8 Practices to Encourage Farmworkers to Adopt Payroll Cards
Ag employers like you understand the benefits of payroll cards in agriculture - including saving money, time, and resources needed to process and distribute traditional paper paychecks. So you’ve opted into offering a payroll card like the Ganaz Mastercard® Payroll Card. The challenge now is encouraging employees to adopt the program.
Some states allow employers to mandate electronic pay, giving their workers a choice between payroll cards and direct deposit. Other states, like California, require that employers also provide an option for paper checks. Check the laws in your state to ensure you're in compliance.
When paper checks are an option, farmworkers may choose them simply because they are comfortable with this form of payment. Some even collect their paper checks as a short-term form of savings, causing major headaches to your accounting team when it comes to end-of-month account reconciliation.
Some farmworkers may never have used a debit or credit card before, and need to fully understand the benefits of choosing a payroll card over the more familiar paper paycheck.
Here are 8 practices that are easy to implement encouraging farmworkers to choose paycards.
1 - Educate Workers before Onboarding
You can provide workers with a simple 3-minute "Introduction to Paycards" video - in Spanish, a native language for most farmworkers - that they can view on their phones. By sending it as a link in a text message, the worker can view the video whenever they want. And if you have our Ganaz Workforce Communication module, it's really easy to distribute.
Example video:
Ganaz Mastercard® Payroll Card - Introduction
2 - Reinforce Payroll Cards During Onboardings
Whether or not you were able to send the introduction video before HR Onboarding, this is a great time to share it (again). Displaying the introduction video on a TV screen or table will encourage discussions, questions, and answers about payroll cards.
Make sure to always provide farmworkers with the fees and daily limits for the program along with other materials provided by Ganaz so they can make an informed decision.
Example Video:
Get to Know Your Ganaz Mastercard® Payroll Card
3 - Make Sure Workers Know the Card is Active Immediately!
When you are using both HR Onboarding and Payroll Card Modules of the Ganaz Platform, you are able to both hire farmworkers and issue activated payroll cards - no extra step for farmworkers.
Immediately following the payroll card activation, farmworkers will receive a welcome text message and video link. Encourage farmworkers to watch the 2-minute welcome video as well.
Example Video:
Welcome to the Ganaz Mastercard® Payroll Card
4 - Build a Muscle
Once each farmworker is issued a payroll card, they automatically receive a welcome message.
Encourage farmworkers to respond by texting “Saldo” (or BAL for Balance) to the Ganaz phone number. There, they can experience the quickness and convenience of seeing their card balance without having to write it down, make a phone call, or go to the bank.
Example:
[Si] traes dinero en efectivo tal vez se te pueda perder, y en tu tarjeta, si se te pierde la puedes remplazar por otra y tu dinero allí está.
- Aurora Vega, Crew Supervisor, NWFM
“[If] you carry cash maybe you could lose it, but with your card, if you lose it, you could replace it for another one and your money is there.”
[Con cheques] se hace una fila de algunos 20 minutos a 30, y con la tarjeta llega uno a un cajero, está desocupado, saca uno [efectivo], o pasa uno adentro [del banco] y más rápido.
- Mauricio Bruno, Crew Supervisor, NWFM
“[With checks] you wait in line about 20 to 30 minutes, and with the card you get to an ATM, it’s available, you withdraw [cash], or you go inside [the bank] and it’s faster.”
6 - Explain How the Payroll Cards Work
Between receiving a payroll card, and the first payday, some time has passed. Consider using this time for some educational reminders. Many workers might not have ever used debit or credit cards before. Consider sending each worker, or sharing in a group meeting, this video on how to use payroll cards for purchases.
Reinforce that payroll cards are more secure with PINs and microchips. Advise that there is a quick replacement process for payroll cards if they are lost, and the farmworker’s balance will be safe and automatically be reflected on a new card.
Videos can be very effective for workers because it’s in their native language. Also, videos are easier to remember, and workers can watch them as many times as needed.
Example Video:
How to make a purchase at the store
7 - Payroll Card Ambassadors
A great idea is to have a payroll card ambassador on your site. This is a farmworker who understands the issues and reluctance of adopting a new form of payment that people aren’t used to.
The payroll card ambassador shares their experiences with the payroll card, how easy and secure it is, and why it’s better than paper checks.
The payroll card ambassador can also answer questions and field concerns co-workers may have.
8 - Partner With Ganaz for Better Payroll Card Experiences
Ganaz can help you roll out a payroll card program built for farmworkers. We can start by rolling it out to a focus group of 10 to 20 employees. Once that initial rollout succeeds, those cardholders can serve as ambassadors to encourage others.
Ganaz has a dedicated, in-house bilingual cardholder customer service team to help with customer service for each individual. We offer personalized service for everyone who has questions, and comments; from PIN changes to spending limits.
If you need a personalized strategy to rollout payroll cards, we’re here to help, please reach out to our Ganaz team.
The Ganaz Payroll Card is issued by Sutton Bank, member FDIC, pursuant to license by Mastercard. Mastercard and the circles design are registered trademarks of Mastercard International Incorporated.