The card allows staff to access health and well-being benefits, such as gym memberships. Photo: JENS KALAENE
An Auckland company has developed a form of debit card that can be loaded with money and given to workers for them to choose the benefits they need most, without having to claim reimbursements.
The cards can be tailored to block what the boss might consider off-limits spending - for example, alcohol or gambling.
Extraordinary co-founder Steve Zinsli told Checkpoint's Lisa Owen that initially, staff could use the card only to get healthcare benefits - but in a cost of living crisis, workers are increasingly keen on other "every-day" perks too.
When the card first launched, many companies were focused on providing health and well-being benefits without employees having to wait weeks out of pocket before being reimbursed.
More recently, popular benefits have included public transport allowances to encourage staff to come into the office, parking allowances, and gym and fitness memberships.
The benefits enabled employers to make remuneration packages more attractive, and to "tell a story about what that economic value is actually for", he said.
There were bonuses for the company, too.
"There's less absenteeism, less presenteeism. If you think about the public transport allowance, you're removing that cost barrier of getting your employees back into the office after that work-from-home period that everyone had."
Employers could also track public transport use to report its progress on sustainability, he said.
"If you give someone a voucher... what happens if you lose a voucher? Where has the money gone?
"The company has spent this money on something that then the employee is not going to utilise. It's economically inefficient."
Companies in a range of sectors - including scaffolding, trucking and banking - were using the card to boost recruitment and retention.
"It's more around the individual businesses that are seeing ways to package remuneration in different ways."
Checkpoint host Lisa Owen asked Zinsli why couldn't companies just pay staff a cash bonus?
If the aim was to boost staff health and well-being, or the use of sustainable transport, then the card had more "meaning and impact", he said.
Some companies allowed employees to use the cards for one-off payments in supermarkets too, and it was one way for them to differentiate themselves and demonstrate core values in a competitive recruitment market, he said.
"They've already got great remuneration packages; they're just looking at ways to go above and beyond, to be that next level of great."
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