Alaa Pasha, CEO of Instant Financial, believes that easing employees financial stress by giving employees more control over their own pay helps build a stronger company culture, lower employee turnover rates and increase interested applicants, he talks about easing employee access to their benefits and payments in this latest interview. Catch the complete story.
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Can you tell us a little about yourself Alaa? What’s a typical day at work like for you at Instant Financial especially now, given the current Covid-19 pandemic crisis, how is a typical day at work while working remote and managing a distributed team?
First, our hearts go out to everyone who has been impacted by the pandemic. We’ve seen the impact on many of our customers and we wish them all well and hope to see those who lost their jobs back in the workforce soon.
We’re fortunate as a technology company that we can perform 100% of our job and serve our customers remotely. Of course, we do miss the live interaction, but we are able to collaborate and serve our customers while working from home across multiple cities.
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Tell us a little about the latest innovations/developments at Instant Financial, how does the platform work to redefine the way the workforce/employee’s access and manage their benefits/payments?
The Instant platform was developed to disrupt the antiquated bi-weekly pay cycle especially for workers with low income. We enable employees to access their pay at the end of every shift at no charge to them, providing them with financial peace of mind and helping meet their financial needs. Employees are supplied with a personal Instant Visa prepaid debit card where payments can be sent. They download an app that sends a notification at the end of their shift, enabling the employee to choose up to one-half of the hourly wages earned. If the employee chooses so, money is loaded instantly onto the Visa debit card, which is good for purchases at gas stations, grocery stores or any place that accepts Visa. Alternatively, employees also have the option to send funds instantly to their bank account.
Given the ongoing pandemic, what top thoughts do you have for the way contactless payments and cards as well as other digital payments are being forced to evolve to meet new demands?
It is a fact that the pandemic has and will continue to accelerate the move to a cashless society. A great example of this is home delivery. It was fairly common for folks to pay for food delivery in cash or at least pay tips in cash. Today, with “Contactless Delivery”, customers no longer pay in cash, resulting in almost no cash revenue for the restaurant to pay their drivers tips at the end of the shift. With Instant Tips and Mileage programs, we’ve been able to work with several companies to enable them to pay their employees tips at the end of the day using the Instant Visa card. We see this service in very high demand during the pandemic and expect the popularity to grow as more establishments move to cashless payments.
How according to you will the need and demand for other innovative payment solutions now become a priority for both business (manufacturing/industries/others) and individual users? What are the top features/applications that businesses will need more of over time?
The first need is for workers to access their pay in a timely manner that is better than today’s bi-weekly pay cycle, especially post-Covid-19, where workers may have burned through their savings and are likely to work less hours. With innovative payment solutions like Instant Pay, businesses are able to provide individuals access to their pay in real-time at no cost to them.
As businesses look to reopen and rehire, we encourage business leaders to prioritize employee’s financial wellness and provide their workforce with the ability to access their wages at the completion of their shifts to allow for financial flexibility when they need it.
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How will the effects of the pandemic impact new innovations in the fintech segment on the whole (banking/etc)? What top features/platforms will fintech entrepreneurs have to innovate on to provide the user base?
I believe that the pandemic will accelerate innovation in the fintech segment with the main driver being further elimination of cash transactions. Simple transactions like tipping, that were classically done with cash, are no longer viable and must now be done digitally. We provide our clients a complete earned wage access solution to facilitate the payment of Tips, Commissions, Mileage Reimbursement 100% digital with no need to access cash.
What are some of your thoughts on the impact of emerging technologies on the growth and development of future fintech platforms?
The key application to emerging technologies is to continue to improve financial inclusion and wellness where access to essential services and products are available to everyone in an affordable and timely manner. Instant access to wages is the first step towards financial wellness.
Tag (mention/write about) the one person in the fintech industry whose answers to these questions you would love to read!
Daniel H. Schulman, CEO, Paypal
Your favorite FinanceTech related quote
“The future of finance is not technology; it is the extreme obsession to be on the side of the consumer. Technology is the enabler to make it happen” by Harit Talwar, Head of Marcus by Goldman Sachs
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Would you like to share specific finance or business tips for teams struggling through this uncertain time?
Given the current climate and uncertainty of the market, this is time for innovation and creativity to ensure that your product or solution can assist those on the front lines dealing with the pandemic or help those businesses who have been shut down to reopen and get back to normal.
Instant Pay is an earned wage access and pay card solution that gives employees free access to pay after every shift. Designed as a vital employee benefit for industries with hourly wage and shift workers, Instant puts employees in control of their own finances while attracting new job applicants to an organization, increasing employee retention, and lowering workforce absenteeism.
Alaa Pasha is the Chief Executive Officer at Instant Financial
