Deputy, the workforce management app, has joined forces with Wagestream to improve shift workers’ financial wellbeing and help businesses win in the war for talent.

As the cost of living rises, new research shows the majority of UK workers (57%) are bringing money worries to work every day, and their employers are responding: 93 ​% of UK companies now plan to put a financial wellbeing programme in place, up from 51% a year ago. Data also now shows that businesses which tackle the problem see the significant impact - hiring people 27% faster, reducing turnover by 16% and increasing shift uptake by 26%.

Wagestream is the financial wellbeing app founded with charities, designed for frontline workers and built around pay. Already available to one million people through employers like Bupa, Honest Burgers, Leon and Greene King, people use the app to track their shifts and pay each day, choose their own pay cycle, build up savings, set money goals, chat to a personal financial coach and get fairer deals on financial products. Now, Deputy’s 5,000 European customers can connect Wagestream to their Deputy account, giving their staff access to that full set of financial tools, built around flexible pay.

The announcement comes as a series of cost-hikes hit UK workers:

• From April 1, energy providers will be allowed to increase their variable gas and electricity tariffs to the new maximum set by Ofgem. This is set to trigger the biggest increase in living memory of around 54%.
• At the same time, an increase in food costs is being felt by households as the Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation struck a new 30-year-high of 6.2% in February and is predicted to reach 8% in the coming months.
• Before the Spring Statement, petrol prices hit record highs on every day in March. The 5p cut in fuel duty will make a dent in those costs but the cost of driving is still significantly higher than a couple of years ago.
• The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) has also warned that taxes will continue to rise despite the cuts announced in the spring statement, explaining that the squeeze on living standards forecast by the Office for Budget Responsibility means a median earner of £27,000 a year would be £360 worse off in the next financial year.

David Kelly, General Manager EMEA at Deputy, said: “We need to support our workers to survive this cost-of-living crisis. It’s just not acceptable for hard-working families to be forced into making choices between heating their homes and feeding their families. It’s also often the case that lower-paid workers need to travel to a specific place of work and are therefore being hit hardest by fuel increases and public transport costs.

“It was already known that financial wellbeing support can lead to a more healthy, productive, loyal workforce. Around 77% of workers using Wagestream feel less stressed, for example. But as the cost of living crisis bites, the partnership couldn’t be more timely.

“The current workforce crisis being experienced by most sectors is also making employers think afresh, in new creative ways, about how to improve the employee experience in order to be more competitive in the talent market.

“Wagestream is one example of employers finding a way to do better for their employees, by giving them control over when they get paid - and a set of financial tools to tackle money stress. With Deputy and Wagestream together you can optimise your labour spend and enable faster payment.”

Wagestream was designed to tackle the £490 premium - the equivalent of 14 weeks’ food shopping - that frontline workers pay for access to basic financial services, each year. Archie Chappel, Head of Small Business, Wagestream said: “We founded Wagestream with leading financial charities to make work more inclusive, fair and rewarding. With unpredictable work patterns and volatile income, shift workers have been overlooked and underserved by banking for too long. More than 50% of them bring money worries with them to work. But with Deputy and Wagestream, staff get control over their own pay cycle and a set of tools that make money less stressful - so that every shift feels more rewarding, and every team member is more productive.”