Gig Platforms Risk Losing 75% of Workers Over Lack of Payments Choice

For businesses hoping to compete for talent in the increasingly global digital marketplace, cross-border payments innovations are crucial.

A full 73% of independent contractors are prepared to leave their current freelancer marketplaces for better payments experiences, according to “Expanding Payments Choice,” a PYMNTS and Onbe collaboration.

Get the report: Expanding Payments Choice

To keep these global employees and freelancers loyal and productive, companies must make sure that they are paid on time, in their native currencies, without friction.

Organizations that can offer fast, convenient and fee-free payments to cross-border workers will be in the best position to compete.

Meeting Expectations

Meeting the expectations of independent contractors is a challenge, and it’s doubly difficult on a global scale, Onbe Chief Product Officer Tracy Monson told PYMNTS in a July interview.

Watch the video: Real-Time Digital Disbursements Boost Long-Term Loyalty Among Gig Workers

Onbe facilitates payments to more than 180 countries, taking the burden of managing foreign exchange (FX) and cross-border wage access and payments off clients’ plates.

“Making sure that you have a payment solution and that you have the right partnerships in place to get payments to people in 180-plus countries is also critical and something that sets these employers apart,” Monson said.

PYMNTS’ research has found that conducting business across borders involves a distinctive set of payment frictions that can slow international business transactions. For example, although cross-border sales make up more than one-quarter of businesses’ average total in the United States and the United Kingdom, receipt of payment for these transactions takes 55% longer than for domestic sales.

Other challenges include authentication issues and costs surrounding currency conversions, as well as data security.

Global companies need ways to make B2B payments, cash management and invoice reconciliation easier, and that requires their financial institutions (FIs) to offer technologies such as supplier portals and real-time revenue reporting.

Banks must be ready to provide solutions to the most significant challenges businesses face, including poor working capital management due to a lack of cash flow visibility, slow underwriting and a lack of payments choice.

Alleviating Cross-Border Friction

Banks can provide application programming interface (API) integrations that help clients to help facilitate cross-border B2B payments and alleviate the frictions involved, including regulatory compliance and FX. Along the way, they can help businesses reduce costs, improve cash flow, and protect themselves against fraud.

For businesses in the expanding global workforce and gig economy, these innovations can help them distribute payments more quickly and easily to workers and offer payments choice to customers wherever they live.

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