WastePlan has 2,400 sorters working across more than 900 sites, many of them working alone and almost all of them on minimum wage. When head office found an even cheaper alternative to Jem, they gave it a try. We chatted to Renier Keyser, Head of Communications and Culture at WastePlan, about what happened next.
WastePlan sorts other people's waste on other people's premises. Sometimes that’s one person at a steel table behind a hospital. Sometimes it’s 140 people working day and night shifts at the V&A Waterfront. Either way, the only person from head office a sorter sees is a contract manager who looks after up to 42 sites and visits when they can.
“Nobody grows up wanting to become a waste sorter. For many of our employees, this is the last resort. And they were very lonely and isolated.” – Renier Keyser
Before Jem, payslips were printed at head office, put in envelopes and driven out in the cab of a bakkie. Company news was written on the back of the payslip, in the hope that someone would turn it over. Messages sent through managers arrived with the manager's opinion attached. “The contract manager will not relay the message,” he continues. “They will relay their opinion about the message.”
Salary advances existed before Jem, in theory. An employee waited for the manager's next visit, filled in a form with a written motivation, then waited again for HR to answer. It just didn’t work. “We made breadwinners of families feel like the child at the principal's office standing in a queue,” Renier says. “People don’t feel respected if they're not treated as adults.”
WastePlan was happy to find a better solution, but they wanted to go slowly. They started on Jem with payslips sent to each worker's phone. The envelopes stopped.
Then the same channel became WastePlan's first proper internal comms function: announcements in several languages, training videos, surveys that people actually answered, and a way to be heard without waiting for HR’s next site visit.
These were transformative changes for head office, but earned wage access made the biggest difference for WastePlan’s frontline teams. “They have a desperate need for something and now their employer has enabled them to have access to an affordable, easy solution,” Renier says. “The goodwill we got from our employees was significant.”
Today 90% of WastePlan's workforce is registered on Jem, around 1,300 of its 2,400 employees use earned wage access on a monthly basis, saving an average of around R286 a month each compared with what an unregulated lender would charge.
In late 2025, WastePlan was approached by a competitor who offered them earned wage access at zero cost to the employee. In other words, their employees would pay absolutely nothing to access their salaries early. It sounded fantastic, so despite the fact that Jem was working well, they gave us notice in November 2025 and went for it.
It was done for the right reasons. It just didn't work. Advances took up to a week to arrive. Some applications were declined, yet the amount was still deducted from the payslip at month-end. By month two, workers were angry. “There were threats of burning down sites,” Renier says. “Advances are not our core business. But it's become such an integral part of the relationship with our employees that when it doesn't work, production suffers. End of story.”
When someone close to the breadline needs money to meet an unexpected expense, they need it today. A free advance that arrives next week isn't much use, and employees were forced back to the unregulated or black markets. That’s where the anger came from, according to Renier.
“Everybody around the boardroom has one or two credit cards in their wallets. You have options and we don't question the cost of your options. Our employees, minimum wage earners, do not have options. If we take Jem away, they go to the loan sharks.”
Six weeks after leaving, WastePlan asked to come back.
“We realised we made a mistake. Within two days, no questions asked, [Jem] switched everything back on. The first WhatsApp message I sent out through WhatsApp to say Jem is back, I could hear the cheers from my house. There were literal cheers of delight.” – Renier Keyser
The board's view changed for good. “If you pay for something that works, it's a lot better than not paying for something that doesn't,” Renier says. “We could now see first-hand that it is a real help to our employees.”
Before Jem, contract managers spent most of their energy on admin for their teams, so there was little left for actually leading them. “The minute you bring an effective platform in and take the paperwork out of the bakkie, your HR team has time to their job and focus on people instead of just administrating,” concludes Renier.
WastePlan now runs its frontline on Jem: announcements and surveys, payslips and timesheets, earned wage access, Jem Mobile for phones and data, and Time & Attendance so crews clock in on WhatsApp and managers can see who has turned up. One workforce management platform, on the phone already in every sorter's pocket.
If it works for people sorting waste in basements and car parks across the country, it can work for just about any frontline workforce.
90%
of the workforce registered on Jem
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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