The demands on employers are becoming higher and higher over time. Times are changing and it is not easy to keep up. Responding to change in all directions and meeting the needs of today's workforce is not always easy. In addition to legislation, taking care of employees is a key element to building a productive and healthy work culture. The range of work benefits offered plays an important role in employee satisfaction. However, the situation is also changing for the employees themselves, whose living standards have declined over the years. At such a time, cultural and sporting benefits fall by the wayside.
Reaction to the current situation
The world today is unimaginable without digitalisation and automation. Technology makes life easier and faster not only for individuals but also for entire companies. This is most often helped by time and attendance systems, payroll systems and many other automated solutions that make running a company easier and significantly reduce administrative work. An example of such a comprehensive solution is the payroll and HR system Nugget SW from RSM. This system efficiently manages all employee data, from easily entering and updating employee information and payroll data to generating electronic outputs for the government. In addition, it offers a clever system of individual program customization, so that neither payroll nor HR departments have to worry about manual entry and complex calculations. For over a year now, RSM has been working with Advant, which allows Nugget SW clients to provide their employees with access to their earned pay at any time.
Speed of response is key
When people experience financial difficulties, 70% of them rely on help from their employers1. However, the provision of such financial assistance is not standard in the Czech Republic. Slowly but surely, however, the employee benefit Earned wage access from Advanto is becoming one. The app of the same name allows workers to easily and quickly access money already earned but not yet paid with a few clicks on their mobile phones.
The automotive manufacturing company Adler Pelzer, for example, has expanded its offer to include this socially responsible benefit. They wanted to provide their employees with a benefit with a real positive impact. And it was in conjunction with the significant rise in inflation in recent years that Advanto proved to be a suitable solution.
With access to earned money, Advanto users can bridge a challenging financial situation and avoid predatory lending. Over the past six months, the most common reasons for withdrawing part of their wages before payday have been to cover everyday expenses such as groceries, rent and energy, which are becoming increasingly difficult for residents to cover as prices rise.
Advanto is often referred to in the context of wage advances. However, unlike an advance, a smart app does not require a visit to the accounting or HR department with your head down, interference with the company's financial cash flow, and above all, administrative work. The amount available for employees to withdraw is loaded throughout the month based on hours worked. It is always a predetermined portion of the payout, and no more than 50% of it. If the user sends money to a bank account through the app, their money is available in a matter of moments. The whole process is automatic from retrieving the amount available for withdrawal, to entering the payment, to closing the month, where the only accounting department administration associated with Payout Anytime is downloading one spreadsheet.
Benefits for both parties
From an employer's perspective, Earned wage access has the main benefits of increasing employee efficiency and loyalty and reducing employee turnover by up to 28%. The view of earned wages (even though it's just a number in the app) drives us to keep working2. Although the benefit is becoming increasingly popular with both companies and their workers, regardless of industry or location, Advanto still represents a significant competitive advantage in the job market that appeals to candidates from a variety of age groups.
The benefit setting is flexible. The employer itself determines the conditions under which the benefit will be made available to employees and the amounts they can choose during the month. At Adler Pelzer, the benefit was launched in the summer of 2023. All employees, including temporary employees, were thus provided with first aid in the event of financial difficulties. "We wanted to offer our employees the opportunity to draw a part of their salary before the standard payday so that they are able to cover an unexpected expense or deal with their financial situation in times of high inflation, rising prices, to enable employees to cope with the situation without having to draw the so-called 'cash'. and at the same time not to burden our company, HR and finance department administratively," says Dušan Běláč, HR Manager CZ/SK at HP-Pelzer s.r.o. Employees on probation can also collect their salary at any time. The financial situation is often difficult at the time when the employee starts a new job and he/she will receive his/her first pay only after ninety days from the start of the job. With Advanta, companies can give new colleagues access to money after a few shifts, significantly reducing their financial stress.
Connecting smart solutions
In order to work automatically, Advanto connects to the company's payroll and attendance system. In the case of Adler Pelzer, it was connected to the Cominfo attendance system and the Nugget SW payroll and HR system.
Nugget automatically generates a file containing the reduced personal data of employees needed to set up and manage their data in Advanto. This data includes basic personal and contact information, as well as specific data necessary for advances such as bank details, salary levels, insolvency information and other restrictions. It is possible to completely disable any drawdown from Nugget.
"This data is then transferred using the Advanto Client tool to the Advanto cloud environment where it is processed. Advanto then generates a monthly file for the purpose of posting paid advances, which can be imported back into Nugget and integrated into employee payroll," describes Jan Kölbl, co-founder and CTO of Advanto. The payroll period through Advanto for one calendar month is completed by automatically sending out the employees' paychecks, reduced by the portion of the payroll already paid, which the company sends to Advanto.
Long-term solutions to unexpected situations
Across the board, 30-50% of employees use Advanto monthly. According to Advanto statistics, the service has been widely used at Adler Pelzer since its launch. This fulfils the original objective of the launch, which was to help employees to overcome a difficult financial situation. The adequacy of the benefit is also confirmed by user satisfaction. "Our expectations have certainly been met. The response from employees has been very positive and it is a minimal administrative burden," Běláč says. In the course of the year, the benefit will also be made available to Adler Pelzer employees in Slovakia.
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