BusinessMirror

Malaysian firm rolls out app for on-demand pay

- Reine Juvierre Alberto

PAYWATCH Malaysia Sdn Bhd seeks to popularize Earnedwage Access (EWA) in the Philippine­s to provide “financial wellness” among employees and boost productivi­ty and retention in private companies.

EWA is a “solution that gives employees the ability to access their already earned wages,” a Duke University document read. “If needed, outside of a traditiona­l pay cycle.” (https://duke.app.box.com/s/cmuizfmhds­l0jj8j0l8g­qqijrwhuph­rv)

The Kuala Lumpur, Malaysiaba­sed Paywatch is an EWA service provider that enables employees to withdraw their wages from Paywatch’s applicatio­nbasedonho­wmuchworkw­as completed. Employees can access the cash without needing to file for cash advances or apply for loans.

Paywatch Philippine­s Finance Corp. President Rowell Del Fierro said in a news briefing last Tuesday that EWA is not a loan or salary advance, but an employee’s salary.

Del Fierro explained that a company must first enroll in the program as they will dictate how much their employee can access their earned wages. Some companies allow 30 percent up to 50 percent of an employee’s daily wage to be accessed, he added.

For example, if an employee earns P1,000 per month and has access to 30 percent of it, P300 will be added to the balance that can be withdrawn on Paywatch’s app. Once an employee has been given a salary, the balance will go back to zero.

Paywatch will charge P38 per transactio­n in the applicatio­n. The maximum transactio­n is up to P3,500.

“This is an additional tool for the individual to manage their own financial matters and cash flow,” Del Fierro said, stressing that this will help employees avoid falling into debt traps and paying high-interest rates from loans.

Paywatch Malaysia President and Founder Alex Kim said the company aims to provide fair financial access to all employees.

“We are a debt-free solution geared to improving the lives and financial security of employees,” Kim said.

Financial stress, Kim noted, is the biggest factor that affects employees’ productivi­ty and mental health. Getting paid every two weeks or once a month could be a long time for employees to wait and in the middle of the payroll period, employees tend to exhaust their wages and oftentimes need funds for expenses, Kim added.

Paywatch, Kim said, allows employees to have more control over how and when they access their wages whenever they need emergency funds or to cover their day-today expenses instead of resorting to loans from financial institutio­ns or informal loans through family and colleagues.

In terms of employee retention, Kim reported that EWA users stay on their jobs longer than non-users and enables companies to save up to $500,000 on rehiring costs.

Kim said that employee retention is the biggest human resource challenge, followed by employee engagement and recruitmen­t.

Paywatch has been in the Philippine market for six months as an EWA service provider for private companies in the country such as real estate developer Shang Properties, delivery app Pick.a.roo, and agricultur­al firm Wilmar Internatio­nal.

The service provider has also worked with food and beverages (F&B) companies such as Pizza Hut and KFC as well as retail and manufactur­ing companies, and even the academe in Malaysia. Paywatch was founded in 2020 and claims to have more than 500,000 users globally.

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