Making Payroll for International Teams a Breeze

Who is Concordia College? What is their partnership with Cliq?

Located in Moorhead, Minnesota, Concordia College is a four-year institution dedicated to preparing thoughtful and informed global citizens. In addition to its diverse degree programs, Concordia  hosts the renowned Concordia Language Villages. A leader in global education, the Language Villages offer immersive language and cultural programs in 18 languages, engaging thousands of participants each year in experiences that range from weekend camps to lifelong learning.

What business challenges does Cliq address?

Every year Concordia College and Concordia Language Villages hire a diverse international staff to support their wide array of Language Villages. These seasonal employees do not always have American bank accounts, and it is not always easy to direct deposit funds into a foreign bank.

Cliq helps to make this process easier with payroll cards, which allows the staff to receive their funds in the form of reloadable debit cards that can be used in the U.S. and can be used in their home-country or transferred as needed after the season is over. Cliq’s payroll cards are so easy to use, that they have been expanded outside of seasonal programs, and are now issued and reloaded throughout the year.  

Having a single, simple payment method like Cliq’s payroll cards significantly streamlines the administrative process, since the team at Concordia College does not have to worry about multiple systems, or managing paper checks for employees without direct deposit. At the time of implementation, Cliq’s team also mirrored the existing Concordia College internal process flows to allow for a smooth transition with minimal need for additional training.

“Cliq has always been willing and able to pivot,” said Brenda Martel, Payroll/HRIS Manager at Concordia College, “It shows how much they value our relationship.”

Cliq continues to commit to providing added value year after year. To make inbound student and seasonal staff onboarding as smooth as possible, Cliq also provides easy-to-understand reference materials that can be passed along to facilitate proactive communications. The program overview and FAQ materials go a long way in helping newcomers know what to expect.

To make things even easier, Cliq’s account services team has been incredibly responsive since day one. Prior to working with Cliq, the team at Concordia College sometimes struggled to get answers from their payment services provider. In stark contrast, the team at Cliq answers the phone and handles every question with a smile you can practically hear through the phone.

“What a difference it’s made from people calling us about their cards to never hearing any complaints,” said Martel.

This is a partnership that is clearly built to last.