How Earned Wage Access Can Help Airline Hiring Soar

With COVID-19 vaccinations on the rise, a familiar, more optimistic bug is catching—the travel bug. This is great news for travelers, but are airlines ready for the upcoming surge?

Earned Wage Access (EWA) can offer a helping hand in turbulent skies. EWA is soaring in popularity across the country as a solution to attract talented workers. It gives employees access to their earned wages between paychecks from a mobile app and creates an edge for employers in an employee-driven market.

Last year, the travel industry experienced an unprecedented amount of layoffs. 

• 39% of all lost jobs due to COVID-19 were in travel
• 90,000 full-time positions were slashed in 2020
• 30,000 workers were placed on furlough

Flights were grounded, employees were out of work, and travelers were restricted from air travel which resulted in record low global weekly flights.

After a year and a half inside, many fully vaccinated people are ready to get out and see the world. As a result, we’re witnessing an increase in the number of travelers, especially this summer. Air travel has risen almost 200% since last year. 2.2 million passengers traveled over the July 4th weekend rendering the highest number of passengers since the pandemic started back in March of 2020.

As more travelers book flights, the fallout from massive layoffs in 2020 continue to reverberate across the airline industry with effects still being felt in 2021.

• A total of 235 airlines are currently under-staffed with some short as many as 100 TSA officers at Boston Logan, Denver International, Washington Dulles —a few of the country’s busiest airports.
• American Airlines, one of the largest and most recognizable brands in the world, recently canceled over 900 flights in July at the height of the summer holiday season. 
• Airlines lose roughly $30 billion in total per year due to canceled and delayed flights in a typical year, but as we know 2021 is anything but typical. 

Airlines are looking to recoup losses from 2020, but current numbers are not forecasting a quick road to recovery or stability. Without workers, this trend could continue and permanently ground airlines.

This isn’t a typical shortage of workers, says Elsa Cabellero, president of SEIU Texas, a union that speaks for lower wage staff at airports, but “a shortage of workers wanting to come back to work for poverty wages”. Today’s workers are demanding better conditions that adequately reflect their hard work. 

During the pandemic, many public-facing TSA agents, gate attendants, and janitors were forced to deal with unique and added stressors, like irate passengers refusing to comply with mask regulations. This was on top of the day to day stress associated with an already stressful job. 

Despite being vital lifeblood, these employees have been continuously undervalued. In the past, higher pay and benefits have attracted potential employees, but these perks have become standard fare and no longer fly.

While the TSA is currently offering $1,000 incentives for new hires, it has only hired half of its anticipated 6,000 officers this year. 

Employees have been laid off for so long that stress levels have risen and they are no longer responding to temporary incentives. 

Financial stress has increased 63% since the start of the pandemic and continues to do so. 

These people need relief. If airlines want to ascend and bring employees back on board, they’re going to have to rebuild trust with employees again and need a more comprehensive solution to do it. That starts with an employer that cares about financial wellness, offers flexibility of pay, and prioritizes convenience. 

Payactiv’s EWA demonstrates these traits and gives employees flexibility and autonomy when accessing their wages. 

By allowing employees to access funds at any time lets new employees live the life they’ve earned. They can put food on their tables, pay for emergencies, and budget for the future. Recent research shows EWA has grown massively in popularity. 

Seventy-two percent of American workers are willing to make a jump to another employer that provides better financial and holistic support. Keeping employees is as important as attracting them and this solution has been proven to lower turnover rates by 30% and decrease attrition within 30, 60, 90 days of start dates by 36%, 29%, and 24%, respectively. 

The Payactiv benefit attracts talent, increases retention, and sparks engagement. This leads to better customer service on the flight, on the tarmac, and in the terminal. In order to bring staff and reach pre-pandemic heights, airlines need look no further. With Payactiv, travelers, employees, and airlines can sit back, relax, and enjoy their flight.