STILL remember working yet feeling inadequate to make ends meet, more like waiting-for-the-next-paycheck-to-arrive kind of lifestyle? And then the COVID-19 pandemic arrived. Employees either lost their jobs or were forced to make do with whatever their earnings.
So, many resorted to taking out loans from independent but most likely unreliable loan agents. Thus, SAVii Asia endeavored to change all that.
It has then become a mission for SAVii Asia, formerly known as Uploan PH, to provide financial empowerment to over 400,000 employees in the Philippines as its business evolved during the pandemic.
As a startup company established in 2017, SAVii Asia saw the need to provide employees with no prior access to formal credit (the usual prey of toxic alternative lenders) a safe and affordable formal lending solution.
“Employee well-being is threatened by financial demands heightened by the pandemic. We are a platform that delivers financial services to employees that other formal financial institutions are unable to service,” Liam Grealish, the CEO and Founder of SAVii said during a virtual talk with media.
The SAVii platform provides financial education and mental health awareness training, as well as their financial services. Their services aim to enhance employee wellbeing and reduce workplace stress. Liam Grealish explains that the objective was to build a resilient workforce that can maintain focus and engagement that redounds to the benefit of business.
Grealish also described that a quiet revolution in employee behavior toward financial products is taking place beneath the surface; preferable to receive services through their employers as an employee benefit deducted from their pay rather than going directly to suppliers outside of their company. This results in a more convenient and affordable consumer experience, he added.
According to a SAVii survey of 10,000 employees, 90 percent of working Filipinos prefer to access financial products through salary deduction. A SAVii spokesperson further stated that when the fintech started, 40 percent of employees did not access financial products through salary deduction, and that number is now down to 18 percent.
Back in 2017, only three percent of all active loans in the Philippines were bank-issued. Predatory lenders within the workplace were a problem for workers as they were the only available–and probably quickest–option, which caused them more pain financially than aiding them. The founders of SAVii Asia were compelled to establish a startup to simplify salary loans and provide emergency financing services for employees who wouldn’t be eligible for bank loans.
Another problem was raised when the pandemic started in 2020, where both companies and the workforce were affected with lay-offs and closures. Companies faced the obstacle of taking exceptional care of their remaining employees they feared might get sick. Employees, on the other hand, had heightened financial stress since they not only had to deal with the uncertainty of COVID-19 but had to support family who had lost their jobs or got ill. With the challenge that employers and employees were experiencing, the team expanded its service offering to support BPO companies and large enterprises, to improve employee well-being by expanding their services with COVID-19 insurance, mental health support, and more detailed financial education.
During the pandemic Grealish reported that SAVii doubled their customer base to become the category leader. “This brings us closer to our goal to transform the lives of our partners’ employees by reliably providing access to the financial power of their salary when they need it. HR departments benefit from the boost to employee well being which betters loyalty and engagement.”
SAVii is an innovative platform that empowers HR leaders with 360-degree salary-linked wellness services. They have helped hundreds of thousands of employees in the Philippines and continue to provide safe, convenient, and affordable loans, advances, extra support, and financial empowerment wherein employers have no risks or liability of any kind.