Unlocking an Underrated Financial Asset

There are an awful lot of things that human beings can do well, and yet there is little we do better than growing on a consistent basis. This progressive approach, on our part, has already got the world to hit upon some huge milestones, with technology appearing as a major member of the stated group. The reason why technology enjoys such an esteemed stature among people is, by and large, predicated upon its skill-set, which ushered us towards a reality that nobody could have ever imagined otherwise. Nevertheless, if we look up close for a second, it will become clear how the whole runner was also very much inspired from the way we applied those skills across a real world environment. The latter component was, in fact, what gave the creation a spectrum-wide presence, and consequentially, kickstarted a tech revolution. Of course, this revolution then went on to scale up the human experience through some outright unique avenues, but even after achieving such a monumental feat, technology will somehow continue to produce the goods. The same has grown to become a lot more evident in recent times, and assuming one new fintech-themed development shakes out just like we envision, it will only make that trend bigger and better moving forward.

Sorbet, a paid-time off (PTO) solutions and fintech platform, has officially confirmed the launch of a new solution, which is designed to help employees apply and access the value of their unused PTO. According to certain reports, the new product will be available to both employees and employers. This means while employees can leverage it by applying directly, employers can also alternately use it to provide extra financial wellness benefits to their workforce. But how does the whole arrangement work on a more practical note? Well, once Sorbet approves the submitted employee application, it initiates the payment on company’s proprietary debit card. The stated payment will reach the employee in about 1 to 5 business days, and as for its monetary value, it will be equivalent to Sorbet’s predicted value of the employee’s unused or accrued PTO days at termination. Moving on to the repayment structure, employees are only asked to pay their interest amount during the advance term. Notably, the interest rate for the same can be anywhere between 9.99% and 18%. Anyway, the remaining dues are to be cleared when employee leaves their company and receive their PTO payout or after two years, whichever comes first.

However, in order to qualify for Sorbet’s latest brainchild, it’s mandatory that the employee is at least 18 years old. Next up, they must be a legal resident of the United States with a W2-paying job. Lastly, it’s also essential that they work for a company with a PTO policy which allows carry over and includes a PTO payout at termination.

“With rising prices and a looming recession, Sorbet helps employees by unlocking extra compensation that they wouldn’t be able to access otherwise,” said Veetahl Eilat-Raichel, CEO and co-founder of Sorbet. “Payday loans are predaceous and target lower-income workers, and earned wage access solutions cannibalize employees’ paychecks to create a never ending cycle of dependency. On the other end of the spectrum, high earners often borrow against their 401k. There is a massive opportunity for the gap in between to be offering a much needed financial benefit by advancing earned, unused PTO.”

The development follows on one Sorbet’s discovery, which revealed how an average employee in the US has over $3,000 in unused PTO at any given moment. Now, when you partner that up with the company’s industry-leading ability to predict PTO usage over time using employee’s pay rate, the employer’s policy and PTO usage habits, you get a solution that can very well disrupt the entire landscape.

Founded in 2019, Sorbet’s excellence in what it does can be inferred from the fact that it already has thousands of applicants and the equivalent of over $7.5 million in PTO value applied.