Two awards in one week recognise Jem’s work to make workforce management, HR and financial benefits more accessible to Africa’s deskless teams.
Jem, the multi-award-winning workforce management platform for deskless teams, has been awarded the HR Industry Innovation Using Technology win at the Future of HR Awards 2026. Commercial Director Christopher Hellmann accepted the award on behalf of Jem at the ceremony on 15 October 2026 at the Indaba Hotel in Johannesburg.
The win was one of two awards announced for Jem that week. Jem also received Excellence in Frontline Workforce Innovation at the Global Brand Frontier Awards 2026, organised by US-based Boston Brand Research & Media.
Both awards recognise work focused on people whose working lives rarely revolve around a desk: the security guards, retail employees, cleaners, packers, miners and hospitality staff who keep businesses running.
For Jem, the recognition speaks to a simple purpose: making it easier for frontline employees to connect with their employer, access HR services and use financial benefits through WhatsApp.
Organised by Topco Media, the Future of HR Awards recognise achievements in human capital management, HR innovation and HR technology across Southern Africa.
The judges credited Jem with having “transformed HR accessibility” and “improved workforce inclusion and created significant efficiencies for employers”.
The citation also highlighted evidence of measurable business impact, employee engagement, administrative savings and scalability across multiple industries.
These are closely connected outcomes. When employees can reach HR through a channel they already use, everyday processes become easier to access. When employers can manage those interactions centrally, there is less dependence on scattered messages, paper documents and manual follow-ups.
The award recognises the value of designing HR technology around the people who need to use it, including employees working across shifts, sites and locations.
When Chris took to the stage to receive the Future of HR award, he used his acceptance remarks to bring the focus back to Jem’s frontline users.
“We are Jem, the workforce management platform for deskless teams. Not always well understood, but this is your frontline. These are the security guards, the manufacturing staff, quick service restaurant staff, and retail staff that drive most of South Africa’s workforce.”
He continued:
“So when you think about a staff member who wakes up at 4am to take a taxi, can’t rely on laptops or email, but has to trust that the route will work that day, works tirelessly to put their family through school and put bread on the table, and then takes that same taxi to get home at 10pm – those are the people that we build technology for.”
Chris closed by referring to Dr Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma’s words: “So, Dr Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, as you said, ‘umuntu, ngumuntu, ngabantu.’” – a traditional Zulu proverb that translates literally to "a person is a person through other people” and often summarized as the philosophy of Ubuntu.
His remarks captured the reality behind the product. A working day can start long before a shift begins and end long after it finishes. Accessing a payslip, asking a question about financial wellness or requesting leave should fit into that day.
That is the context in which Jem builds: technology that helps employers support their people, with an employee experience delivered through WhatsApp.
In the same week as the Future of HR ceremony, Jem was named the winner of Excellence in Frontline Workforce Innovation at the Global Brand Frontier Awards 2026.
Boston Brand Research & Media, the US-based awarding organisation, said:
“This recognition celebrates Jem’s commitment to transforming the frontline employee experience through innovative, technology-driven workforce solutions.”
The organisation also recognised Jem’s work to help businesses engage, support and connect with frontline employees, linking that work to workforce management, employee well-being and financial empowerment.
Jem is listed among the official 2026 award winners.
Together, the two awards recognise the same focus from different perspectives: accessible HR technology and innovation in the frontline employee experience. They make Jem a multi-award-winning HR technology company with a clear purpose: helping businesses better support their deskless workforce.
Deskless employees work in roles where a laptop, company email address or regular access to an office cannot be assumed. Yet many workplace processes still rely on exactly those things.
An announcement that only reaches an email inbox may miss the people on shift. A paper payslip needs to reach the right person at the right site. A question about pay needs a clear route to the team responsible for answering it.
For employers managing a distributed workforce, those everyday interactions add up. HR needs a reliable way to reach employees, hear from them and keep track of what needs attention.
Jem brings employee communications, HR operations and financial benefits together in one workforce management platform. Employees interact through WhatsApp, while employers manage their workforce through the Jem Hub.
That approach connects the practical needs of the business with the everyday experience of its people.
Jem’s platform brings together three product suites:
Jem Connect helps employers share announcements, send targeted messages and gather feedback through surveys and polls. It gives frontline teams a way to hear from their employer and have their voices heard.
For a workforce spread across sites or shifts, communication needs to reach beyond the office. Connect makes WhatsApp a channel for workplace communication that employers can manage centrally.
Jem Manage supports payslip and document delivery, leave requests, employee queries, rostering, and time and attendance.
Employees can request leave or raise a pay query through WhatsApp. HR teams can manage requests and follow up through the Jem Hub, giving those interactions a clear home.
Jem Reward brings together benefits including earned wage access, savings, mobile phones and data, and financial education.
Making benefits accessible is part of making them useful. Reward helps employers offer practical support that employees can access through a familiar channel.
Jem is trusted by more than 200 employers and 250,000 deskless workers across Africa. Behind that reach are customers who bring frontline challenges into the conversation and employees whose needs shape what useful technology looks like.
These awards are a moment to recognise that shared work, alongside the contribution of Jem’s co-founders, Caroline van der Merwe and Simon Ellis, and the team building, delivering and supporting the platform.
Thank you to Topco Media, the Future of HR judges and Boston Brand Research & Media for the recognition, and to every customer who trusts Jem with their frontline.
For Jem, being a multi-award-winning company is a reason to celebrate and to keep building tools that make everyday working life easier for Africa’s deskless teams.
Want to see what award-winning workforce management could look like for your business? Book a demo with Jem.
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