Why NWFM is Moving Away From Paper Paychecks
NWFM is a full-service farm investment and property management company based in the Pacific Northwest whose mission is to cultivate returns for its partner producers, investors, and mother nature.
Olivia Juarez, NWFM’s HR manager, and Victor Camacho, an Assistant Manager, shared why NWFM is moving away from paper checks and using the Ganaz MasterCard® Payroll Card program for their farmworkers instead.
NWFM’s Struggle with Paper Paychecks
Olivia Juarez is the HR manager and has been in the ag industry for more than ten years. Before Ganaz, everything NWFM did, was done on paper, including HR Onboarding and paychecks. As NWFM hires about 500 workers for their 175-acre cherry orchard seasonally, these paper-based approaches took a ton of time.
Problem #1: The hassle of mailing
“We were mailing out checks, and you can only imagine mailing out 150-200 checks a week, every pay period, and then having those employees not receive their check. So it was just crazy madness, just trying to get everybody paid on time. “
- Olivia Juarez, HR Manager, NWFM
Problem #2: Replacing canceled checks
“We were running into canceling checks, $35 every time we canceled the check, reissuing a check, [and] getting the check back to the employees. It was madness; that's why we decided to go with paycards.”
- Olivia Juarez, HR Manager, NWFM
Problem #3: Costs of printing checks
“Problems we were facing: printing out checks or reprinting checks. I mean just the cost itself! If you lose or misplace 100 checks, if they get lost in the mail, or they're getting them 4-5 days afterward.”
- Olivia Juarez, HR Manager, NWFM
Problem #4: Checks get lost
“They give me a call or one of my teammates, and we got to figure out what happened to their payroll check. Sometimes it gets returned to the office, and it takes weeks. We got to look for those employees and try to figure out where they're at, and some of our ranches are like an hour, hour and a half away.”
- Victor Camacho, Assistant Manager, NWFM
Problem #5: It takes a lot of time
“You have angry employees that need to pay bills, and we needed to find a quicker solution, and a quicker solution was to find some kind of paycard. We looked into other paycards, but nothing really that would fit the company for our needs.”
- Olivia Juarez, HR Manager, NWFM
NWFM’s Solution: Paycards
In December 2020, NWFM moved from paper onboarding to Ganaz’s onboarding platform. Say’s Olivia:
“Before we decided to go with Ganaz, we were using just paper, and it just took anywhere from 15 to 20 minutes to [hire] one employee. We decided to go with Ganaz; it makes things simpler. We cut down our time from 15-20 minutes to 5-7 minutes. That was incredibly wonderful for us; I mean, we are able to process 100 employees within 2-3 hours with our team.”
- Olivia Juarez, HR Manager, NWFM
Hannah Freeman, Ganaz Co-Founder and CEO, was visiting NWFM to see how onboarding was going and let Olivia and Victor know about paycards.
“I remember her telling us they were working on a Ganaz MasterCard and thought automatically, that's a great idea, and want to be the first to try it out.”
- Victor Camacho, Assistant Manager, NWFM
Advantage #1: Simpler than Bank Accounts
“For us, a Ganaz paycard just made sense. Working in the ag industry, we know how difficult it can be to have employees open bank accounts or have bank accounts. The Ganaz paycard is wonderful because it puts the burden on the company to have to establish that connection with the bank and KYC (know-your-customer) laws.”
- Olivia Juarez, HR Manager, NWFM
Advantage #2: Saves Time vs. Hand-Delivering Checks
“Some of the things that I see from working with this payroll card is just not having to chase employees around. So, it's just a lot of extra time that we could be spending on something else here on the ranch.”
- Victor Camacho, Assistant Manager, NWFM
Advantage #3: Workers like the ease of paycards
“Employees like having the paycards; they have everything on there. They get their money on their card, and they can just go shopping or go withdraw the money from the bank.”
- Olivia Juarez, HR Manager, NWFM
Advantage #4: Farmworkers save time and money
“Benefit for the employee is the time saving of waiting. Driving to the bank, waiting in line to cash your check, and then there's always fees on top of that. To change your check, it could be anywhere from a percentage of 2 to 3% of your paycheck; to a fee of like $10 or $15. That itself is going to save the employee money.”
- Olivia Juarez, HR Manager, NWFM
Never going back to paper paychecks!
“The efficiency to have everybody on direct deposit or payroll cards is going to be wonderful. I can’t imagine how anybody else would still keep printing out checks.”
- Olivia Juarez, HR Manager, NWFM
They can’t imagine going back to paper checks - struggling with mailing out paychecks, reprinting lost or canceled paychecks, or driving 2-3 hours a day just to hand-deliver paychecks. If you’re also wrestling with paper paychecks, discover how the Ganaz MasterCard® Payroll Card program can help.
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.