Retailability saves 10 hours a week on payroll admin using Jem
Estimated reduction in loan requests
Weekly reduction is payroll admin time on loan processing
Project Overview: Retailability
The Retailability Group is a South African-based group of retail brands with over 600 stores across Southern Africa including South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Lesotho and eSwatini. Retailability prides itself on bringing authentic and affordable fashion to its customers and its brands include Edgars, Keedo, Legit, Beaver Canoe, Swagga and Style.
With 7,500 employees in South Africa, their national footprint consists of approximately 450 stores.
Like almost 80% of working South Africans, many Retailability employees were regularly seeking out payday loans, which come with high-interest rates and often lead to debt traps. Retailability wanted a safer and more sustainable solution for their employees that still provided them with access to money when they needed it most.
Challenges
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Retailability received approximately 120 loan requests per year. The company only provided loans under rare circumstances.
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On average, each loan took 1 hour to process and involved multiple steps. Retailability spent around 10 hours per month processing loans.
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Employees seeking loans often turned to loan sharks within their community who charged interest rates as high as 24% per month.
Results
Estimated reduction in loan requests
Weekly reduction is payroll admin time on loan processing
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Since implementing Jem, Retailability has saved their employees an estimated R4.5mn in interest that would have been charged by informal lenders.
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With all of their employees having access to Jem, Retailability now only gets 5 loan requests per year on average, indicating a 95% decrease in employee loan requests.
Earned Wage Access
"Jem gives our employees the opportunity and dignity to not have to divulge their financial situation to their managers. It provides them with access to funds in a controlled environment with small service costs. We would do a disservice to our employees if we were to stop using Jem."