Hospitality businesses to help staff avoid ‘payday poverty’ cycle

17-Dec-2018 - Last updated on 17-Dec-2018 at 10:00 GMT

Christmas crunch: according to Wagestream, almost a third of shift workers don’t know whether they’ll be paid before Christmas or in January

Hospitality and leisure businesses have pledged to tackle staff anxiety over festive finances by rolling out a ‘get-paid-as-you-go’ flexible income service to around 4,500 staff nationwide.

Thanks to a joint offering from technology providers Fourth and Wagestream, hospitality staff will be able to access their earned income throughout the festive period meaning that they will be able to withdraw pay they have earned up to that point, at any time during any month.

Fourth CEO Ben Hood commented: “This is a challenging time of the year for many hospitality workers, with spend increasing and the gap between pay cycles widening.

“We’re delighted to have forward-thinking employers like David Lloyd and Big Easy embracing the new service.

“It’s a low-cost, low-risk, high-impact way to give employees the financial flexibility they need over this financially stressful festive period and beyond.”

Financial flexibility

Wagestream CEO and co-founder Peter Briffett added: “The data makes it clear: staff want more certainty and financial flexibility from their employers.

“This is a huge opportunity for British businesses: offering staff the ability to access earned income before late-January will help them avoid the ‘payday poverty’ cycle of overdrafts, credit cards and high-interest loans - improving employee wellbeing, productivity and retention in the process.”

New research from Wagestream, surveying 1,500 UK workers, revealed that shift workers are hardest hit over the extended December-January pay cycle.

Festive cash fears

According to new findings, two thirds (66%) are unsure they’ll be able to cover the cost of Christmas.

Nearly one in three (29%) shift workers don’t know whether they’ll be paid before Christmas or in January – making it impossible to plan ahead.

Moreover, new figures from price comparison site, MoneySuperMarket reveal that one in 10 (11%) of Brits are kept awake at night worrying about Christmas debt, while a further 10% say that it's the first thing they think about when they wake up.

It's expected that more than a quarter (28%) of Brits expect Christmas debt to last beyond March 2019.