For decades, employers have controlled when workers get paid, and employees have largely accepted biweekly or monthly paychecks as a fact of working life. But a younger workforce is now questioning that arrangement, and the issue is increasingly showing up in benefits conversations alongside more familiar concerns like flexibility and scheduling.

Andrew Brandman, COO of DailyPay, a technology company that gives employees access to earned pay before payday, said one of the quiet justifications for delayed pay has been employers’ concern that workers might not manage their money responsibly if they received it faster. In an economy built around immediacy, he said, employers may be focused on the wrong issue.

The growth of the gig economy has helped reset expectations around compensation. Workers such as Uber drivers can access earnings as soon as a job is completed rather than waiting until the end of a shift, Brandman said. “I hear this from employers all the time: they’re competing for a workforce now that’s looking for instant,” he said. That comparison matters because it gives employees a familiar reference point for how fast pay can work, even if traditional payroll systems have not changed at the same pace.

Despite that demand, only 3% of employers currently offer instant paycheck access, also known as earned wage access, according to the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans.

Worker use of early access to wages is already significant. A 2024 Consumer Financial Protection Bureau study found that roughly 10 million workers used some form of early wage access in 2022, moving nearly $32 billion. Three million of those workers bypassed their employers entirely and used consumer apps, although nearly all paid a fee for expedited access to their funds, the CFPB found. Most employer-partnered earned wage providers offer both free and fee-based options for employees to receive wages.

Brandman said demand is not limited to hourly workers. He has seen more higher-wage workers using DailyPay’s platform. “There’s this misnomer that if you’re salaried, you must not be living paycheck to paycheck,” he said.

He said the response starts with better communication. HR leaders should talk with employees about the benefits they need and understand the reasoning behind them, he said. Just as importantly, he said, they should also talk with other CHROs and CPOs about pay and why it has remained a workplace category that has not changed in decades. For employers, the question is not only whether faster pay can be offered, but how to explain it clearly enough that workers understand the option and use it appropriately.

“What we see is when employees feel like they’re covered, that the employer’s got their back, they feel a different connection,” Brandman said. “Suddenly you get a workforce that’s way more engaged.”

Kristin Stoller
Editorial Director, Fortune Live Media
kristin.stoller@fortune.com

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com