Early wage access startups like DailyPay and Earnin are seeing a big uptick in usage as workers look to gain access to pay as quickly as possible; the crisis could change the way people are paid long after the current situation ends; the apps are seeing a lot more interest in their product but the numbers of hours per worker are dropping just as much in some cases; “This is a moment in time when the entire industry should look at the cost of waiting to get paid,” said Safwan Shah, CEO and Founder of PayActiv, to Business Insider; investors have also shown a big interest in supporting these companies with more than $300mn invested to date; “We’re going to see small and medium-sized companies start to embrace this,” said Nigel Morris, Co-Founder & Managing Partner of QED Investors, to Business Insider. “As we come out of COVID, they are going to want to rehire rapidly. I think this will be an important differentiator when they offer packages of benefits to prospective employees.” Business Insider