Challenge
New hires expressed anxiety and concern about waiting two weeks for their first paycheck. The YMCA of Greater Omaha really wasn’t able to help them when they asked for pay advances, and could only send them to budgeting videos, which really didn’t address their concerns.
How Rain helped
With Rain, new hires could access a portion of their earned wages, without having to wait for their first payday. The YMCA of Greater Omaha could also offer Rain’s EWA solution to their part-time staff who generally didn't have any benefit offerings to choose from.
The YMCA of Greater Omaha employs between 1,200 and 1,600 people, depending on the season. That includes full-time staff, part-time staff, and a large wave of seasonal employees who sign on every summer to run day camps and outdoor pools. With that kind of workforce, payroll is never simple, and making sure every employee feels supported from day one is something Nicole Ostrander, HR Generalist, YMCA of Greater Omaha, thinks about often.
Her role as HR Generalist means she touches just about everything, including new-hire onboarding, biweekly payroll processing, benefits administration and being the go-to person when employees have questions. When the YMCA started looking at earned wage access, the decision ran through Nicole and the HR Director before it went up to the VP of Employee Experience and CEO. Nicole said, “I’m glad it did, because Rain has been one of the easiest and most impactful benefits we've ever rolled out.”
Here’s what Nicole told us about the YMCA’s experience with Rain, in her words.
The conversation about earned wage access started because of something we kept hearing about from new hires. They were anxious and uncertain about waiting two-plus weeks for their first paycheck. They weren't always sure what that paycheck would look like, or whether they could make it to payday. We weren't getting a flood of people quitting over it, but you could feel the anxiety. Employees would come to us asking about paycheck advances, wondering if there was any way to get paid early. Our answer, honestly, wasn't great. We'd point them toward budgeting videos and try to keep everything on cycle. Frankly it wasn't what they wanted or needed.
That really stuck with me. We always want the Y to feel like a place that cares about all its people; we didn’t just want to offer health insurance to full-time employees and nothing to everyone else. Part-time staff don't qualify for most traditional benefits. So when we started thinking about what we could offer them, earned wage access felt like a real answer. Work today, get paid tomorrow. That message resonates, and it's something every single employee can use, regardless of their hours or employment type.
Because we use ADP for both payroll and timekeeping through Workforce Now, ADP's own EWA solution was the first thing we looked at. But I had experienced a similar product at a previous employer, and it caused real headaches, specifically because it required employees to update their direct deposit information in the payroll system. That led to a lot of confusion about where money was going, and it added something additional for staff to manage.
Rain's model was completely different. It works through deductions, so nothing changes in the payroll system. Employees don't have to update their banking information, and we don't have to add another system for them to navigate. That simplicity was the deciding factor for me.
When I brought it to leadership, the conversation was pretty short. It wouldn't complicate our existing processes, it would actually support our employee wellness strategy, and it was free. For a nonprofit, that last part matters a lot. Our finance team was on board immediately.
Once we decided to move forward, we started with our managers and key leaders. Rain provided us with marketing materials that were clear and easy to use, so we sent out emails explaining the benefit in simple terms and equipped managers with FAQs. After that, we pushed out a mass communication to all employees, a benchmark email introducing Rain as a new benefit and explaining how it works.
We also recorded a webinar that walks employees through what Rain is, and that video now lives on our SharePoint site so managers and employees can go back and watch it anytime. We add Rain to our benefit brochures and even list it on our job postings. That last piece has been especially useful for recruitment. Candidates see "Earned Wage Access" right alongside our other benefits before they even apply.
The whole rollout was low-effort on our end. Rain made it easy.
The integration of ADP with Rain was seamless. It was honestly as simple as clicking a button. The Rain team was highly responsive throughout the process, and anytime I had a question, I got an almost instant response. That's not something I take for granted. I've worked with third-party providers where you wonder if anyone's actually on the other end. With Rain, it's a completely different experience.
Once we launched, employee questions were minimal. The feedback I get is that it's super user friendly. Occasionally someone will see a deduction and be momentarily confused, but those questions are simple to resolve and rare. Most employees go straight to Rain's in-app help feature rather than coming to me or their manager, which is exactly how it should work. It reduces the administrative load on my team and puts support right in the palm of employees' hands.
Utilization has really taken off. When I process payroll and review the deductions coming through, I'm regularly seeing between $15,000 and $20,000 per payroll cycle going to employees through Rain. What's striking is the variety. It's not just part-time staff using it, it's seasonal employees, full-time salaried staff, all kinds of people. Right now, 26% of our employees have enrolled since we implemented Rain in April 2025.
We've also noticed that people are more motivated to pick up extra shifts and cross-train in other departments. A lifeguard might also work the front desk, or take on hours at a different location. When employees know they can access that money right away, it changes the calculation. They're not waiting two weeks to see the benefit of working extra hours, they can feel it immediately.
While our turnover data is hard to isolate given how much our workforce fluctuates seasonally, we’re generally seeing about an 11% reduction in turnover in Rain users vs. non-users. The consistent utilization numbers tell me employees genuinely value this benefit. If they didn't, you'd see the numbers drop. They haven't.
One of the things that has stood out to me about working with Rain is the level of collaboration. Their customer success team has proactively worked with us to tailor the financial wellness communications they send to our employees. Rather than generic emails, they'll focus on topics that are relevant to what our workforce is experiencing at a given time, things like spring budgeting, getting ready for the holidays, whatever fits the moment. Employees notice when communication feels timely and relevant, and it comes from somewhere other than HR, which I think actually makes them more likely to engage with it.
Rain's customer success team also produces a monthly financial wellness newsletter for our staff that covers topics like spring home maintenance tips that can save money down the line. It's thoughtful, practical content, and we can decide how and when to share it with employees. That kind of proactive partnership is rare.
If another organization, a fellow YMCA, a nonprofit or any employer with a large hourly or part-time workforce, asked me whether to implement Rain, I'd tell them to go for it without hesitation. The implementation was genuinely easy. The integration was seamless. The employee experience is intuitive enough that it practically runs itself. And the numbers don't lie: when you see consistent utilization month after month, that tells you employees are finding real value in the benefit.
For any employer who wants to demonstrate that they actually care about their employees' financial well-being, instead of just handing them a list of budgeting resources, Rain is the answer.
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