A year of three halves!
There has been a clear dividing line in the way that people have used EarlyPay during the year.
Lockdown 1 saw the first drop in average transaction values as people began to spend less on ‘nice to haves’ and going out. In some cases, we did find our clients taking on increased staff during this period, especially within the health and social care, distribution and food service sectors.
As we moved into our ‘second half’ of the year, we saw many companies opening with much-revised processes and procedures and July’s reopening of hospitality boosted transactions by 10%.
When we came out of lockdown and Rishi Sunak launched the much-hyped ‘eat out to help out’ scheme we saw a return to more normal values. In fact, the eat out scheme was so successful that bargain hunting diners led to a 25% increase on the daily average drawdowns on the first day alone.
Our third half is where we moved back into lockdown again in the Autumn and just as in lockdown 1 we see a corresponding drop in transaction numbers and values.
Regional differences remain
This year has been one of contrasts and none more so than the regional differences we see in transactions. As you would expect, with higher wages paid in the South and London, we see much higher transaction values in this area.
Our lowest average transactions were in Yorkshire and Humberside and we saw a massive difference where values in the South were 61% higher than those in the North.
People love the ability to draw down their earned wages at any time, anywhere and this is evidenced by the fact that the most popular time to transact is between 1 pm and 2 pm. This suggests that people are using the app during their lunch hour… tasty...
The favourite day for people to transact is a Thursday. We wonder if people are waiting to draw down their wages just a day or so before they get paid or maybe they are making sure they have the cash they need before the weekend hits and shopping trips for essentials will be on the agenda.
EarlyPay - building in flexibility
The trials and tribulations of 2020 seem set to go on with the UK entering its third lockdown for the start of 2021 and it is clear that employees are going to need as much help as can be provided.
Giving people the flexibility to draw down their earned wages is a perfect way to make sure that your staff can get the cash they want/need, when they want/need it.
Why not check out our infographic that shows our 2020 in a single view and if you’d like to find out more about EarlyPay then click the link in the infographic to find out more!