Host Tal Clark, CEO of Instant Financial, interviews generational researcher and Center for Generational Kinetics president Jason Dorsey about CGK’s custom national study with Instant, “Underserved: The Financial Reality of America’s Hourly Restaurant Workers.” Jason explains the study’s Census-weighted methodology and discusses the perception gap between executives and frontline realities, noting leaders often view earned wage access (EWA) negatively while frontline managers want it. Key findings include 75% of restaurant workers living paycheck to paycheck and 61% skipping a meal in the last month due to lack of funds. They describe poor alternatives due to lack of choices such as overdraft and late fees, credit card cash advances, and payday lending, and urge leaders to read the research to understand how hourly restaurant workers are trying to navigate the economy.

00:00 Welcome and Guest Intro

01:34 Jason’s Background and Intro to CGK

04:11 Study Setup and Method

07:27 Leadership Perception Gap

10:28 Most Shocking Findings

12:55 Generational Differences

16:12 Why EWA Matters

19:12 Costly Workarounds

21:28 Message to Leaders

23:49 Rapid Fire Questions

27:09 Closing and Resources

Instant Financial: instant.co

Center for Generational Kinetics: https://genhq.com/

Connect with Tal Clark: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tal-clark-a60776b/

Connect with Jason Dorsey: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasondorsey/

References

• Free download of Underserved: The Financial Reality of America’s Hourly Restaurant Workers: https://www.instant.co/2026-restaurant-study/