A Florida fast food franchisee recently experimented with a pilot program which allowed employees to receive one-half of their pay for a shift the next day via a debit card (without any fees or other costs to the employee).  They quickly discovered that more immediate access to pay drastically reduced absenteeism and produced more motivated and satisfied employees.

In fact, the positive impact of this pay structure on employees became clear so quickly that the restaurant operator expanded the program on a permanent basis to all of its restaurants before the scheduled trial period was even completed.  The program appears to reduce financial stress on workers (who often live paycheck-to-paycheck) and the instant gratification of partial payment within a day seems to make workers more apt to show up for their shifts.

The parallels between the fast-food and senior housing industries are compelling:  both are staff intensive, both employ many workers at the lower end of the wage spectrum, and both typically experience challenges with turnover and absenteeism.  Though the accounting and cash-flow impacts of such a pay model could be a challenge, this model may be a way senior housing operators to encourage better behavior from existing employees and a useful incentive in attracting new workers.