if it’s an immediate absolute need, you know, and right then what do you pay for that? 390% APR, that’s

Brett Barlow  19:05

good. In our state, it’s actually legal to charge 1,000% interest on a paid Wow. So that’s criminal. What we believe in my opinion, that’s Oh, yeah. It feels predatory. And

Damon Pistulka  19:22

what we back up on that for a second. Okay, what the heck are we doing that too?

Brett Barlow  19:27

Yeah. The people that are in the toughest bind

Damon Pistulka  19:31

you Yeah, yeah. Sorry, I just

Brett Barlow  19:35

go for it. Yes, it’s it’s hard to take and if I had a secondary mission of the company would be to put those types of businesses out of business. What we’ve also found, excuse me, is that being paid daily, provides a different level of appreciation to the worker for the dollars that they burned.

Okay, so if you’re working and being paid Monday Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Friday comes and you really want that big screen TV, you’re gonna bring that home? Or, or maybe it’s some of your dishwasher broke or something like that. You’re thinking yourself, okay, is that TV worth? All Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, right? Or should I hold off on that? And maybe kind of give it a second thought?

Damon Pistulka  20:21

Yeah. Well, that’s a good point too, because it, you get money in different, smaller amounts more frequently would would really limit the the, you’re not going to get the whatever $1,000 in your pocket and go, Oh, I’m just gonna go pop a TV on it. Because it’s, you know, that’s 500 bucks. I got 500 bucks less. You’re gonna see that coming in and going out a little differently.

Brett Barlow  20:47

Yeah, yeah. provides a view into maybe more micro control of your own finances.

Damon Pistulka  20:54

Yeah, yeah. Wow. That’s a that’s a great point. Two great points. I mean, the the payday loan thing, awesome. But that by helping them by getting paid every day, I mean, we were just talking about this. With a client in a bonus structure. It’s like they used to pay bonus on every six months. And it’s like, that’s, that really doesn’t do any good. Because you just don’t get you don’t feel it, right. And same thing with pay if you could get paid like you guys offer where you pay every day, or sometimes even instantly. That’s a huge psychological difference.

Brett Barlow  21:32

Yeah, if you’re managing a sales team, so for example, door to door sales, say you’re selling solar panels, you’re in Texas, you know, you’re working your tail off out there, and you close the deal. You’ve got the paperwork done, you’ve done your part, there’s nothing else you can do.

It has to be installed, but say installations are out a month to six weeks. And once those are installed, then then they get paid for that. Yeah. So we have businesses where we underwrite that and use the contract as collateral, I suppose, in a way, and we paid their their door to door workers immediately after they signed the contract. Yeah. And that gets them motivated to go to the next door, right?

They keep selling, you can end up having, you know, if you’re working as a summer job, for example, and you get paid three times in a summer, if it’s on six week or four, you know, four week cycles. So the motivation you get and the gratification of of receiving dollars for the work that you’ve done, really helps, in my opinion, motivate workers to get after it. You know, it’s they’re seeing the fruits of their labors. Yeah, that’s, that’s just fair to do that. It’s yeah, it’s, it’s a fair way to go about compensating people. And and we’re really excited about it.

Damon Pistulka  22:55

Yeah. Yeah. So what are the things that you’re excited for this year? I mean, we’re only through just getting into the end of the first quarter, what things in 2023? Are you looking forward to or excited about with every?

Brett Barlow  23:11

Well, I’m, I’m hoping that inflation gets a little bit under control. And I would love for the Fed to quit increasing interest rates. But other than that, what I’m looking for, I mentioned some of our technical capabilities that we have, we are launching our own card program. Yeah, we’ll have an every debit card with its a Visa card. And we’re a Program Manager for that. So we’ll have our own card that we can put people’s, you know, we can distribute pay on for the underbanked. Some people don’t even have bank accounts, yeah, card that opens up certain things for us.

And we’re also working to have our platform with various components fully embeddable into other people’s platform. So yeah, think about moving from maybe a standalone platform, which we were started with into a vertical SAS environment where there’s maybe a landscaping CRM tool, and they just want to add a revenue stream or some sort of service to their customers, we can either white label that or we’ll be able to fully embed our product into their platform. So we’re excited about that. Those innovations.

Damon Pistulka  24:23

Yeah. Oh, that’s cool as heck. That’s cool as heck because yeah, then they then they’re using one application. And and they can, you know, do the work in the application get paid all at once. Sure. So

Brett Barlow  24:38

they have time time clock and scheduling within their app at the can’t correlate that into a distribution of funds. You plug us in then you have a full view of what you’ve earned, what you’re going to earn, and then be able to pay them so I think it’s pretty powerful.

Damon Pistulka  24:56

Yeah, that really is it really has good stuff. Well, Brett, it’s been awesome having you on today talking about you know, making it easy to pay employees faster and every and how you guys are doing it. What’s a great way for somebody to reach out to you if they’re if they’re more interested in your platform in helping people get paid faster? Sure. So

Brett Barlow  25:18

the name of the company is every E V E R. e.com is our website. Again, my name is Brett Barlow and the CEO of every and I’m on LinkedIn, but I can also be reached at emory.com

Damon Pistulka  25:34

Awesome. Awesome. Well, Brett, thanks for being here today. It was great talking to you about this. And thanks everyone for listening out there. And we will be back again next week on the faces of business. But if you didn’t hear all the the things that we are talking about, about, you know, helping people eliminate payday loans, getting your money on a daily or even instant basis for like delivery drivers, gig workers and door to door sales. Get back in this video and listen to it.

Check bread out check a check every out and give it a look. Thanks a lot, everyone. We’ll talk with you later. Hang out Brett for a moment and we’ll talk after we’ll do