Earned Wage Access (InstaPay information) as an employer

Earned Wage Access (EWA) is a product that revolutionises the way employees get paid by allowing them to access their money as they earn it.  

Initial information about earned wage access

What does this mean for me as an employer?

There is no additional effort required by you. When employers are connected to Employment Hero payroll, employees are given access to the EWA benefits via the Swag app.

When an employee requests EWA, the money is paid to them directly from Employment Hero. At the same time, a deduction is added to the employees record in their pay run inclusions page.  The deduction is then automatically added to the next pay run for Employment Hero to recoup their money. If you have an open pay run, the deduction will show in a deductions tab for your convenience so that you can apply it to the pay run. 

You can see which employees have accessed EWA by going to your Pay run inclusions report and looking for the ‌EH InstaPay Post-tax deduction.

When an employee requests an earned wage access payment, these transactions will appear in the relevant pay run as a post-tax deduction. Employment Hero bases earned wage access availability on approved timesheets, or a pro-rated daily amount (for each work day) for salaried employees. To read further information on the employee-facing side of the earned wage access feature, refer to the following article.

What does this mean for my employees?

Your employees can use EWA to

  • Access money they have already earned before pay day for any unexpected bills/emergencies

  • Avoid credit products and build healthy financial habits

  • Take control of how they want to manage their finances

We also provide employees with links to financial wellness guides within Swag.

How is the amount offered to the employee calculated?
Employment Hero bases earned wage access availability on timesheets or a pro-rated daily amount (for each work day) for salaried employees.

View and report on earned wage access deductions

Run a report on earned wage access deductions

The payroll platform allows you to run a report that will show the earned wage access transactions processed within your organisation. The steps on how to run this report are:

  1. Log into your Employment Hero Payroll platform.
  2. Click the Reports menu.
  3. Click the Pay run inclusions report, under the Payroll area. Payroll payrun inclusions report.jpg
  4. Complete the following fields to determine who will be included in the report:
    • Employee.
    • Location.
    • Status.
    • Pay schedule.
    • Employing entity.
      You can either choose to include/exclude terminated employees.
  5.  Click the Run Report button.
    Pay run inclusion report.jpg
  6. Open the relevant accordions for the employee's deductions you want to view.
  7. You will see 'EH InstaPay Post-tax deduction' in the Deduction category - this shows an earned wage access (formerly called InstaPay) deduction.
    EH Instapay deduction.jpg
View an earned wage deduction

Once an employee requests an earned wage access payment, the platform will create a locked post-tax deduction for the withdrawn earned wage access amount in the employee's payroll file. The steps on how to view this are:

  1. Log into your Employment Hero Payroll platform
  2. Click the Employee menu.
  3. Click the List submenu.
  4. Click on the employee whose earned wage access deduction you want to view.
  5. Click the Pay Run Inclusions button.

    Helpful Hint

    You will now see under the deductions section the employee's earned wage access post-tax deduction. Please note that this may still be labelled as an 'InstaPay Post-tax deduction'. Please note, InstaPay is the former name of earned wage access.

    InstaPay_1.jpg

Earned wage FAQs for employers

  What kind of tax deduction is an earned wage access payment classed as?  

You would class an earned wage access payment as a post-tax payment.

  Do I get a notification that an employee has applied for an earned wage access deduction?  

Yes, managers will get an email that their employees have started applying for an earned wage access payment.

  Why does the total on my ABA file differ from my total net pay in my pay run?  

The total on your ABA file will be your total net pay plus these deductions. When an employee makes an earned wage access request, Employment Hero pays ‌the employee directly. In the next pay run, we will add a post-tax deduction automatically onto the employees record. Doing this will make sure we deduct the value of the earned wage access payment from the employee’s net pay. 

  Do I include earned wage access deductions in termination pay runs?  

Yes, earned wage access deductions will need to be included in termination pay runs.  However this is done for you, you do not need to do anything.

  Should I group earned wage access deductions?  

No. Grouping earned wage access deductions will make reconciliation challenging.

  Will payroll admins and business owners receive a notification of their employees' earned wage access requests?  

There are three eligibility criteria for an organisation to be able to offer earned wage access to their employees:

  • Your organisation must be using Employment Hero HR with an integrated Employment Hero Payroll account, or, a standalone Employment Hero Payroll account.

  • You must be on a standard, premium, or platinum plan.

  • You must wait for the 2-month wait period to get yourself familiar with the software and Swag.

Once you meet the above three criteria, earned wage access will ‌automatically be available to your employees.

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