Star Retailers Group runs a handful of very different businesses in KwaZulu-Natal. Nearly 2,000 people work across them, and about 90% never sit at a desk. This is how Group HR Manager Ryan Pillay moved his entire frontline off notice boards and paper payslips and onto WhatsApp, and what that unlocked for his team.
Star Retailers' head office sits above its flagship store, the Starwood Superspar in Phoenix. Ryan Pillay, the Group HR Manager, is based there with his HR team, alongside finance and operations. And while they have ‘only’ 256 employees at that site, the group has just under 2,000. Ryan and his team are responsible for all of them.
Before Jem, communication worked the same way across the group.
“Our previous method for communication would be a notice, typed out, sent from the group HR office, placed on notice boards with thumb tacks. In the stores, people might read it. For drivers out on routes, the message arrived late or not at all. It was just not effective for such a large group,” says Ryan.
Payslips were harder. They were printed on paper, peeled, sealed, folded and sorted by department. Then someone walked the floor to hand them out.
“We would have to go out to the floor and say ‘I'm here at the fruit and veg, I'm here at the deli, the HMR, I'm here at the bakery, the butchery’ and call employees and say ‘payslips, payslips, payslips.’ It took a whole day, sometimes two.” – Ryan Pillay
That was just one store and it happened every pay cycle. Anyone on leave or on a different shift waited longer. And the HR team tasked with looking after people and culture were stuck behind a desk doing hours and hours of paperwork.
Star Retailers now runs its frontline operations through Jem. Head office works in the Jem Hub. Employees get everything on WhatsApp, which they already had in their pockets.
Payslips arrive on WhatsApp across every entity, and Ryan puts the time saving at around 48 hours a month on payslip distribution alone. “It completely reduced the time. It relieved us to now be spending more meaningful time with our people, our operations on the floor, on the ground. It really added a significant amount of value back into the business.”
That is the part Ryan comes back to most. The point of removing the admin was never about the admin. His priority was always about getting his team out from behind the desk and in front of their people.
Announcements that used to take days to reach a site now land in seconds. “For me, having been able to send out an announcement on Jem has changed the entire ballgame,” Ryan says.
Their merchandising team found a use for this product that nobody at Jem planned for, but happens to be a perfect example of what’s possible when you can actually reach your frontline effectively.
They now announce their weekly Wednesday store specials through Jem, driving mass awareness among the team so that everyone, regardless of department, knows what’s going on and can help customers who need it. The people on the shop floor became the store's best retention strategy because they’re informed and can provide fantastic customer service, regardless of their role.
A notice board can't do that. And today 93% of Star Retailers' employees are active on Jem.
The group also switched on earned wage access after a short while with Jem. Ryan has spent 12 years in HR and knows what the gap between paydays does to people on minimum wage.
“Employees coming to work late or not coming to work at all because they couldn't afford transport or couldn't afford a doctor's visit or basic necessities like food, electricity, water. It has bridged the gap.” – Ryan Pillay
Salary advance requests to the HR office have dropped. Employees have filmed thank-you videos on their phones and asked their office teams to send them to Jem. Compared with what an unregulated lender would charge, the average Star Retailers employee using earned wage access saves around R299 a month.
“It's changing lives,” Ryan says. “I used to be a frontline employee years ago. I know exactly what it feels to wait in line or not have access to my payslip. To be a deskless worker and to be grinding and just pushing yourself. To have a service like Jem makes life easier.”
Star Retailers started with payslips and announcements across the Group. It has not stood still since. As Jem has released new products, the group has usually been one of the first to put its hand up. That comes from trust built over time, and from a simple test Ryan applies: will this make life better for the people on the floor?
Two of those products went live in 2026. Jem Mobile gives employees access to affordable smartphones and contracts through payroll, for themselves or for their families. Star Retailers employees are using it now.
Next is the Employee Assistance Programme, which gives staff free access to social workers and counselling on WhatsApp.
Ryan sums up why they keep saying yes to new products that we make available. “I would promote Jem on any day of the week and on weekends, because it's not just about my staff benefitting. It's about deskless workers around the country. That’s what Jem is about.”
93%
of employees active on Jem
48 hours
saved on payslip distribution each month
R299
saved per month per employee using EWA
“I would promote Jem on any day of the week and on weekends, because it's not just about my staff benefitting. It's about deskless workers around the country.”
Ryan Pillay
Group HR Manager
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