Earned wage access in South Africa

1What earned wage access is

Earned wage access lets you take part of your pay for the days you have already worked, before payday. If you are paid monthly on the 25th and it is the 12th, you have already earned roughly half of this month’s pay. Earned wage access lets you reach some of that now instead of waiting.

It is sometimes called early wage access, on-demand pay or an earned salary advance. The idea is the same: the money is yours already, and you are only choosing when to receive it. Whatever you take early simply comes off your next payslip.

2How getting paid before payday works

In South Africa, earned wage access works through your employer. Your employer signs up and shares payroll information, so the service knows what you earn, how many days you have worked, and which bank account your salary goes into.

1. You sign in with your phone number and see how much of your earned pay you can reach today.
2. You choose an amount and agree, in writing on the screen, to that amount coming off your next payslip.
3. The money is paid into the same bank account your salary already goes into.
4. On payday, payroll deducts what you took early. The rest of your pay arrives as normal.

You can only reach a share of what you have already earned, never pay for days you have not worked yet. That limit is what keeps payday from arriving empty.

3Compared with a salary advance

Many employers already give staff a salary advance when they ask. It usually means a message to your manager, someone in HR or payroll approving it, and the amount being keyed into payroll by hand. It works, but you have to ask your manager for your own money, and payroll does the admin every month.

Earned wage access is the same idea without the asking. Nobody at work has to approve each request, the amount is worked out from the days you have worked, and payroll receives one file with every deduction already in it.

4Compared with a mashonisa

When month-end is still two weeks away, many people go to a mashonisa or a micro-lender. Those charge a share of the amount for every month it stays open, and the total grows the longer it runs. Some keep your bank card or ID until you have paid.

With earned wage access there is nothing that grows while you wait. The money was already yours, the amount is settled once by payroll on payday, and nobody holds your card, your ID or your PIN.

5What it costs

Providers charge in different ways: a subscription, a percentage of the amount, or a flat fee per draw. Check which one before you sign up, and work out what you would pay for the amount you usually need.

Holela charges one small flat access fee per draw, taken from the payment when you draw, so you see exactly what lands in your account before you agree. There is no subscription and no percentage, and you don’t owe us anything afterwards. The fees are on our home page. It is free for employers.

6Staying safe

Earned wage access in South Africa normally runs through your employer, and Holela pays only into the account your employer already pays your salary into. So:

• Never give anyone your bank PIN, password or a one-time code you did not ask for.
• Be suspicious of anyone who asks you to type in bank details to “receive” your wages early. Holela never asks for them.
• Before you agree to anything, read how much comes off your next payslip. It should be shown in rands, not only as a percentage.
• Ask HR or payroll whether your employer has really signed up. If they have not heard of it, do not use it.

7Why employers offer it

For an employer, earned wage access is an employee benefit that costs nothing to run. It replaces ad hoc salary advances and the admin that comes with them, and it keeps staff away from expensive cash at month-end. Better attendance and retention are the two returns employers most often report.

With Holela, the employer pays nothing, funds nothing and adds one deduction line to the payroll run they already do. How it works for employers.

8How to get it at your work

Because it runs through payroll, you cannot sign up on your own. Your employer has to sign up first. If you would like it at your work, ask HR or the payroll office to book a demo with us, or send us their details and we will contact them.

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