Fucich LLC | Bay St. Louis, MS

When utility companies like Southern Company or Alabama Power need highly skilled workers to help with complicated construction projects, they often call on Fucich LLC. The Mississippi-based company provides specialized field personnel who plan and execute repairs and maintenance projects for large and independent power producers, particularly in the fall and spring.

“In our peak months, we can have up to 300 field employees sourced throughout as many as 15 job sites,” said Kenny Fucich, founder and president of Fucich LLC.

Handling per diems for these employees could be a burdensome task, and it was at one point. However, that changed when the 12-year-old company switched from cash to CommercePayments® Prepaid Expense Cards for its per diem needs.

Identifying multiple problems with cash per diems.

In 2019, employee per diems were cumbersome, particularly for job site field supervisors. Twice a week, these supervisors received a large check covering their employees’ per diems. They then had to leave job sites to cash the checks at banks or retail stores that in some instances, weren’t nearby. Alternatively, supervisors could make large ATM cash withdrawals for per diems. Cash is inherently risky. While Fucich LLC is fortunate to have loyal and trustworthy employees, allowing employees access to large sums of company cash isn’t preferred. Both processes took supervisors off job sites and made them responsible for handling and distributing large sums of cash for their employees.

“Our per diem system wasn’t ideal,” said Fucich. “We want our supervisors on job sites to ensure the progress, safety and quality of our work.”

While considering a better per diem process, Kenny’s bank forced the issue by indicating Fucich LLC was exceeding the number of account withdrawals it was allowed each month.

Automating per diems improve internal oversight.

Fucich LLC found a solution to its per diem dilemma with CommercePayments® Prepaid Expense Cards.

Now every field employee receives a prepaid expense card, which functions just like a debit card. The company digitally adds or removes per diem funds in real time. Other benefits of the prepaid expense cards include:

• Loading and unloading of funds to multiple cards at once
• Establishing automatic reloads
• Scheduling reloads
• Issuing¹ or replacing lost or stolen cards

The automated process gives the company better control and oversight of its finances.

“The previous check and cash processes made us more vulnerable to mistakes,” said Becky Necaise, Fucich LLC per diem coordinator. “Now if we make an error, we usually catch and correct it in the same day.”

Giving employees a better per diem option.

While the CommercePayments® Prepaid Expense Cards provide Fucich LLC with more efficient internal processes and better oversight, the benefits carry over to its employees as well.

“I firmly believe the prepaid expense cards aid our ability to recruit and retain a highly skilled workforce,” said Tabitha Fucich, office manager. For example, Fucich LLC provides employees their per diems in advance — not a common practice in the industry. The organization is comfortable doing this because it can remove funds from the prepaid expense cards should an employee leave a job before it’s complete.

We are a 24/7 business and we appreciate the 24/7 support we get from Commerce Bank. Whenever we’ve had an issue, multiple people have been available and helped us solve it immediately.
–Tabitha Fucich, Office Manager – Fucich LLC

“Our field teams appreciate getting their per diems in advance so they don’t have to pay for lodging with their own credit or debit cards and then wait on their first paycheck to reimburse themselves,” said Necaise.

Employees also like the ability to use prepaid expense cards for online purchases or to pay their bills online. The prepaid expense cards can be used everywhere Visa® is accepted for goods or services or for cash at ATMs.

“Implementing the prepaid expense cards made us look at our internal processes,” said Tabitha Fucich. “Overall, we now have a more efficient per diem system in place.”

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Also see:

• How one company’s decision to switch per diem processes was coming in loud and clear.
• Prepaid Expense Cards solve per diem challenges.