A recent conference hosted by the financial wellness platform Stream brought into focus the stress workers are currently feeling with regard to their pay and finances.

“We’re in pretty tough economic circumstances right now in America, especially if you’re on a low-to-moderate income,” Stream’s chief impact officer, Emily Trant, told HR Brew ahead of the Sept. 29 FinWell conference. She referenced MIT’s Living Wage calculator, which as of February showed that no state had a minimum wage high enough in order for workers to earn a “living wage,” i.e. enough to cover a family’s basic needs.

In light of these trends, Trant said she hoped employers would consider pulling levers that would “make a difference to people, even beyond benefits.” This might include assigning more predictable hours, or taking a closer look at their compensation.

Short of raising wages, benefits leaders who attended FinWell said they’re considering paying employees more frequently, redesigning healthcare plans, and connecting them with already-available programs.

Nixing the biweekly paycheck. Stream got its start as an earned-wage access (EWA) provider, allowing employees to collect part of their earned wages ahead of a scheduled payday.

Some benefits pros who attended the conference said they were already offering or are considering EWA.

Ross Stores is looking at EWA, according to Lisa Singh, its senior benefits director. Singh said one of her previous employers offered EWA, and that she believed the offering would resonate with Ross’s hourly workers, who represent most of the employee population.

In another signal that employers are responding to workers who want to be paid more frequently, Starbucks said earlier this year it would shift from a biweekly to weekly pay schedule. Large retailers like UPS and Amazon do the same for workers in hourly roles. Even though this practice competes with EWA, Stream co-founder and CEO Portman Wills said he’s enthusiastic about the trend. “The reality is people should just be paid more frequently,” he said.

At the conference, Stream’s leaders stressed that they don’t believe EWA should be offered in a vacuum, and pitched other offerings, like workplace loans and savings accounts, as well.

Rethinking healthcare. Healthcare weighed heavily on conversations at FinWell, as employers are expected to see health costs rise by upwards of 9% next year. This has implications for both businesses and workers, given it raises the specter that the former passes on costs to the latter.

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