It’s no secret employee turnover at restaurants is high. That’s especially true in 2019, where record growth for the restaurant industry has led to increased competition for a dwindling workforce.
Mobile pay management app Branch and restaurant management platform Delaget want to change that by helping restaurants offer more financial incentives to hourly employees. Today, the two companies announced a partnership that integrates Branch’s app with Delaget’s platform, giving restaurant employees the option, among other things, to access their earnings instantly.
Minneapolis, MN-based Branch was founded in 2015 as shift scheduling and management tool for retailers and restaurants. Over time, the company added features like wage tracking and management and, most recently, a service called Pay. The latter lets hourly employees access their wages instantly, rather than having to wait for the end of a given pay period.
Employees of participating restaurants simply download the Branch app and enter information like their employer, debit card or bank account number to get access to the platform. Unbanked employees using payroll cards can also use the app by entering their payroll card number. Users can either wait two days to receive their funds after requesting them or pay a $3.99 charge for instant deposits. According to an email from Branch, users can also get free instant transactions when they sign up for Branch’s free checking account and debit card. Major restaurant chains like McDonald’s and Taco Bell already use the service.
Delaget, meanwhile, is a platform that offers financial and analytics services made specifically for restaurants, among them Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, and KFC. With the new partnership, Delaget restaurant customers will be able to automatically offer their employees Branch’s aforementioned Pay service. Employees also get tools for budgeting and overdraft protection.
For the restaurants themselves, the Branch integration includes new tools around scheduling and shift management, predicting turnover rates, and workflow management. According to the press release, the integration lets restaurants access all of this without disrupting or replacing the existing systems in their tech stack.
“Working with Delaget has allowed us to quickly deliver financial wellness tools to operators and their employees, without piling on additional costs or disrupting processes,” Atif Siddiqi, Branch Founder and CEO, said in a statement.
The restaurant industry in the U.S. is currently facing one of the most severe labor shortages in decades, and high turnover is practically inherent to an industry that employs countless students and teenagers. Restaurants large and small are now trying to find ways to entice their hourly employees to stay put, and instant access to wages is one tactic gaining popularity. Besides Branch, restaurants also work with companies like DailyPay and Instant Financial to give employees faster access to their earnings.
Hourly employees of restaurants participating in Branch can sign up with the service for free.
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