Embedded savings accounts in payroll are seeing increased adoption. Major retailers like ASDA are implementing workplace savings programs for their employees, while payroll service providers eye savings features as their next growth opportunity. These companies are investing in designing innovative product features to reshape how employees approach saving money from their paychecks.

Payroll savings deliver many benefits to employees, from building emergency funds and buffers to developing better savings habits. For companies committed to the financial wellbeing of their workforce, it is an invaluable addition to the benefits package.

At the core of any payroll savings product is the underlying bank. Griffin provides easy-to-use bank account APIs for companies like Sync to power savings products in the apps that consumers use everyday.

We recently sat down with Joss Tasker, CEO of Sync Savings to chat about the value these savings accounts present for the payroll industry and why payroll savings is great for the employee experience.

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Q: Could you tell us about Sync Savings and the problem you are trying to solve?

Sync is Europe’s first payroll savings plug-in. We’re on a mission to help everyone to save more with simple, automated payroll savings. We started Sync to fix the UK’s savings problem‍—‌a quarter of adults in the UK have absolutely no savings. Our savings plug-in provides an easy way for employees to sign up for payroll savings and instantly begin to effortlessly build financial resilience.

Q: Can you break down how this savings plug-in works in the payroll cycle?

Our savings plug-in integrates seamlessly into payroll systems, making it super easy for everyone to save automatically straight out of their salary. This is very similar to what is done for your pensions; except that this time, it comes with a beautiful interface within your payroll app. This solution allows employees instant access to cash and a great interest rate. Payroll savings are a perfect way to help employees plan and save for holidays, rainy day funds, house deposits and family.

Q: There are tons of savings products out there that employees can leverage, why should payroll savings be a priority?

The differentiator here is that payroll savings are set and forgotten. The money comes out at source and doesn’t require the employee to even leave the payroll app. It is more convenient and provides a great way to save regularly with little or no effort.

Q: What are some of the unique features that you are seeing from payroll companies to support this offering?

Our brilliant partners at PayCaptain are a pioneer in this space, they make saving simple and engaging with their employee app, goal setting, easy to read payslips and behavioural nudges to use pay rises to increase savings.

Q: What do payroll companies like PayCaptain stand to gain from embedding savings accounts in their apps and offerings?

We think that payroll savings with the right UX is the most impactful employee benefit there is. 75% of folks are distracted at work because of money worries and while we agree that financial education is important, 97% of us already know that we need to be saving more and yet still struggle to do that effectively.

Payroll providers that offer savings have a unique opportunity to differentiate themselves and offer a super impactful, high quality benefit that can only make employees richer, sleep better and, according to some exciting research by Havard and our friends at Wagestream‍—‌increase their IQ by 13 points.

Q: Griffin is powering your embedded savings accounts. How do you think more companies in the UK can benefit from this partnership?

In two ways. Firstly, there is an opportunity for companies to offer Griffin’s savings accounts to their employees via Sync’s simple payroll savings plug-in. It is easy to integrate and takes away the hassle of them having to figure out operational, technical and compliance requirements.

In addition to this, using the same technology Sync can deliver embedded savings in other use cases such as powering up credit building products and even save now, buy later.

Q: What are some of the main problems/challenges you see for the broader adoption of embedded savings in the payroll cycle?

Technical integrations can be challenging, especially when working with banks. Sync’s simple, user centric no code savings plug-in and Griffin’s modern core banking infrastructure have made it easier for payroll providers to rapidly integrate payroll savings into their existing processes.

Q: What other industries do you see benefitting from embedded savings accounts in the near future?

We see opportunities everywhere from Save Now, Buy Later to utilising savings balances to build better credit scores. Everyday we are learning about possible new use cases we hadn’t even considered.

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Joss Tasker is a fintech expert and entrepreneur. She has worked at companies like BlackRock, Octopus and Monzo, and is now the founder and CEO of Sync. She has a background in risk and compliance, so she combines a focus on great user experience and knowledge of start-up ways of working with the context of operating in a FCA and PRA-regulated environment.