12 Nov 2015

Neyber cuts the cost of workplace debt

Since the financial crisis, we’ve all lived in an era of corporate cost control and pay restraints. A major consequence of this is the rise in indebtedness amongst the UK’s thirty million employees. People are now borrowing with a frequency not seen for over 15 years. Whilst it’s important for people to take responsibility for their personal finances a large part of the indebtedness crisis has been caused by the excessive rates of interest charged by some lenders.

Keen to explore how money worries affect the UK’s workforces, Neyber worked in collaboration with YouGov to survey over 5,000 employees and explore the issue of ‘Financial stress in the workplace.’ 69% of UK employees have worried about their finances over the past year and 26% admit they are not saving money regularly.

We know UK employees are struggling and we also know the impacts of this are both personal and professional. We’ve all dealt with stress and can recall times when we were not able to perform at our best because of it. It’s not a big leap to suggest that people have difficulty shrugging off their money worries. Employees do not leave financial stress at the door when they come to work - it affects their mood, their attitude and their engagement with the job at hand. 30% of UK employees admitted they are distracted from their duties at work when they are worried about money.

So, how can employers help in these circumstances and what measures can they take to boost the financial wellbeing of their employees and mitigate the risks of distraction?

Towers of coins

Workforces are powerful and by harnessing the power of workplace communities there lies a solution that works in everyone’s favour. Neyber works with employers to encourage savings, provide affordable borrowing and supportive financial education that can support employees. Our technology enables employees to have access to credit at an affordable cost and make payments directly from their salary via payroll.

The very roots of Neyber come from an idea that was born after one of the founders, Martin Ijaha, told a story about workplace communities who worked together to financially support one another.

“My mother is a nurse. As I was growing up, she and her colleagues used to have a jar which they would all put cash in every week. At the end of the month, one of them would take the pot of money. This was very common right across Africa. It’s called Sou Sou. Meaning ‘pooling of funds’. It was a way of ensuring that they all saved and borrowed and they were doing it together. Neyber takes this simple idea of finance flourishing within a community to empower employees to take control of their finances and pursue their goals”.

Neyber combines this traditional idea of borrowing and saving among a community and brings it right up to date with technology that brings a simplicity back to an industry that has long been overcomplicated. By slimming down on traditional banking processes and cutting the costs of expensive overheads from branch networks, Neyber are able to offer better rates to borrowers and savers. It’s flexible and it works with our customers to allow them to secure what they need faster, more conveniently and without automated phone systems and mountains of paperwork.

Neyber is currently offering our products to half a million employees. Our existing customers are benefiting from an average 20% reduction in monthly payments, which equates to a 5% increase in salary.

In the UK, the media talk endlessly about the cost of living, with related concerns about borrowing and saving. The world of personal finance has long been crying out for a big change. Employee benefits have been calling for a financial solution to add to the roster. Neyber is the revolution that combines the two.

Find out more visit: www.neyber.co.uk

This article was provided by Neyber