Income streaming app Wagestream has launched in Ireland, offering workers here a way to access a percentage of their wages before payday.
The app, which was co-founded by LivingSocial UK/Ireland founder Peter Briffett, works with employers to give workers access to their own wages before payday to deal with unexpected expenses.
The aim is to reduce employees’ dependence on credit cards, overdrafts or payday loans for emergency funding, which can result in hefty charges. Using Wagestream, workers are only ever accessing their own money and it is restricted to a maximum of 50 per cent of wages already earned at the time of the transaction. There is a flat fee for each transaction, regardless of value, set at €1.75.
“At the end of the day, we believe we are solving one of the biggest cash crises ever created, which is the monthly pay cycle,” said Mr Briffett. “We’re able to allow people to choose when they get paid.”
The company has already signed up a number of Irish employers to offer the service to workers. There is no change to the company’s payroll processes or cashflow, although there is a small service fee for companies. For employers, the expected benefit comes in terms of employee retention and productivity and Mr Briffett said some companies were now starting to pay for the first few transactions on their employees’ behalf.
“There are a lot of companies now starting to adopt this,” said Mr Briffett. “You can retain more staff if you give them this financial cushion because it is seen as a genuine benefit for people.Also, in certain shift-working organisations people do more shifts because they suddenly have a real-time connection between work and financial reward that gets lost sometimes in monthly pay cycles.”
Financial advice
The platform will also give employees access to advice on financial wellness from the Money Advice and Budgeting Service (MABS), provide tools for tracking spending and facilitate the opening of savings accounts.
The Irish operation is starting small, with some of the work being done from the UK, but the team is expected to grow over time.
"It's a pleasure to introduce a new technology to Ireland that can make a real difference," said Adam Hankin, general manager of Wagestream Ireland. "Once an employer sets up an account, their employees will be able to download the Wagestream app and take control of their finances.
“They will not only be able to stream their wages as and when they need to, they will also gain access to an incredible tool that will help them save and learn about how to manage their finances more responsibly.”
