In this hellish climate of attention-deprived debates and toxic internet culture, we often find ourselves heated over the most mundane of topics. Can superhero movies be considered as movies? Are synthetic nylon brushes inferior to boar hair brushes? Which brand of water is superior in terms of mineral content?
No matter the topic, subject, or domain, we’ve grown so divisive that even the tiniest of details can splinter a community in half. This, of course, is a symptom of the inflammatory attitudes from political spheres spilling over onto other discussions, fogging up and polluting civilized discourse, and turning the art of the debate into a circus by monkeys, for monkeys.
Is it possible, therefore, to find topics that are hard to disagree on? Dare we say, even, uniting ones? Or has the current environment of online communication ruled out the possibility altogether? Well, let’s see; it’s hard to disagree on foundational topics like fundamental human rights, certain undisputable sciences, well-documented historical events… well, in most cases.
But let’s be daring; let’s challenge ourselves and pick a nuanced topic that may even find a podium in a political setting. We can even go a step further, and pick a topic that involves finance, technology, and workers’ rights–a downright dangerous game. Yet, despite the barriers we’ve chosen ourselves, there is a trending idea floating around that nobody has yet managed to sink whenever it pops up in their territorial waters.
What is “EWA”? (Earned Wage Access)
Surely a name like that would turn a few heads–but no. Wages are almost universal; hardly anyone works for free outside of NGOs, and of those who do, few might admit they don’t actually earn the sum they’re paid. For the vast majority of people, a term like Earned Wage Access widens the eyes instead of raising an eyebrow.
But what is an EWA? In essence, it is the idea that your wage, in its entirety, shouldn’t be accessible for just one day out of the entire month. In other words, it proposes that as long as you’ve worked for it, you should be able to access the value of your labor–Earned Wage Access.
“How are you being paid-on-time if it arrives a month later? Would you buy groceries on the first, then send the payment on the 30th? It’s late and unfair”
We wish there was more to it, but this is genuinely it. Perhaps its simplicity and straightforwardness allows it to sharply cut across so many demographics and psychographics, but that’d overlook its merit. It doesn’t argue on behalf of one group and avoids specificity and circumstance; rather, it presents a fundamentally different and universal alternative that intrigues more than it alarms.
But an idea so simple and pure would surely have caught on by now, right? Why is it that we’re hearing about this in 2025? Well, surprisingly, we aren’t.
For the vast majority of human history, workers have earned their wages either weekly or even daily. Monthly wages are–in relative terms–a modern invention. Truly, when you think about it, the idea that you have to wait an entire month to access the value of your work seems absurd when you begin thinking along these lines.
Give Us The Proof, The Data
Fair enough. There have been many studies and cases, but one of the most extensive and recent works on this can be found here.
Now this article is not meant to be an advertisement for a company, not even my own, but we did publish it through Berkshire Hathaway’s company and it is one of, if not the, largest colletion of sources and data on EWA. Thousands of sources, charts and data points. All verifyable from reliant sources such as MIT Tech Review, Harvard Business Review, PoC, Berkshire Hathaway and so on. Ok, back to the topic of EWA.
Why Are EWAs Trending in 2025?
It’s no secret that we are living in unprecedented times. The world today scarcely resembles that of–not the 70s, 90s, or the early 2000s–but even as recently as that of the 2010s. This aura of uncertainty and uneasiness, the sneaking suspicion that yet another catastrophe is around the corner has many on edge–and people are looking for new safety nets.
To many, EWAs seem to be a low-hanging fruit. A no-brainer of a solution that could be implemented tomorrow without any cost to anyone–and they’re right. It’s not an age-old system that has to be brought back and redefined for modern economies; it was a standard as recently as the 20th century, and is still practiced in numerous societies around the world.
So, what are the next steps? How do people receive the peace of mind that they’re not an unexpected expense away from being condemned to financial oblivion? Well, if we are to shift our understanding of wages on a global scale, then we ought to do it right; at least, that’s the approach EWA is taking in 2025.
The reason we don’t have global solutions already implemented is because financial regulations and workers’ rights differ from country to country. Yet, we don’t doesn’t argue against regulations–on the contrary, their approach is to work within them to put themselves in a position of accountability and credibility. This is one of the main pillars that sets practical EWA apart from regular EWA providers and attempts.
Additionally, while developing EWA solutions, it’s important we don’t view them in a vacuum. For one, working within the digital framework offered by the borderless and open source networks powering the world of digital finance; and for another, focusing on financial education as key in extracting the most value.
Conclusion
The end result is set to be a platform that doesn’t start and end with early wages. Wages–and currency in a broader sense–is a complex creature that cannot be taken out of an interconnected habitat of unpredictable economic climates and sophisticated financial instruments. This is perhaps why companies of the past have been unsuccessful in bringing EWAs to the forefront of public consciousness, and why EWA companies Volante may have a much better shot at it.