Colleagues at Home From Home Care, which supports adults with learning disabilities, autism and complex mental and physical health, can now be paid within 24 hours of working non-contracted shifts.
Introduced as a way to support more flexible working and help people respond to the rising cost of living, the scheme is set to benefit Home From Home Care’s 500-strong workforce, giving them a quick and simple way of receiving pay.
The launch of the scheme coincides with the organisation becoming an accredited Living Wage Employer; with all team members over 18 earning a minimum of £10.20 an hour, significantly more than the real Living Wage of £9.90 per hour.
The same day or ‘Rapid Payment’ scheme means those on contracted hours can be paid within 24 hours of every additional shift they work, while ‘bank staff’ can now be paid after every shift. This primarily includes students, parents with young children, members of the armed forces community and people who’ve retired from their previous careers, where greater flexibility in choosing shifts is an advantage.
Following a three month trial, managers have been amazed by the scheme’s popularity, with more than 100 team members receiving Rapid Payments within 24 hours of their shifts.
One of those is Louise Wells, TRACS Manager at Home From Home Care. Louise said:
“The Rapid Payment scheme is such a great way to earn some extra money when you have unexpected bills or just want to treat yourself to something. I used the scheme recently to get my hair done before going abroad on holiday!”
Another, Recruitment Consultant, Jade Voller, said:
“After I volunteered for extra work, I received a rapid payment which really helped out with an unexpected bill.”
The new Rapid Payment scheme follows a series of pay rises for all of Home From Home Care’s team members over the last year. In the last 12 months, the company has increased spending on pay and bonuses by 20%, with all colleagues earning the equivalent of at least £21,216 per year.
The pay rise has brought wages for all Home From Home Care employees above the real Living Wage; a voluntary wage rate that’s independently calculated by the Living Wage Foundation as the wage required for people to meet the cost of living. The real Living Wage is higher than the mandatory National Living Wage and the Minimum Wage which are both set by the government.
‘On-demand’ or ‘same-day’ pay plans, such as Home From Home Care’s Rapid Payment scheme, have grown in popularity in the two years, helping employees with expenses that come up between paydays, such as car repairs, energy bills or holidays and helping them avoid overdraft charges and payday loans. For bank staff, the schemes remove an unnecessary wait until payday, creating an instant connection between work and pay, that’s similar to payment structures in the gig economy and Silicon Valley tech giants.
While on-demand pay schemes have mostly been adopted by large technology firms, Home From Home Care has been able to develop its own scheme due to an award-winning centralised management system which was developed in-house over 20 years. This data-driven system, which won Tech for Good in the Lincolnshire Technology & Innovation Awards 2021, enables the staffing, HR, resourcing and payroll for colleagues at each of the organisation’s 11 residential homes and specialist integration services to be managed through a single IT-enabled platform.
Hugo de Savary, director of Home From Home Care said:
“Lots of our colleagues value flexibility in their shifts and routines, but we and most other organisations have stuck to the idea of a monthly payday that doesn’t suit everyone.
“Since we became a fully family-owned care provider in September last year, we’ve been able to rethink everything we do to help us become the best employer we can be. As well as increasing pay across the board, we’re supporting our team in new ways and we’ve explored other opportunities to give colleagues greater flexibility and control over the money that they earn.
“As soon as we began to trial the Rapid Payment scheme, we were blown away by its popularity. At a time when the cost of living is climbing higher and energy bills are rocketing, the ability to get paid almost immediately after working a shift is proving extremely valuable. The scheme is helping to ease people’s financial stress, it’s letting them have more disposable income and it’s having an impact on morale and motivation. It’s proving to be a massive success and I’m really pleased that it’s helping so many of my colleagues.” For information about Home From Home Care, including careers and job vacancies, visit www.homefromhomecare.co.uk