Terminating employees is never easy, but it could be much easier!

July 15, 2010

Every once in a long while, some particularly aggravating problem – one that's costly and complicated and responsible for seemingly endless aggravation – is resolved, apparently effortlessly, by some simple innovation.  (What if we sliced the bread?) 

In my role at FSV, I talk with a lot of large employers that have employees all over the country, and I have heard countless times about the headaches and hassle they endure when processing manual checks. It seems involuntary terminations are by far the worst. They cause the employer to immediately start scrambling to deliver the employee's final pay as soon as possible, especially in those dreaded states that require same-day termination pay.  Really, what options do most employers have other than paying out cash, letting local managers issue checks or just succumbing to the penalties that result from not meeting their obligations? None of these are good options for obvious reasons. Many employers are forced to suspend the outgoing employee temporarily until they can cut the final check and overnight it to the work location.  That means they have to pay the employee, at minimum, another day's wages – plus the high cost of overnight shipping. Not to mention, now there's a potentially disgruntled employee who has to return to work to pick up a final check.  Clearly, that's not a good scenario!

Fortunately, this once painful and expensive proposition has a simple, cost-saving alternative that offers a win for employers and employees. By providing employees a PaychekPLUS! Elite^® Visa^®, employers can distribute termination pay instantly without all of the costs, inefficiencies and hassle that surrounds the manual paper check process!  And the terminated employee receives his final pay right in his pocket – even if he never showed up for work at all.  Now that's handy!

How does it work? Employees who already receive their pay by paycard are pretty much set. It's just a matter of the employer calculating their final pay and accessing the secure Web portal to process the transfer of funds in real time. Voilà! The employee has all the money owed him and can be on his way within minutes of his termination.  Even employees who normally receive their pay by check or direct deposit can receive termination pay on a paycard. The manager just hands the employee an instant issue card packet and uses the Web portal to register the card.

Sound too good to be true? It's not. Sometimes the best solutions are this simple.  To find out how you can leverage your electronic payroll program and the PaychekPLUS! Elite Visa to accomplish much more than just regular pay; contact one of FSV's electronic payroll experts at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Sam Bayoumi
SVP Client Development, Employer Solutions