Asda rolls out financial services for employees following record £140m pay rise

Asda has teamed up with financial wellbeing app Wagestream, to roll out a flexible pay cycle and a range of financial support services for its 140,000 team members around the UK.

Asda employees will now be able to use the Wagestream app to manage their budgeting, choose how often they get paid, build up a rainy day fund with a chance of winning a prize, get money coaching and set financial goals, save money on their bills, and more – all in one app. They’ll also get an interactive payslip, which shows them what they’ve earned throughout the month.

Around 20 million people are now paid flexibly in the UK and US, with the option of choosing their own pay frequency - instead of being in a locked, extended pay cycle which charities say is a ‘debt trap’ for shift and frontline workers.

But, Asda has become the first major flexible pay employer since a new report, Unlocking The Pay Cycle - with advisory input from financial inclusion experts, academics and government bodies - called on more employers to offer it.

Signing up to Wagestream also comes just weeks after Asda announced it was investing £141m to increase hourly pay for retail colleagues by 10 per cent this year, with rates rising to £11.00 in April and £11.11 in July.

Asda chief people and corporate affairs officer, Hayley Tatum, said: “We understand that from time to time our colleagues may need a bit more financial help, something which would be made worse by the current cost of living crisis.

“We are always looking at ways we can help and giving our colleagues flexible access to their pay, alongside a range of support and guidance through the Wagestream App could prove vital in giving them financial peace of mind as well as their mental wellbeing.”

Wagestream was created with investment from the Fair By Design campaign, through some of the UK’s leading social impact organisations - including Joseph Rowntree Foundation, Big Society Capital and Barrow Cadbury Trust.

It operates on a social charter - which means every service it offers must measurably improve the financial wellbeing of people in work. Around two million people now access Wagestream through their employer, globally.

Emily Trant, head of impact and inclusion at Wagestream, added: “The most recent State of Financial Wellbeing index found that record numbers of workers are willing to move jobs if offered better financial support.

“As one of the UK’s biggest flexible pay employers, with a whole range of tools and services to support financial wellbeing, Asda will improve the lives of existing team members and strengthens its position as a retail employer of choice.”

By Mark Adair – Correspondent, Bdaily

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