WastePlan runs 2,400 waste sorters across 900+ sites nationally. They're some of the hardest-to-reach frontline workers in South Africa. In November 2025, they left Jem. By January 2026, they were back on the platform.
Payslips were printed and driven to sites in a bakkie. Important company messages were written on the back of payslips. Contract managers didn't relay company messages. WastePlan had no direct line to their workforce, and their employees were resorting to unregulated loans to meet expenses.
Digital payslips replaced envelopes. WhatsApp-based comms gave WastePlan a direct line to every employee in multiple languages. EWA replaced an internal process so broken that employees called it "impossible" and resorted to unregulated loans. Advances became a tool that helped employees avoid debt traps and promoted financial security.
WastePlan switched to a competitor and lost access to their employees, who rejected the new platform as advances took 4-6 days. Jem was reinstated in six weeks, and we save their frontline workers nearly R42K per year collectively through EWA.
86%
employee usage
6 weeks
between leaving Jem and coming back
R286
saved per month per employee using EWA
“Everybody in the boardroom has credit cards. Our employees don't have options. If we take Jem away, they go to the loan sharks.”
Renier Keyser
Head of Communications and Culture
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