Caroline van der Merwe, Jem co-founder and chief product officer, says the company uses WhatsApp-based technology, workforce management tools and financial wellness solutions to help employers operate more efficiently, while improving deskless workers’ lives.
Leveraging WhatsApp and designed for South Africa’s deskless workforce, Jem digitises key HR processes including payslip distribution, employee communications, leave requests and smart rostering. It also provides earned wage access, an Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) and other financial wellness tools.
According to Caroline, the venture-backed business has ambitious growth plans centred on making life easier for both employers and employees.
A venture-backed business with ambitious growth plans
That ambition recently received a significant boost when Jem secured $8.4 million (over R100 million) in Series A funding.
“That sounds like a lot of money, but venture capitalists invest in businesses like ours because they see an opportunity for exponential growth,” says Caroline. “Raising funding is just the beginning, but it reflects confidence in our ability to make a positive impact on the employees and employers who use our platform.”
Caroline adds that Jem has invested the Series A funding into growing the platform’s teams, technologies, and capabilities. “We have the central aim to become the one platform that every South African employer with deskless workers runs their workforce on. We're very ambitious and excited.”
Driving workforce efficiency with smart rostering
For organisations employing large numbers of deskless workers, labour efficiency directly affects profitability, Caroline notes. “HR leaders must demonstrate the value and efficiency of their workforce. Helping businesses operate as efficiently as possible is one of the biggest benefits our platform delivers.”
To support this, Jem has enhanced time and attendance management through a smart rostering solution. Employees (or their supervisors) can clock in using their mobile phones within a geofenced work location, while employers gain real-time visibility across multiple sites. Through a central dashboard, managers can monitor attendance, identify staffing gaps, and track workforce site deployment using GPS-enabled location data.
Expanding access to financial wellness and mobile connectivity
Caroline says many South Africans rely on short-term finance, often at excessive interest rates. Jem’s own research found that 31 percent of deskless workers use a mashonisa or payday loan to reach payday.
“Your people are already borrowing. The only question is what it costs them. When people borrow from mashonisas (informal neighbourhood money lenders) or loan sharks they pay extortionate interest rates. With Jem, an employee can access a portion of the wages they’ve already earned for two flat fees: 3.5 percent of the amount, plus R6 for a standard payment or R25 for an instant one. That’s up to seven times cheaper than a loan shark, and it’s settled on payday, so it replaces the cycle of debt rather than creating one.”
For employers, earned wage access is free to switch on and Jem carries the default risk. “The employer sets the rules. You set the cap, exclude new starters, block draws in the days before payroll. Pay accrues daily, so usage is naturally throttled. On average, employees draw 16 to 19 percent of their salary against a 25 percent cap.”
Jem includes financial education resources, a free savings account, and an EAP. The platform further improves access to connectivity through mobile device financing and affordable airtime and data bundles.
“About 80 percent of South Africans are unable to access traditional device finance because they're not considered creditworthy. We help them finance devices and spread repayments through payroll deductions, while also providing affordable data options.”
Why adoption is so high
Caroline believes one of Jem’s greatest strengths is its decision to use WhatsApp as the primary platform channel. Research conducted by the company found that digital literacy and accessibility remain major barriers to digitising the employee experience, yet entry-level smartphones already have WhatsApp installed. This, says Caroline, is one of the reasons Jem achieves such high adoption rates.
She argues that the channel choice is as important as the product itself. “When employers onboard workers, all they need to do is send them an SMS containing a secure link to a WhatsApp chat. Our registration rates exceed 95 percent in most cases. Very few workforce platforms can match that level of participation.”
But she is clear that the channel is only the way in. “What matters is how embedded Jem becomes in the daily running of the business, from clock-ins to payslips to payday. The quality shows in the implementation and the day-to-day operation, not at the point of sale.”
According to Caroline, the company's deep understanding of South Africa's deskless workforce is a key differentiator. “We understand how our users communicate and the challenges they’re dealing with on a daily basis. That's why we can deliver such strong engagement from the start.”
Moving faster with AI
Caroline adds that AI is what allows a team of Jem’s size to deliver at this pace. “We've spent the last three months rebuilding our software stack, something that would have been impossible two years ago. We now have a smarter interface for employers and a technology foundation that allows us to move much faster. Features that once took months can be delivered in weeks, helping us solve problems more effectively for employers and workers alike.”
Improving the day-to-day lives of deskless workers and employers
Caroline illustrates Jem’s impact through the experience of a typical employee in the waste management sector.
An employee may wake before dawn to catch transport to work and, towards month-end, find themselves short of money for taxi fare. Through Jem, they can access a portion of earned wages without turning to predatory lenders. Jem’s research shows that two in three employees who use earned wage access spend it on transport. They can also receive shift reminders, access payslips shortly after payroll is processed, and stay informed of new company policies, all through WhatsApp.
“Even though we build software, our mission is to improve the day-to-day lives of deskless workers and their employers in South Africa. That's the purpose that sits above.
