When employers explore Earned Wage Access (EWA), they’re usually motivated by the right reasons, such as reducing employee financial stress, improving retention and offering a modern benefit that meets the needs of an hourly and frontline workforce. But as demand for EWA has grown, so has the number of vendors offering it, and providers use very different models to support their EWA offering.

One of the biggest, least discussed differences among EWA providers is the way in which they interact with your payroll function. And for some providers, that means just one thing — they want to take control of your payroll.

Before any employer hands over the most sensitive, business-critical part of their operation to a third party, one question deserves your most careful consideration:

Do you really want to hand your payroll function over to an EWA provider?

The hidden risks inherent in payroll intercept models

A large portion of the EWA market relies on what’s called the payroll intercept model. In this model, the EWA provider inserts itself directly between you and your employees’ pay.

This requires:

• Rerouting all EWA-participating employees’ direct deposits to vendor-controlled accounts
• Paying employees from the vendor, not the employer
• Allowing the vendor to recoup its funds before the employee receives the remaining balance of their pay
• Accepting the risk of delays, reconciliation issues or vendor outages

This means the EWA vendor — not you — controls the last mile of payroll delivery.

And if something goes wrong (and it has, publicly), your employees don’t blame the vendor.
They blame you.

Intercept models create a structural risk that no employer should accept lightly.

The operational burdens no one talks about

Although intercept-based EWA vendors market their solution as “turnkey,” many employers later discover that the operational and employee experience impacts are significant:

• Re-routing bank accounts for every employee
• Confusion from mismatched paystubs vs. deposits
• High HR/support volume when employees believe they were paid incorrectly
• Reduced payroll visibility because pay isn’t coming directly from the employer
• Operational chaos during vendor outages or banking delays

Payroll is one of the most sensitive and trust-dependent functions of any business. Adding complexity rarely bodes well for you or your employees.

The safer EWA model: payroll deduction/adjustment 

There is a better, safer and more transparent way to deliver Earned Wage Access — the payroll deduction model, also called the payroll adjustment model. This model is the gold standard because it keeps payroll exactly where it belongs — under the employer's control.

Here’s why employers prefer it:

1. Payroll stays fully in employer hands

You continue running payroll exactly as you do today. Nothing changes in your delivery process, banking structure, GL or direct deposit workflows.

2. The paystub always matches the deposit

Because employees still receive pay directly from you, employee paystubs remain accurate and consistent with their payroll deposits — eliminating confusion and many calls to HR.

3. No rerouting, no FBO accounts, no payroll takeover

There are no vendor-managed accounts, no “shadow” payroll and no dependency on third-party banking timelines.

4. EWA becomes a simple deduction, not a payroll replacement

At the end of each pay cycle, the EWA provider (i.e., Rain) simply sends a file totaling the advances for each employee. Employers enter the amount as a deduction, which appears on the employee’s paystub, and run payroll as usual. 

5. No risk of delayed paychecks

Because the employer, not a third-party vendor, is making the final wage payment, paycheck delays are fully avoided. This model gives employees the benefit they want while preserving the payroll integrity your business depends on.

Why Rain is the best-in-class EWA provider

Among all EWA providers in the market, Rain leads in delivering a responsible, compliant and employer-friendly EWA model. Here’s why:

• Employers keep full control of payroll
  Rain uses the payroll deduction model exclusively. We never intercept payroll or require employers to reroute employee direct deposits.
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• Paystubs always match deposits
  Rain’s approach ensures absolute clarity for employees. One line item. Full transparency. No confusion on payday.
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• Zero paycheck delays — ever
  Because employers remain the wage payer, Rain users have never experienced a paycheck delay due to our system.
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• Fast, accurate and compliant
  Rain integrates seamlessly with HR, payroll and timekeeping systems to calculate earned wages in near real-time, without touching
  payroll funds.
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• Privacy-first data approach
  Rain collects the least amount of data of any major U.S. EWA provider. We don’t require SSNs, DOBs or bank account changes.
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• Industry-leading reliability
  With almost 100% uptime and more than 3.5 million employees served, Rain is the trusted partner for employers with over 500 employees.
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• Built for enterprise performance
  Rain supports consistent delivery across high-turnover industries like retail, restaurant, hospitality, health care and manufacturing.

Rain doesn’t just offer earned wage access — we offer the safest, most transparent, and most employer-friendly version of it on the market.

Payroll is way too critical to hand over to an EWA vendor

Earned wage access is an incredibly valuable employee benefit, but only when it’s delivered responsibly. Choosing the wrong model introduces payroll risk, operational burden, employee confusion and a potential erosion of employee trust.

Before selecting a provider, every employer should ask:

Do you really want to hand your payroll function over to an EWA provider?

If the answer is no, then the right partner is clear. Rain’s payroll deduction model protects employees, preserves payroll integrity and keeps control exactly where it belongs — with you.

Want to offer an EWA solution that keeps payroll where it belongs — with your organization and not with an EWA provider that uses the intercept model? Speak with one of our experts today.