Careers at Jem
You’ll thrive at Jem if you have a growth mindset, understand the power of community and you’re keen to make a real impact.
Discover more about our company
Our mission
We have an audacious goal to build the ultimate HR platform for deskless workers, and the teams that manage and serve them. We want employees to feel connected, engaged and recognised.
How it works
We use WhatsApp to digitise and streamline HR and Earned Wage Access, bridging the digital divide for deskless workers. We leverage technology to benefit frontline employees, making management and connectivity effortless.
Our impact
Jem levels the financial playing field for deskless workers. By building tools that serve frontline employees where they are, we ensure that they have the access to HR and fair financial products they deserve.
Our principles
People matter
Tech is important, but people are the foundation of Jem. We invest in everyone, ensuring that we create an environment where people thrive.
Take Ownership
We empower people to take initiative to be accountable for their actions and to own what they do. “Say it, own it, do it.”
Customer obsession
We make it our mission to understand our customers deeply so we’re always solving problems for them.
Find solutions
We encourage our team to focus on solutions, not problems. We cultivate a mindset where no problem can’t be solved.
Life at Jem
We work hard. We have fun. We trust each other. We respect each other. We check in, we invite guests to office lunches and we all have lives outside of our jobs that make us better at what we do. Some of us are early birds, some of us are night owls. But we’re all authentically ourselves, we show up with respect and we do our best every single day.
Perks and benefits
Flexible work schedule
We have an audacious goal to build the ultimate HR platform and connect employers with their frontline employees.
Hybrid work culture
We have offices in Cape Town and Johannesburg, where our employees can work a minimum of 2 days per week.
Home office tech
Choose the office equipment that will optimise your home working environment.
Contributions
Jem employees get monthly medical aid and internet contributions from the company.
Generous leave
We believe in switching off to turn it on. Enjoy 22 days of annual leave to recharge and relax.
Lunch on Jem
Free lunches at Jem offices on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays.
Why should you join us?
Hear what Jem employees have to say.
"Jem has helped me grow, adapt to different challenges, and learn new skills. This company is destined for great things. We positively impact the lives of all our clients."
"Working at Jem is the first time I’ve experienced a mission-focussed startup first hand. We care deeply about effecting change and adding the most value possible."
Our Story
The idea for Jem was born in 2019 when we learned about Wagestream, a UK-based Earned Wage Access company.
Seeing a massive opportunity to offer better financial services to South Africans, we built Jem 1.0 – a simple WhatsApp number for accessing salary advances using the name SmartWage.
We solved a significant problem for employees by providing better access to credit. But to make a broader impact, we needed to address employers’ challenges too and found that connecting with employees was a significant issue. Using WhatsApp, we started solving some of the biggest HR challenges.
We rebranded to Jem in November 2022 and began building an HR platform to connect and manage a frontline workforce, and offer financial services to those employees.
A message from our founders
We deeply believe in this mission. For us, Jem is an opportunity to make a meaningful impact on the lives of millions of frontline workers who are often overlooked. These workers deserve access to the same tech and resources as their desk-based counterparts.
We started Jem to bridge this gap. Financial services like Earned Wage Access are awesome, but we needed to
do more. Clients surfaced a critical need for better communication and HR solutions tailored to their
unique challenges.
As founders, we value learning and building. We believe in collaboration, inclusivity and authenticity. The Jem mission is incredibly rewarding, and seeing the positive impact we have on both employers and employees keeps us motivated every day. Our goal is to scale this impact and create a better working world for frontline employees everywhere.
– Simon Ellis (CEO) and Caroline van der Merwe (CPO)
Jem has two offices
- 3rd Floor, Vineyard Centre, 12 Dreyer Street, Claremont, Cape Town, 7708
- info@jemhr.com
- 25 Minerva Ave, Glenadrienne, Sandton, Johannesburg South Africa
- info@jemhr.com
Open Roles
If the stuff on this page resonates with you, you’re invited to apply! We’re on the ground floor of a rocket ship. If you join, you’ll have the opportunity to rapidly learn, sharpen your skills and shape a $100M/year company in the making.
