Flexee launches a debate on a revolution in employee benefits

WThe EEC Trends conference was held yesterday at the Sheraton Grand Warsaw hotel.
Yesterday, the Sheraton Grand Warsaw hotel hosted the EEC Trends conference. One of the key debates of this conference focused on the labor market in Poland. Michał Maciuk, Flexee’s co-founder and Sales Director, participated in this debate.

Many people say that Poland is not an employee market. This is not true. Poland has one of the lowest unemployment rates (5.4%), and the spread of remote working has greatly increased the mobility of workers and their willingness to change jobs, seeking one that would offer the best conditions of employment. During industry meetings, leaders of the fintech sector discuss how the labor market should operate nowadays; tailored to the requirements of employees, ensuring work-life balance and healthy employee-employer relations. Panel participants agreed that the biggest challenge facing employers is to change their approach to remunerating and recognizing employees. – In order to attract the best, companies must pay attention to the needs of their employees and often depart from the path that has been trodden for years – said Michał Maciuk. With these words, the director of Flexee opened a debate about the revolution in the benefits market.

In the age of the pandemic and ubiquitous remote working, benefits such as fruit Thursdays, casual Fridays or gym passes have definitely lost their value. The benefits system had to change. We were faced with the question: in this case, what is most important for employees these days? The answer seems indisputable: health, financial security and flexibility. The Flexee app emerged in response to this need, giving employees instant access to their salary. Using the app, they can draw a portion of their future paycheck each day of the month. All they have to do is specify the amount to be withdrawn from their salary and it will be instantly transferred to their account.

– The narrative between employee and employer is changing completely. It is increasingly difficult for the employers. Financial benefits that improve employees’ psychological wellbeing need to be the standard in the market. Studies say that 70 per cent of employees experience financial stress. EY surveyed employees from 36 countries and their research shows that roughly 80 per cent of them would like to be paid earlier – said Michał Maciuk. The salary-on-demand option is not new in the West; in Poland, however, we’re only just blazing the first trails. It is a rather complicated operation for accounting and finance departments. Cooperation with Flexee simplifies this process considerably.

– Paying out wages via an advance payment mechanism creates many administrative and legal problems on the employer’s side. We have automated certain processes, we have used – instead of the advance payment instrument – a loan instrument, which means that any early payment of remuneration from our funds does not affect the employer’s cash flow, and HR and accounting departments do not have to pay taxes or other public levies on each such action – he adds. This is how Flexee combines benefits for the employer: it makes it easier to recruit the best personnel, while employees get an excellent benefit and the financial flexibility that is so important today.