South Africa has a robust and complex regulatory framework which fosters a fair, efficient, and resilient system that protects citizens, ensures market integrity, and drives inclusive and sustainable economic growth. However, as robust as the landscape is, there are still sectors which are without regulatory structures, one of them being domestic employment.
The relationship between a homeowner and the housekeeper is usually quite casual, with most opting to be paid in cash and not really being considered as part of people’s compliance efforts with labour laws.
What happens when a domestic worker needs a payslip? Or proof of employment? Or UIF registration? Or an advance on their salary? What happens when leave, contracts, and sick days are just a conversation? Or what happens when an employer doesn’t operate in goodwill, pays less than minimum wage or takes advantage of the ‘informal arrangement’?
For many households, compliance and process have never really been part of the equation. Not because employers don’t want to do the right thing, but because that’s just the way it’s always been, until now.
Introducing AskMandla
Local fintech platform AskMandla is a WhatsApp-first fintech platform that helps households manage domestic employment in a simple, compliant and human-first way. Through a simple WhatsApp chat, employers can register their domestic employees for UIF, manage contracts, payroll, payslips, get basic HR guidance, e.g. the Compensation for Occupational Injuries and Diseases Act (COIDA), while workers gain access to the documents and support that recognise their work as real employment.
The platform grew out of Shesha-LawZA, a legal and HR platform developed by Janine Kane-Berman to support domestic workers and employers with practical labour law guidance. The idea has since evolved into a WhatsApp-first HR platform built around the way domestic workers and households already communicate.
According to a press release, the platform has processed more than R5 million in net salaries, issued more than 1 000 payslips and assisted in registering domestic workers for the unemployment insurance fund (UIF), a significant achievement considering that only one-third of domestic employees are registered, according to Stats SA.
AskMandla has also recently introduced the Earned Wage Access (EWA) feature to their customers, giving workers the option to access money they have already earned before payday. The EWA is an advance on wages accrued, designed to help workers manage real-life needs such as groceries, transport, school costs or an unexpected shortfall, without needing to utilise expensive loans or loan sharks with high interest rates.
For co-founder and CEO Peter Adolphs, the platform is both commercially ambitious and purpose-driven. “We love South Africa, and we believe in building practical solutions for the country we live in,” says Adolphs. “Domestic work is real work. The people who do it deserve to be recognised, documented and included in the financial system. AskMandla offers a service that makes that easier for both workers and employers.”
How AskMandla Works for Employers
The platform offers employers a range of features and tools, including:
- Legal contracts: Customised BCEA-compliant domestic worker contracts.
- Monthly payroll handling: The platform will calculate salaries, deductions, and compliance and create professional monthly payslips for your domestic employee.
- UIF registration: AskMandla enables you to manage your UIF and the Compensation Fund, including monthly contributions. Keeping your records compliant with the Department of Labour.
- WhatsApp support: The platform has a knowledge base that connects all the dots of HR, providing guidance for any tricky situation or doing what is right.
- Domestic HR: Provides help with any situation, from disputes, disciplinary templates, or management of sick leave allocations.
- Leave tracking and management: The platform can help you manage annual leave, sick leave, family responsibility leave, and unpaid absences.
- Digital record-keeping: All contracts, payslips, UIF records, and leave history are securely stored in one place, ready when you need them for audits, disputes, or peace of mind.
What AskMandla Offers Employees
For employees, the platform has the following features and tools:
- Legal contracts: Clear, legal employment contract that sets out role, hours, pay, and leave. It’s digitally signed and always available on WhatsApp.
- Monthly payslips: Employees will receive a payslip every month via WhatsApp showing what they were paid, any deductions, and how their salary was calculated. They can access your payslips whenever.
- Leave tracking: Employees receive leave updates whenever they need or request available leave on AskMandla without worrying about asking the employer directly.
- AskMandla WhatsApp support: Employees can request support at any time via WhatsApp.
- UIF registration: Employees can feel confident about their UIF contributions.
- Work history and records: Employees can build their work history with contracts, payslips, and leave records stored securely. Creating an opportunity for them to use it for future jobs, loans, or official processes.
- SA labour law protection: Employment is aligned with South African labour laws, including BCEA and UIF, where applicable, helping protect employee rights and ensuring fair treatment at work.
How Much Does AskMandla Cost?
There is an initial onboarding fee of R450 and a monthly subscription of R49 thereafter. The platform is built for affordability to ensure that domestic workers are employed fairly, and it brings structure to the working relationships that are a part of so many South African homes.
How to Sign Up on AskMandla
The sign-up process is very simple and only requires employees to have WhatsApp. Employees can get started on the platform by doing the following:
- Employers must request a sign-up form, followed by completing the Domestic Employee details.
- Everything happens on WhatsApp, so employers must have WhatsApp downloaded.
- Sign-up takes less than 10 minutes.
- Once sign-up is complete, employers are able to generate legal documents and begin UIF registration.
South Africa has a robust and complex regulatory framework which fosters a fair, efficient, and resilient system that protects citizens, ensures market integrity, and drives… Read More
