Researchers like Carmen Rojas of the Workers Lab and Rachel Schneider, author of The Financial Diaries: How American Families Cope in a World of Uncertainty, have advocated for new kinds of employee benefits that address problems that “show up earlier than retirement and more regularly than major health-care emergencies," they said. And those benefits have started emerging, often with corporations championing them as payday loan alternatives: Walmart employees can now use an app to access their pay earlier, often with no fees. Comcast employees can take out $1,000 to $2,000 loans and pay it back through payroll deductions.