SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment, a leading theme park and entertainment company, provides experiences that matter and inspires guests to protect animals and the wild wonders of our world. The company has 12 park locations and 25,000 employees, the majority of whom are hourly workers.
If you want your employees to have easy access to their pay, help reduce your payroll team’s workload and save your company money — you owe it to yourself to look at Wisely by ADP. It does all three while providing a user-friendly experience with employee self-service access to pay records and history.
Crystal Edwards,
Administrator
SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment™
| Challenge | ADP capability | What we did | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| J1 Visa employees lacked a streamlined way to receive electronic pay without U.S. bank accounts. | Wisely by ADP | Simplified J1 employee wage payments by allowing receipt of wages via Wisely pay cards instead of live printed checks. | Reduced paper check burden and helped pay J1 Visa workers accurately and on time. |
| Traditional direct deposit was difficult for J1 Visa workers who didn't have U.S. bank accounts. | Wisely by ADP | Enabled workers without U.S. bank accounts to receive pay through Wisely pay cards. | Made pay day simple and easy by helping to pay J1 Visa workers accurately and on time. |
| Payroll disruptions from direct deposit issues limited employees’ access to pay. | Wisely by ADP | Equipped HR teams at each park with Wisely cards that employees could obtain during onboarding or if they encountered direct deposit problems. | Improved employee pay access by allowing payment through Wisely cards on payday or when direct deposit issues occurred. |
| A lean payroll team needed smooth implementation support for a new pay card program. | Wisely by ADP | Guided the payroll team through Wisely implementation with ADP account manager training and ongoing assistance. | Created a smooth and easy implementation process with reliable ongoing account support. |
Challenges paying J1 Visa employees
SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment were using another pay card company and there were a lot of problems with people not receiving their pay and with uploads that weren't being processed. They had to process live printed checks to pay the J1 employees, and the biggest problem was the cost of the checks, the work involved in processing them and then getting them delivered to those employees. They needed to find a solution that could accommodate their people and relieve their headaches.
Wisely pay card to the rescue
SeaWorld began utilizing the Wisely pay card in early 2021. Many J1s can't receive traditional direct deposit because they don't have U.S. bank accounts, so the Wisely pay card makes it simple and easy to pay them. With Wisely, they can help ensure that these people can be paid accurately and on time. Since every one of their 12 parks employs J1 Visa workers, this solution works extremely well — for the people and the company. They have many of their other 24,000 hourly people using Wisely, as well, to receive their pay. Any employee who wants a Wisely card can have one. The human resources department at each location maintains a stack of cards that employees can choose to use when they are onboarded, or whenever they have a problem with a direct deposit so they can gain access to their pay.
How can employers pay seasonal workers who don't have bank accounts?
A more efficient way, although not required, employers can pay seasonal workers who do not have bank accounts by using a payroll card program. SeaWorld used Wisely by ADP to pay J1 Visa workers who could not receive direct deposit because they lacked U.S. bank accounts. The Wisely pay card helped SeaWorld make those payments simple, accurate, and on time. For large employers with seasonal or temporary workforces, this approach can help reduce reliance on paper checks while improving employee access to wages.
How does a pay card solution reduce paper check payroll work?
A pay card solution can reduce paper check payroll work by giving employers an electronic wage payment option for people who cannot use, or prefer not to use, direct deposit. SeaWorld had to process live printed checks for J1 Visa employees, which created cost, processing work, and delivery burden for a lean three-person payroll team. By implementing Wisely pay cards, SeaWorld reduced the need to rely on live checks for those people. For employers with large hourly populations, moving eligible payments to pay cards can make payroll delivery easier to manage across distributed locations.
What results can employers expect from offering pay cards to hourly employees?
Employers can improve pay access and reduce payroll administration when pay cards are offered as part of a broader wage payment strategy. SeaWorld, which employs many hourly people across 12 parks, used Wisely by ADP so J1 Visa employees and other workers could access pay without waiting for paper checks or resolving bank account issues first. Employees could get a card from HR during onboarding or when direct deposit problems occurred. For hourly employers, this model supports more timely wage access and gives payroll teams a practical fallback when traditional direct deposit isn't available.
How can a lean payroll team manage wage payments across multiple locations?
A lean payroll team can manage wage payments across multiple locations more effectively by standardizing electronic payment options and reducing manual check handling. SeaWorld's payroll team of three supports payroll, employee inbox questions, tax filings, wage garnishments, Wisely oversight, and 250,000 Forms W-2 each year across 12 parks. Using Wisely by ADP helped the team reduce paper check work for J1 Visa employees and support pay access through local HR teams. For multi-location employers, standardized wage payment tools can reduce administrative pressure without adding payroll staff.
