A conversation with David Brown, CEO of Social Enterprise Fintech: Hello

Hi is a social enterprise fintech that enables companies to free up working capital by funding their payroll. This means businesses can now quickly access affordable funds to grow or optimize their finances without incurring debt.

At the same time, Hi allows employees free and flexible access to their earned salary whenever they wish. This increases their financial resilience by balancing their cash flow and eliminating the celebration-and-hunger cycle of the monthly payday. As an employee benefit, this can help your organization attract and retain the best talent and increase attendance, retention and productivity.

Can access to real-time payments help with the cost-of-living crisis?

Absolutely. From energy bills to gas pump prices, groceries and council taxes to mobile phones and broadband connections, households are facing huge increases in spending.

As a result, people are increasingly relying on credit cards, payday loans, and buy-now-pay-later financing programs to make ends meet while waiting for that month-end payout.

Monthly payroll became popular for many reasons: greater predictability of cash flow, reduced administration, lower costs, and later the efficiency of digital pay. But all of these benefits favor the employer, not the employee. And the monthly paycheck has become so ingrained in our lives that we no longer question it.

But people should be able to freely dispose of their money and be paid when they want it.

This improves financial well-being with access to daily, weekly or monthly pay at the employee’s discretion. It also allows people to have more control over cash flow, reducing the need for short-term debt. Employees can also access real-time salary updates, which helps them with budgeting.

Wages are an employee’s fortune and in light of the cost of living crisis, isn’t it time to ditch the concept of monthly payslips?

What are the benefits for employers of giving employees real-time access to their salary?

Benefits are a key differentiator for employers. Caring for the financial and spiritual well-being of employees, whether by changing employee pay or providing other benefits, is critical to attracting and retaining talent.

Access to real-time salary can be a major draw when it comes to employee benefits, as 61% of workers find having instant access to their earned wages appealing.

Additionally, 94% of employees worry about money and 77% say it interferes with their jobs. Paying employees more frequently has the potential to attract and retain talent, increase employee well-being, increase productivity and reduce absenteeism.

Hi not only helps organizations attract and retain talent, but also helps companies free up affordable working capital by letting them fund payroll, a Hi first. This frees up a new source of working capital for companies to use to optimize cash flow without leveraging their balance sheets. So it is a win-win situation for workers and employers.

What’s next for Hi?

At Hi we have big ambitions. Having partnered with Mastercard to launch our salary access card and recently joining the prestigious Start Path engagement program, we are looking to scale our business globally.

Our Series A funding round will allow us to activate the next stage of our growth plan to expand in the US, Europe and Asia while continuing to develop our products and services.