Casual Dining Group (CDG) an independent restaurant company based in the UK who operate such brands as Bella Italia, Café Rouge and others have signed up with financial wellbeing and income streaming app Wagestream, which has given access to just under a fifth of its employees to a drawdown of over £900,000.
CDG is offering this service to its 7,000 employees across 280 UK restaurants, with 19 per cent of its workers having already used the app at least once to stream their earned wages of £902,623.
The app allows staff to drawdown a percentage of their earned wages any day of the month for a fee of £1.75, with no loans or interest rates charged. The app believes it promotes financial wellbeing by building “greater financial wellness by playing a vital step in eliminating the payday poverty cycle faced by millions of people.”
Wagestream believe it can lead to a reduction in financial stress and remove the need for high-cost credit providers and payday lenders.
The app is in partnership with Fourth, a business that assists the hospitality sector by offering cloud technology systems. CDG has announced an agreement with Wagestream because of “income streaming’s growing role in recruitment and retention” which benefits both employers and employees.
Both private and public sector employers such as wellbeing company Rentokil Initial, Hackney Council and Roadchef have identified corporate social responsibility (CSR) and HR advantages to the service.
The app is ideal for those companies who offer shift work as Wagestream data has shown that workers who have signed up top the service work 22 per cent more hours on average.
Claire Clarke, group HR director, CDG said:
Staff have responded enthusiastically to our partnership with Wagestream and we can see this establishing itself as a key part of our offer to candidates.
The ability to retain staff is already paying dividends for us as a business, and if we can improve recruitment and retention then Wagestream is a no brainer.
Peter Briffett, CEO and co-founder of Wagestream said:
It’s fantastic to have some of the UK’s most famous restaurant brands on board and we can see from the way staff have been using Wagestream that the service has been extremely well received.
The feedback we are getting from private companies and public sector customers alike is that staff are happier, more productive and have greater financial security once they start using the app.
The antiquated monthly pay cycle inflicts huge financial damage on household finances and its days are numbered.
Wagestream has been backed by Fair By Design, a charity which is attempting to reshape essential services so they do not cost more to low income consumers as well as Big Society Capital, an independent social investment institution in the UK.
Interested in wellbeing in the workplace We recommend the Workplace Wellbeing and Stress Forum 2019.
Darius is the editor of HRreview. He has previously worked as a finance reporter for the Daily Express. He studied his journalism masters at Press Association Training and graduated from the University of York with a degree in History.
