Reward Gateway Announces New Product SmartTech™ Allowing Employers to Offer Staff Free Financing and Instant Access to the Latest Products from Currys PC World

LONDON, August 10, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

New benefit product transforms salary sacrifice industry enabling employers to offer employees the ability to purchase tech directly from their salaries with minimum administration 

Reward Gateway, the leading employee engagement platform that delivers employee benefits, reward and recognition, and communications solutions, today announced it has partnered with Currys PC World to offer its UK customers the new payroll benefit, SmartTech,™ which lets customers buy the latest technology with interest free financing directly from their salary with minimal administration by their employer's HR and finance teams.

The technology by salary sacrifice market is in its infancy, with uptake often held back by sluggish systems and lengthy approval processes. Reward Gateway's SmartTech™ is revolutionary in that company HR teams set pre-approved [purchases/purchase levels] for every user, so laptops, iPads and other devices available in the programme can be delivered or collected from a Currys PC World store up to same day.

SmartTech™launches in the UK on 10th August 2016, after a successful pilot with 7,000 staff at UK building firm Tarmac and Reward Gateway's own employee base.

How it helps HR 

• Enables employers to promote an exciting new voluntary benefit to their workforce.
• Puts HR in control and has minimum administration. There's no need to process individual requests as employee voucher purchases will be instantly approved based on the criteria for employee spend and the duration of the payback period that the employer sets in advance.
• No administration of warranty redemptions, customer service or delivery to handle. Currys PC World handles all of that so that HR doesn't have to.

How it helps employees 

• Enables employees to get instant access to free financing from their employer on the largest range of the latest technology products with guaranteed lowest prices on the high street.
• With an in store pick-up option at 300 locations and automated application approvals, employees can have their items instantly -- no waiting required!
• SmartTech allows employees to spread their payments over time by taking them straight from their salary at 0% apr, making it easier for them to afford technology gadgets.
• And because it's Currys PC World employers can be sure that employees are getting the widest range of products at the best price. Up to 5,000 products are available to buy on the Currys website.

Supporting quotes 

"We are thrilled to be launching SmartTech™ and working with Currys PC World, a much loved, trusted brand in the UK. The whole of Curry's online store now sits within our technology, and we hope to deliver millions of incremental sales for them over the next 12 months. We've put a lot of thought into the product to develop a market-changing offering - it is our biggest payroll benefit to date."  

"Our research showed that the traditional payroll technology benefits are cumbersome, slow, incur heavy admin or delivery costs and often don't offer the latest products; but with the launch of SmartTech™, employees can order the latest technology, the cost of which is then automatically subtracted from their pay packet in regular amounts. Within 30 seconds, you can choose from up to 5,000 products, whether that's the latest iPad or fitness tracker, and pay for it in an affordable way, direct from your salary."
Richard Hurd-Wood, Chief Product Officer at Reward Gateway

"We always aim to offer our customers the latest products and by working with Reward Gateway, customers can purchase directly from their salary. It removes any pain points or hassle when ordering the latest tech and the early feedback has been fantastic." 
Glenn Sizer, Head of Prepaid Partnerships at Currys PC World 

"SmartTech™ gives our employees access to the latest technology products without making a huge dent in their salary by creating a payment plan that works for them. We're really proud to be able to offer Tarmac employees an affordable and flexible option to buy the technology they want. From a company perspective the automated application approvals and payroll processing makes administration easy and saves us time. Take up levels in the first month have been exceptional and we expect the trend to continue upwards in the run up to Christmas."
Jodie Gilligan, People & Information Manager, Tarmac

To see SmartTech™ in action visit rg.co/smarttech

Boiler Plate 

Reward Gateway provides employee engagement technology to the world's leading companies. Over 1,200 clients including American Express, Groupon, Yahoo!, IBM and McDonald's use the company's products to attract, engage and retain the best employees. The company's products power employee communications, employee recognition, and employee benefits through a single employer-branded hub called SmartHub®.

Media Contact:  

Charlie Lofthouse, PR Manager
charlie.lofthouse@rewardgateway.com