Gig Workers Pay: Insights from Everee CMO, Dana Gagnon
We are proud to feature our valued partner Everee for our guest blog this week! We sat down with Chief Marketing Officer Dana Gagnon for a full discussion of Everee, the future of payments in the gig economy, and other industry trends. To check out their full Gig Drivers report for 2023, click here!
What are Everee’s core values?
- Think big and be effective.
- Be direct and kind.
- Trust each other and win together.
What do you look for when seeking out a partner in this space?
We love partnering with companies like dlivrd that understand how critical instant pay is for the financial well-being of their workforces. Partners that have the ability to automate their workflows by integrating with our platform to speed up pay are able to remove friction for their business and workers.
Do you believe that more gig companies will start to seek out healthcare or retirement benefits?
Gig economy companies have made it easier for people to find flexible work opportunities, but there’s definitely room for improvement when it comes to supporting their workers’ needs. In our research, we’ve seen that gig workers care most about their pay rate and consistency of shifts. However, they also are concerned about things like healthcare and retirement savings. In fact, in our research 77% of gig drivers said they would give up some schedule flexibility as a 1099 worker if they could get healthcare benefits as a W-2 worker. Gig companies can alleviate some of these concerns by partnering with a third-party tool that supplies savings to gig workers who purchase benefits from their platform.
What is a hot-button issue in the gig economy today, and how is Everee addressing it?
One of the biggest debates is related to worker classification; should gig workers remain classified as 1099 or should there be new regulations that require them to be reclassified as W-2 if they meet certain criteria? Or, should there be an entirely new classification for gig workers that’s somewhere in between? At Everee, we believe that regardless of worker classification, workers should get what they earn as they earn it. We’re the only platform built to give instant payouts of all earnings to 1099 and W-2 workers, plus handle all the compliance and taxes needed depending on the worker type.
In general, we believe the success of gig economy companies will depend on becoming more and more worker–centric. This means providing them with fair and predictable earnings that they’re able to get access to quickly, but also creating a culture where they feel heard, respected, and valued by the companies they work for. The best gig companies we work with have an ongoing feedback loop with their gig workers and regularly adjust their products and policies to better support their needs. They view workers as an extension of their full-time team vs. an expendable labor pool.
What was your most unexpected finding from your Gig Driver Report study?
We asked drivers what factors would influence them to leave gig work, and it was interesting to see that predictability of earnings was as important as amount of earnings. These tied for the top reason they would leave gig work with 30% of drivers selecting them as factors. It shows that companies need to ensure they have consistent work for their drivers to remain competitive. We also found that over 40% of drivers have removed themselves from the hiring process because either onboarding was taking too long or they found out they wouldn’t get paid fast. This is such a large percentage of drivers that could potentially fall out of a company’s talent pool. Moreover, when competition for drivers is so high, it’s critical companies don’t limit their workforce pool by having archaic processes.
Expand upon your relationship with CEO Chris Heffernan & dlivrd!
We view Chris and dlivrd not as just an Everee customer but a true partner. We’re constantly learning about the needs of delivery businesses from Chris and his team, and we work to evolve our platform and products to better meet these needs. dlivrd has taken full advantage of our offerings, like building integrations to automate workflows. We’ve been fortunate enough to attend industry events with dlivrd, do a case study and come out to the dlivrd HQ to meet the whole team. We’re inspired by your phenomenal growth and look forward to continue to partner as you scale even more!
