ZayZoon’s 2025 EWA Buyer’s Guide

We want to understand what earned wage access (EWA) is and how to integrate this benefit into your team. To do so, we created a buyer’s guide with information about many EWA providers beyond ZayZoon. We researched other providers to understand what they offer in an effort to give you a comprehensive view into EWA for your business. 

In our 2025 EWA buyer’s guide, we share insights from 2,500 ZayZoon customers. We also include many interviews with users of other EWA apps and tools across the U.S. Interviewees’ roles and industries varied from retail and team management to healthcare to sales to quick service restaurants (QSRs).

In order to remain as objective as possible, the interviewed professionals are or were not connected to or in business with ZayZoon in any way.

Employees have new unmet needs

Engaging the modern employee can feel like a challenge. Employee engagement is at an all-time low: more than two-thirds of today’s employees don’t feel committed, energized, or enthusiastic about their work. 

To combat these in the workplace, employers must adopt a proactive approach to employee engagement and well-being. It has become mandatory. Taking an active role to find broader solutions and benefits at work helps support their ideal future. 

Employees are dynamic and eager to take control of their lives. Empowering them to do this is less challenging than you think.

Every EWA company offer one clear advantage for employers and payroll partners to consider: early access to already earned wages. 

There are additional considerations to choose one over the other. For instance, many EWA businesses offer additional financial benefits, and not only are they important, they are a right. 

No matter if we’re battling inflation, trade skirmishes or global events, paying to live is costing employees in ways that impacts their performance. EWA gives them a break, an opportunity, and some control over their financial life.

What is EWA

EWA allows employees to cover the expenses that come up between pay periods. Rather than asking employers for an advance loan payment or go to a payday loan lender and face high percent interest, employees can enjoy a percentage of their earnings ahead of time.

EWA is a financial wellness benefit that empowers individuals to be in control of payments for work they’ve already done. 

EWA is a popular financial benefit for three essential reasons:

1. Convenience culture: Everything is on demand today, except for payday. With changes across  different industries and businesses, employees expect to access their wages to be more convenient and fit their lifestyle, not the other way around.
2. Financial disempowerment: About 61% of employees are living paycheck-to-paycheck. The cost of living is too high and cash isn’t flowing fast enough.
3. Predatory lenders: When there’s no other opportunities, or friends or family to help, people often turn to payday loan lenders. They take out high-interest loans to make basic payments but end up having to keep paying back the lender, often getting into a debt spiral.
   
   

Different EWA models

There are a couple of different EWA models businesses or employees can use in order to get access to their earned wages ahead of payday. The primary models are direct-to-consumer EWA or employer-integrated EWA. 

What to look for in an EWA provider 

The guide covers key areas such as: 

• Financial wellness tools and education
• Market segment 
• Cost
• Risk and payment
• Customer support
• Activation time

EWA is more than just on-demand pay. It’s a way for people to have more control over their financial lives.

Voluntary benefits are changing. Payroll is changing. As today’s worker gets used to new benefits that look at the totality of their wellness, including finances, and the possibility of a flexible payroll as part of that, businesses and team leaders, too, must adapt. 

EWA can save your business real money and time. Employers who have offered ZayZoon have experienced a 29% decrease in turnover, which means less new hire costs. Your employees can make the most out of EWA, but so can you.