“Payroll feels like one of those inevitable costs of doing business—something you just have to deal with.”
But what if payroll could actually make you money?
With the right payments strategy, payroll isn’t a cost center—it’s a revenue driver. Not only can you unlock new revenue streams but you can also offer faster, more flexible pay options that keep workers happy and engaged.
In this blog, we’ll break down how you can make payroll work for you. We’ll cover ways to earn revenue from deposits, collect interchange fees, and offer premium payment options like push-to-card and Same-Day ACH. By the end, you’ll see how payroll can go from a necessary expense to a smart business strategy.
Payroll monetization is all about leveraging financial services to generate income from the money you’re already moving.
Here’s how staffing companies can turn payroll into a revenue generator:
By taking advantage of these opportunities, staffing companies can create net new, sustainable, recurring income while also providing better financial services to their workers. In the following sections, we’ll dive deeper into each of these revenue streams and how to maximize them.
Think of this like earning interest on your savings account—the longer the money sits, the more it grows. Why not apply the same logic to payroll?
Staffing companies can earn money through the money that their workers keep in a digital wallet they provide. When employees get paid to their paycard, staffing companies can generate a deposit incentive from the bank as those funds sit in the account before being spent.
In a nutshell: When workers choose to receive wages on a paycard—after agreeing to use this method instead of traditional direct deposit or check—their unspent funds can earn yield for your company. This also provides workers with instant access to wages, reducing payment delays and potentially improving retention. In fact, a study by Harvard Business School found that employees with access to earned wages had a significantly lower probability of leaving their firm compared to those without such access.
Interchange fees are transaction fees that businesses pay when a customer makes a purchase using a credit or debit card. Often called “swipe fees,” these fees are shared among all the participants in the ecosystem that make a card purchase possible including banks, payment processors, and card networks like Visa and Mastercard.
Interchange fees are designed to cover the costs associated with generating, accepting, processing and authorizing card transactions. For staffing companies, interchange fees present a unique opportunity to generate additional revenue when workers use employer-issued paycards for everyday transactions.
Every time an employee spends money using a payroll debit card, a portion of the interchange fee flows back to the issuing entity—often the staffing agency or its financial partner. This creates a steady stream of passive income while also offering workers the convenience of immediate access to their wages without requiring a traditional bank account.
Beyond revenue, providing workers with paycards and digital wallets also enhances financial inclusion by giving unbanked or underbanked employees access to a secure and reliable payment method. Staffing companies that embrace interchange fee revenue can both improve their bottom line and provide better financial solutions for their workforce.
While not necessarily a catch, it’s important to know that not all paycard providers are created equally. Many providers do not offer employer-owned programs. Be sure to look for one that:
Did you know? If you’re using a paycard provider without an employer-owned program, your workers’ transactions are generating significant revenue—but your company isn’t benefiting from it.
People are often willing to pay for convenience or speed. Whether it’s same-day shipping, ordering food delivery, or choosing rideshare over public transport, the demand for instant access is undeniable. Payroll is no different.
Staffing companies can generate revenue by offering faster, more flexible payment options that cater to worker preferences. Instant Pay provides immediate access to wages, making it highly attractive to workers who need faster financial access. Instead of waiting days for traditional payment methods to complete, workers can receive their earnings within minutes, helping improve satisfaction and retention.
Beyond worker benefits, instant pay creates new revenue opportunities for staffing companies. Employers can charge a small convenience fee for instant payroll disbursements, adding a new stream of transaction-based income. Note that employees must elect to use these instant pay options and be informed that early access to earnings may come with a convenience fee. Workers often find value in the ability to access their earnings early, making these services a win-win for both the staffing company and its workforce.
Faster pay has the potential to enhance worker satisfaction, reduce turnover, and differentiate staffing companies from competitors that still rely on slow, traditional payroll systems. By integrating modern payroll solutions, staffing companies may see an improvement in cash flow, streamlined operations, and additional revenue streams while keeping workers financially secure.
Employees must elect to use instant pay options and will be fully informed that accessing their earnings early may come with a “convenience fee.” These fees are designed to cover the cost of providing faster access to wages.
What if you could give workers immediate access to their earnings while also generating revenue from it? It’s like offering express checkout—fast, convenient, and worth a small premium.
Zeal helps staffing companies automate payroll, pay workers faster, and create new income streams.
Zeal enables staffing companies to generate revenue through multiple streams:
Technically, yes but trying to monetize payroll on your own is complex, time-consuming, and expensive. Creating financial partnerships, implementing technology, negotiating interchange fees, and ensuring compliance requires multiple vendors, significant expertise, and costly infrastructure. With Zeal, staffing companies get a fully managed solution that eliminates the hassle and maximizes revenue opportunities without extra administrative burden.
In short, it depends. We see that the worker behavior of 1099 independent contractors and W-2 employees is different. So you'll want to consider the right payment solutions for each segment. And the resulting revenue could vary based on your specific worker behavior. The basic information you will want to get an accurate estimate is:
To get an estimate of your potential annual revenue use this calculator:
Ready to transform payroll from a cost center to a revenue driver? Get in touch with Zeal today!
Mistakes that trigger compliance audits/fines include: failing to complete/re-verify I-9/E-Verify for employees, misclassifying employees as contractors (or vice versa), not withholding appropriate taxes, failing to report new hires, not paying minimum wage or overtime, failure to provide required pay-stubs, missing child-support garnishments for contractors, incorrect 1099 or W-2 filings. Fines vary but can be significant (e.g., more than $28,000 per ineligible W-2 hire).
If your business model, client demands, or regulatory environment changes and you decide to transition workers from 1099 to W-2 (or the reverse in rare cases), you need a solution that handles new onboarding (tax/wage/eligibility paperwork), modifies pay/deductions workflows, updates your pay-roll tax engine, and adjusts your billing/invoicing logic. A flexible platform built for both classification types ensures you avoid patchwork systems. Zeal supports both W-2 and 1099 at scale.
For on-demand marketplaces and staffing operations where speed matters (shifts change, high turnover), you should aim to complete onboarding (document collection, eligibility check, tax forms) in minutes, not days. A streamlined and unified mobile/remote onboarding flow helps. Zeal supports mobile remote I-9/E-Verify and e-signature onboarding to accelerate this.
Many general payroll vendors are built for “one employer, one location, one schedule” scenarios — not high-volume, many-workers, multi-location gig models. They often lack: onboarding workflows tailored to high-volume staffing, automated classification support (W-2/1099), multi-jurisdiction tax engines, fast payouts (instant, paycards), billing and receivable integration, and worker self-service portals. By contrast Zeal is built for staffing/gig scale.
In on-demand or staffing operations where a worker may live in one state, work in another, or travel across multiple jurisdictions in a week, compliance becomes significantly more complex. You must manage: minimum wage requirements differing by state/city, overtime rules by jurisdiction, tax withholding/residency/work-state issues, unemployment/worker‐comp jurisdictional issues. A robust solution will dynamically capture worker location info at onboarding and at each shift, determine applicable rules, and automate pay accordingly.
For W-2 employees you must ensure:
Also ensure you capture worker’s multiple work locations or shifts if they cross jurisdictions (for tax/withholding purposes).
At minimum you should:
You may also want to collect a Form I-9 from your workers and have their employment eligibility verified through E-Verify. While this is not required we are seeing that enforcement of employment eligibility varies by administration.
Worker classification hinges on the “employee vs independent contractor” analysis. Under U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) final rule effective March 11, 2024 (regulation at 29 CFR 795), six key factors apply:
In staffing/gig firms you must apply this test consistently and document your decision. Misclassification can lead to compliance violations and major fines (for example, for missing minimum wage or overtime protections when a worker should have been W-2).
For staffing companies and marketplaces working with gig or on-demand labor, the onboarding phase is a critical risk point. Key risks include: mis-classifying a worker (i.e., treating a W-2 employee as a 1099 contractor), failing to complete a compliant I-9 / E-Verify check for W-2 workers, not collecting correct tax forms (W-4 for employees, W-9 for contractors), lacking documentation of worker certifications or licenses, and failing to collect or monitor multijurisdictional data (worker’s residence, work location, shift locations) that will affect tax & wage compliance. Additionally, companies can use the onboarding process to mitigate other compliance risks such as displaying labor posters and onboarding to faster payment methods. By automating onboarding workflows you reduce manual errors, accelerate worker start-time, and build a more compliant foundation.
Share this:
Zeal is a financial technology company, not an FDIC insured depository institution. Banking services provided by Bangor Savings Bank, Member FDIC. FDIC insurance coverage protects against the failure of an FDIC insured depository institution. Pass-through FDIC insurance coverage is subject to certain conditions.
Mastercard® Debit Card is issued by Bangor Savings Bank, Member FDIC, pursuant to license by Mastercard International Incorporated. Mastercard is a registered trademark, and the circle design is a trademark of Mastercard International Incorporated. Spend anywhere Mastercard is accepted.
