Super app aspirants Swag and GCash want to save the cash-strapped and excluded

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Hello there,

I cringe whenever I hear the hackneyed term “super app.”

So I was rather skeptical when I first heard that the Australian HR tech firm Employment Hero was launching Swag, which it called an “employment super app.”

But as my colleague Melissa notes in this week’s Big Story, some of the features offered on Swag may be genuinely beneficial to employees, especially in these financially perilous times.

For example, users of the app can take advantage of its earned-wage access service InstaPay to get their wages in advance of payday.

Used responsibly, this may help cash-strapped workers reduce their reliance on more expensive options like credit card debt.

Yet the question still remains whether super apps are necessary. Some employers have complained that the various benefits offered on Swag are a distraction from Employment Hero’s staple HR solutions and prefer a time when the app was “employment-focused.”

Unfortunately, the interests of management and workers aren’t always aligned, and it’s still unsure whether Employment Hero’s new initiative will succeed.

Meanwhile, this week’s Hot Take examines a super app in the Philippines. GCash, a unit of Globe Telecom, is said to be ready to go public by the end of the year. I take a closer look at the company and why it may entice investors.

— Simon

THE BIG STORY

Employment Hero’s new super app gives workers main character treatment

Image credit: Timmy Loen

Swag, the Australia-headquartered firm’s “employment super app,” melds payments and earned-wage access with HR tools to cater to employees.

THE HOT TAKE

NEWS YOU SHOULD KNOW

FYI