Rising living costs and economic uncertainty have made financial stability a pressing concern for UK workers. As they struggle to manage day-to-day expenses and save for the future, employers are increasingly recognising the role they can play in employees’ financial well-being.
To address this growing challenge, UK payroll software provider PayCaptain has launched a new feature designed to integrate personalised savings and financial guidance directly into the payroll process.
The Rising Toll of Financial Stress
According to PwC’s 2023 Employee Financial Wellness Survey, 60% of full-time employees are stressed about their finances. This figure is higher than even during the peak of the pandemic. However, while some may believe this is just a “low-income issue”, that simply isn’t the case. PwC’s Survey adds that even among those who earn over £80,000 annually, almost half experience financial stress.
Unfortunately, this stress extends far beyond financial concerns, with, among other things, sleep, mental health, and self-esteem also being impacted. Employees distracted by money worries are nearly five times more likely to report that financial issues interfere with their work. This not only reduces efficiency but can also increase absenteeism and employee turnover, both of which carry significant costs for businesses.
With this in mind, it’s in an organisation’s best interests to adequately tackle the financial wellbeing of employees. This is the problem the new feature has been tasked with resolving and where PayCaptain believes they’ve found a solution.
UK Payroll Software Provider Launches New ‘SmartPay’ Feature to Help Boost Employee Financial Security and Well-Being
One of the UK’s leading payroll software providers, PayCaptain, has recently launched a new feature in its app to help employed people become more financially resilient.
Launched in November 2024, the new feature, ‘SmartPay’, has been born out of PayCaptain’s thorough market research into employee savings behaviour, which has uncovered that a notable proportion of UK workers are having issues with their financial security.
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To gather this information, PayCaptain worked with both Nest Insight and the Behavioural Insights Team (BIT) over 15 months on a paper about using payroll to build financial resilience—discovering that almost half of UK workers experience financial difficulties. The research has also determined that people with variable and unpredictable incomes are more likely to be impacted by poor financial wellbeing, and the majority of workers feel they would benefit from personalised support and guidance regarding money management.
How SmartPay Works: Features and Functionality
SmartPay was then designed with this research in mind, and PayCaptain also worked with the BIT to curate SmartPay’s functionality in order to help users overcome the ‘behavioural barriers’ that many—according to their study—are said to have with making savings.
The technology also offers a variety of personalised financial services, all delivered via PayCaptain’s mobile app. These services—which sit alongside PayCaptain’s existing payroll tools—are powered by bespoke recommendations for employees that they can make to build their financial resilience at key points.
During SmartPay’s onboarding journey, for instance, a user has to answer a series of questions designed by the Money and Pensions Service to measure their existing ‘financial resilience’ before giving them a unique ‘well-being score’. This score is then used to tailor the financial recommendations they receive. An example of this is if an employee received a pay rise or bonus, SmartPay would acknowledge this in real time and automatically offer appropriate suggestions on where this employee could save their money and how much they could put away.
Expert Insights: PayCaptain’s Vision for SmartPay
Simon Bocca, the Founder of PayCaptain, offered these thoughts on SmartPay and how it can be used:
“Our research quickly showed us that millions of people would benefit from guidance with their money, so it simply made sense for us to create SmartPay as a way for employees to benefit far more from the process of getting paid. We also wanted to make sure that SmartPay was intuitive and easy to use, which is why we worked so closely with the BIT on its functionality.
“Ultimately, being able to get automatic prompts and recommendations at key points and to move appropriate amounts of money in just a few taps really takes friction out of what some people find to be difficult decisions and subsequently helps overcome barriers to saving. The results so far from those using SmartPay have been very positive too; we’ve seen a 205% increase in the numbers of users now making savings, while so far seven out of 10 employees who were shown SmartPay have told us they want to use it.”
Early Adoption and Success Stories: Dishoom’s Experience
An early adopter of SmartPay is existing PayCaptain client, Dishoom, who have already championed the positive impact the feature has had on the employees who use it. Kate Moscardini, Head of People at Dishoom, offered these comments:
“SmartPay has brought about a whole new level of positive financial engagement and education for Dishoom employees. More people are saving money regularly with the option of FSCS-protected interest-bearing savings accounts. More people are putting extra into their retirement funds, and over £45,000 worth of state benefits have been identified that the team could be missing out on claiming. The launch saw high numbers of engagement, and it’s been fantastic to watch the numbers of savers grow, knowing they have extra peace of mind with access to a financial buffer that they did not have before”.
The Broader Impact: How SmartPay Benefits Businesses and Employees
PayCaptain also hopes that businesses whose employees use SmartPay will begin to realise a variety of additional benefits. This is because PayCaptain believes that a financially resilient and secure workforce will lead to lower stress levels and increased productivity, engagement and efficiency.
A Crucial Consideration for Employers
As financial pressures continue to mount, employers can play an active role in improving their employees’ financial well-being. SmartPay is an example of how technology-driven solutions can integrate financial well-being into everyday payroll processes.
With early adopters already seeing positive results, initiatives like this not only benefit individual employees but also contribute to a healthier, more engaged, and more productive workforce. In an evolving employment landscape, businesses prioritising financial well-being for employees will ultimately foster stronger, more sustainable workplaces.