Mukuru reduces absenteeism and eliminates loan requests

Mukuru is a financial services company helping millions of people across Africa send and receive money. Their HR department wanted a safer, more affordable way to give their 540+ staff salary advances, instead of administering company loans or letting employees turn to predatory lenders.

The problem pre-Jem

Processing employee loans was, in payroll's own words, an admin nightmare. Every request meant approving the application, arranging payment through treasury, adding the loan to payroll and coordinating repayments with the employee individually, around seven hours a month for the whole process. Mukuru was handling roughly 80 staff loans a month before Jem.

The solution with Jem

Earned Wage Access gave employees a way to draw down a portion of their earned salary on demand, without going through a company loan application at all. About 30% of employees use their advance for transport to get to and from work.

Impact and outcome

Loan requests dropped to zero. HR time spent on the loan process fell 96%, from around seven hours a month to about fifteen minutes. With less financial stress and fewer transport gaps, absenteeism has dropped and employees are more engaged. Collectively, employees save R5.2 million a year compared to what they'd have paid loan sharks.