The labor market is still extremely competitive, and doubly so for retail companies. Workers know there's demand for them, and many of them have no problem changing workplaces often. Recruiting new colleagues tends to be expensive, and employees often don't stay long in one place before moving on. Some companies, however, have found a solution in a non-traditional benefit.
Meal vouchers, meal allowances, contributions to pension or life insurance—there are many ways companies try to attract new workers and retain them. But in a time of an overheated labor market and today's uncertain climate, these widely used benefits are starting to stop working.
Lagardère Travel Retail knows this well. On the Czech market, the company operates, among others, the Relay chain of stores, Costa Coffee cafés, the French bakery Paul, the Masaryčka restaurant, and Burger King fast-food restaurants.
Even though Lagardère Travel Retail raised wages between 2021 and 2022, turnover remained high. Company leadership therefore looked for ways to gain an edge in a highly competitive labor market.
"With some hindsight, it's clear Advanto came along at just the right time, because it solves a number of pressing problems for employers arising from the shortage of workers on the labor market. For workers, it's also a valuable safety net against financial trouble—the kind that COVID, and now the current wave of price increases, keeps bringing on," says Advanto co-founder Martin Fortelný.
HR expert and head of the Czech HR Association (Svaz personalistů ČR), Petr Otáhal, confirms this too. "It's a benefit that directly addresses the most basic need of a huge group of employees. And that's their wages," he says.
Lagardère Travel Retail's management introduced Advanto in August 2021. "At the time, we were considering other benefits for our employees, but as soon as Advanto approached us, this option immediately caught our interest. After rolling out Advanto, it fairly quickly became clear that Earned Wage Access was another interesting and, above all, beneficial addition that helps us both with recruitment and with retaining our current workforce," says Eva Kyselová, HR Director at Lagardère Travel Retail.
According to Kyselová, turnover is consistently low specifically among employees who use Advanto. After a year, more than 87% of them are still working for Lagardère Travel Retail, an improvement compared to the period before Advanto was introduced.
"We're seeing higher efficiency and work ethic among people across the companies that use Advanto," says Fortelný. According to him, the explanation is simple, even if it isn't obvious at first glance. "Being able to withdraw part of your earned pay at any time removes the stress tied to the financial uncertainty that a single fixed monthly payday often causes. Many people find it much easier to budget their money on a weekly basis," Fortelný adds.
"On top of that, the Advanto app, where money accumulates in real time and can be paid out immediately, motivates people to work more hours—for example, by signing up for an extra shift," he adds.
HR expert Gerhard Knop from Leadership Synergy Group also confirms that, from a worker's perspective, wages available on demand can be more valuable than a higher payout once a month. "A fast reward is worth two rewards," he says.
Part-time workers aren't used to waiting for their money
Kyselová from Lagardère Travel Retail adds that, based on positive feedback from employees, the company decided to extend Advanto and access to Earned Wage Access to workers on DPP and DPČ agreements as well. "We believe Advanto will be valuable and popular with our part-time workers too," says Kyselová.
Fortelný adds that among staffing agencies, paying part-time workers immediately after the work is done tends to be the standard. "For companies, Advanto is a way to compete with staffing agencies for part-time workers on the labor market," he explains.
Notino, the well-known perfume and cosmetics retailer, has chosen this strategy among retail companies. It introduced Advanto first and foremost for its part-time workers, back in spring of this year.
"At the end of April this year, we gave every part-time worker on a DPP or DPČ agreement the option to flexibly manage their own, not-yet-paid-out earnings. It generated a lot of interest among part-time workers and became one of their most-used benefits," says Notino HR manager Jana Vričanová.
"It's precisely because of this positive experience that we'd like to extend the option to withdraw part of your pay at any time to all employees, starting this September," Vričanová adds.
"We increasingly hear from company leadership that employees are starting to see money and fast access to it as the new standard. Our mission is for payday loans, or generally disadvantageous and risky loans, to disappear from the market entirely—so that people have no need to use them at all," says entrepreneur Martin Fortelný, founder of Advanto.
