Korean Fintech startup Paywatch’s EWA service garners attention as a financial welfare service for employees

ESG management is emerging as one of the essential criteria for corporate evaluation, and payroll advance payment service is attracting attention as part of new ESG management.

‘EWA Service,’ a new payroll service of Korea’s Fintech startup ‘Paywatch,‘ is gaining attention mainly from Korea’s leading F&B companies. The EWA service, a ‘pay advance payment’ service that pays employees first for hours worked is already being used by global companies such as Wal-Mart, McDonald’s, and P&G as an employee welfare policy overseas.

The ‘Paywatch EWA (Earned Wage Access) service’ is a service that pays wages for hours worked before the pay date. Through this, the right to pay is provided to workers in a new way, and companies can practice win-win management, which is one of the effects of reducing the turnover rate, resolving the job shortage and ESG management.

The advantage of the Paywatch EWA service is that workers can handle all the steps directly from the app, including applying for advance payment and transferring it to their account. Companies can deposit money into Paywatch according to the payday as usual.

Now F&B companies in Korea and globally are keen on Paywatch technology. Outback Steakhouse introduced the EWA service in July, while MFG KOREA, which operates Mad for Garlic and TGIF, and GFFG, which operates Downtowner and Cafe Noted, introduced Paywatch’s EWA service in August.

A human resources manager at Outback Steakhouse, which introduced Paywatch’s EWA, said, “Workers, employers, and HR managers are all satisfied with the financial welfare service companies can introduce at no extra cost. There is no need to link; you can use it immediately if you sign up after installing, which is very convenient.”

The EWA service prevents the financially vulnerable from falling into a loan or private finance business by receiving a salary in advance. It also provides a new form of financial welfare that allows regular and part-time workers to receive benefits in advance. Recently, through a partnership with the Easy Well Welfare Mall, companies using Paywatch can also use the Easy Well Welfare Mall.

Hwi-Jun Kim, CEO of Paywatch Korea, said, “I think it is meaningful that Paywatch is being recognized as a new concept financial welfare service among corporate executives who want to internalize ESG management beyond a useful service.”

Paywatch Korea started its official service in Korea in July of last year, and as of August 2022, 68 companies have introduced the Paywatch service. The startup has been selected as the first Korean company in the ‘United Nations Capital Development Fund 2020 Gig Economy Challenge TOP 3’ and recognized for its business feasibility, selected as the ‘2020 Hongneung Bank Launchpad’ TOP 2, 2019 Financial Services Commission innovative financial service and 2020 SK Group’s ‘Social Performance Incentive Program of the Social Value Research Institute.’

Paywatch, which started overseas in Malaysia in June, has partnered with Hongneung Bank to provide services to F&B conglomerate QSR Brands, which owns Pizza Hut and KFC, franchise hypermarket LOTUS, and luxury bakery brand Kenny Hills Bakery.

In the second half of this year, the company plans to register the electronic finance business and increase the withdrawal limit to help more workers with financial health. It aims to partner with more than 100 companies by 2022.

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