Making Finance Work for Women

From Cash to
Digital Wage Payments
in the Philippines
Win-Win for Enterprises & Women Employees

Nithyasri Sharma and Ker Thao

March 2021
This publication has been funded by the Australian Government
through the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. The views
expressed in this publication are the author’s alone and are not
necessarily the views of the Australian Government.
Acknowledgements

This research study is the result of a joint effort by Women’s World Banking and the International
Labour Organization (ILO) to investigate the potential of wage digitization to contribute to enhancing
workers’ financial inclusion and boosting business efficiencies in South East Asia. This research study
was led by Nithyasri Sharma and Ker Thao from Women’s World Banking in collaboration with Hideki
Kagohashi from the ILO Office for the Philippines and Valerie Breda from the ILO Social Finance
Programme. The authors would like to thank their research partners, Oriente Management Consulting,
all the stakeholders, enterprises and workers who shared their views during the interviews, as well
as all the persons who participated in our webinar organized in March 2021. Special thanks to the
Australian Government Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade for sponsoring this study. We hope that
the findings of this study will inspire government institutions, employers’ and workers’ organizations,
financial service providers, development partners and others in their journey to promote responsible
digital wage payments and financial inclusion in the Philippines.
Background

The thriving digital economy in the Philippines and payments in the Philippines as the government
proliferation of new digital solutions, coupled with provided economic relief payments digitally, and
the government’s push to drive digital payments enterprises and customers have quickly adapted
and financial inclusion1, provides for tremendous to new digital ways of operating in the wake of
opportunities to deepen financial inclusion in the lockdowns.
country. The central bank, Bangko Sentral ng
Pilipinas (BSP), expects at least 50 percent of Therefore, it is imperative to capitalize on this
payments to shift to digital by 20232. Furthermore, momentum to ensure wider adoption and usage of
digital financial inclusion may also help formalize digital payments, particularly among low-income
the vast informal economy3. women, with a focus on digital wage payments
for salaried workers.
However, low-income segments of the population,
particularly women, risk being left behind in the
digital revolution. Despite a reverse gender gap
in financial access, with 39 percent of women
having access to accounts versus 30 percent of
men4, financial inclusion for women remains a
challenge in the Philippines – 61 percent of women
remain excluded from the formal financial system.

Moreover, enterprises, particularly small enter-

prises, have been slow to embrace digital wage
payments – nearly 71 percent of wages are still
paid in cash compared to only 28 percent through
financial accounts as of 20175. The COVID-19
pandemic has accelerated the adoption of digital

1
Speech by BSP Gov. Benjamin Diokno at the PRU Life UK Online Investment Briefing, October 22, 2020,
https://www.bis.org/review/r201110c.htm.
2
Speech of BSP Gov. Benjamin Diokno. “Philippines greenlights ‘digital banks’ as pandemic drives demand”. Nikkei Asia. November 26, 2020,
https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Finance/Philippines-greenlights-digital-banks-as-pandemic-drives-demand.
3
This view has been discussed among a broad range of stakeholders in the Philippines with technical support of the ILO under its Recommendation
204 on the formalization of the informal economy.
4
World Bank Global Financial Inclusion Database (2017).
5
World Bank Global Financial Inclusion Database (2017).
Objectives & Methodology

In this qualitative research study, Women’s World institutions (MFIs), cooperatives, pawnshops, and
Banking, in partnership with the International fintechs) as well as international organizations and
Labour Organization (ILO), assessed the aware- thought leaders.
ness, use and acceptance of digital wage
payments among enterprises and workers in Following that, we conducted primary interviews
the Philippines. The resulting study includes an with 12 enterprises and 50 workers across the
analysis of the financial behaviors and attitudes garment, electronics, and retail sectors6, selected
of Filipino workers, the benefits and challenges because of their importance to the economy in
for enterprises and workers to move from cash terms of GDP contribution as well as the high rep-
to digital wage payments, and an assessment of resentation of women workers. While our sample
the effect of digital wage payments on the financial of enterprises favors small enterprises, it also
inclusion of women workers. includes diverse perspectives from medium and
large enterprises, represents geographic diver-
To build a foundational understanding of the sity7, and includes those that have digitized wage
market context, we engaged key players across payments as well as those who continue to pay
regulators (including BSP), business associations wages in cash. Our sample also included workers
(including the Employers Confederation of the across the spectrum of age (16 years - 50+ years),
Philippines (ECOP)), financial institutions (retail gender, marital status, and representation of the
banks, mobile network operators, microfinance economic sectors identified.

6
Retail sample included registered retail businesses such as supermarket and convenience store chains, but not smaller retail businesses
(e.g., sari-sari stores), many of who may be informal.
7
Factories and employees were all located in Region 4A (NCR), Mindanao, and Northern Philippines.
Market Context

The Philippines is in a prime position to benefit from a switch to digital wage

payments, with Filipino women, in particular, standing to gain from digitization.

The majority of wages are still paid in cash. In operations and customers to change their behav-
the Philippines, women’s economic participation ior to embrace digital payments. This was in large
remains low with only 49 percent of women in part due to the government pushing economic
the labor force compared to 75 percent of men. relief payments through digital accounts. In fact,
Moreover, 71 percent of women workers in the nearly 4 million new digital accounts were opened
Philippines continue to receive wages in cash during the pandemic11. Moreover, some commer-
versus only 29 percent via financial accounts or cial banks and other financial institutions (e.g.,
mobile phones as of 20178. rural banks and cooperatives) are innovating and
investing in digital technology to adapt and modify
The government has prioritized investment in their services and operations.
digital payments. The government has played a
critical role in driving digital payments9 with the
advancement of policies and initiatives to foster
interoperability among financial service provid-
ers (FSPs), regulate the license of digital banking
services, provide guidance on issuing the Basic “Pre-COVID, [we had] 50-60 per-
Deposit Accounts, digitize the core Government to cent of transactions executed
People (G2P) welfare payment schemes, create a
National ID system as well as promote digital wage through digital channels. Now,
payments through banks or e-money accounts10. we have 92 percent of transac-
All of these set the stage for a strong and more tions happen digitally or via
inclusive digital payments ecosystem.
ATM. What the pandemic has
COVID-19 has accelerated the adoption of done is changed behavior of
digital payments. COVID-19 and subsequent customers for the better–we’re
lockdowns have necessitated businesses
and financial service providers to adapt their asking ourselves now do we
need all the branches?”
– Retail Bank

8
World Bank Global Financial Inclusion Database (2017).
9
Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas. Digital Payments Transformation Roadmap 2021-2023.
https://www.bsp.gov.ph/Media_And_Research/Primers%20Faqs/Digital%20Payments%20Transformation%20Roadmap%20Report.pdf
10
https://www.marketscreener.com/news/latest/BSP-Supports-DOLE-Advisory-on-Wage-Payment-of-Workers-through-Transaction-Accounts--31104665/.
11
https://businessmirror.com.ph/2020/10/26/bsp-4-m-new-basic-deposit-accounts-opened-in-pandemic/.
Market Context

MSMEs are the key to economic recovery from

COVID-19. MSMEs (micro, small, and medium
enterprises) make up over 99 percent of the “One of the issues that the
roughly 1.4 million registered businesses in the pandemic has highlighted is
Philippines, contributing to 63 percent of employ-
the big informal sector in the
ment and 36 percent of the country’s GDP12. In
response to the COVID-19 crisis, a large number of Philippines. They fall through
Filipinos have started businesses. According to the the cracks when designing
Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), 916,163
support measures for employ-
new businesses were registered in 2020, a 44 per-
cent increase from the 637,567 total registrations ees and social amelioration
in 201913. However, the majority of MSMEs have for the poorest of the poor.
not yet adopted digital merchant payments.
[Digitization] could hasten
Of the sectors interviewed in this study, large and the formalization of the
medium enterprises tended to pay wages digi- informal sector.”
tally, whereas small enterprises continue to pay
– Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP)
wages in cash. While this study only explored
the three identified sectors, there is an emerging
opportunity to target small and micro enterprises
(comprising >99 percent of the MSME market)
across various sectors with low-cost, convenient
digital wage payment solutions. In addition, the
informal sector is likely to have enlarged under
the pandemic as well14.

12
https://cpbrd.congress.gov.ph/images/PDF%20Attachments/Facts%20in%20Figures/FF2020-19_MSMEs.pdf
13
Statement of DTI Secretary Ramon M. Lopez at DiskarTech’s Ipon Galing webinar on January 20, 2021, https://www.facebook.com/DiskarTech
videos/326140745315275/, referred to in the Inquirenet.com article of January 21 “Pandemic gives rise to new entrepreneurs”,
https://business.inquirer.net/316169/pandemic-gives-rise-to-new-entrepreneurs. These are figures as of December 2020 and 9 percent of them were
“renewals” of the registration.
14
While the Philippines has not adopted the definition of informal employment by the International Conference of Labour Statisticians (ICLS), ILO
estimates that the size of informal employment in the Philippines has been historically more than half of the total employment.
Market Context

The competitive landscape for payroll solu-

tions has evolved. The Philippines is a hub for
digital innovation in Southeast Asia, with over 115
fintechs operating in the market, increasing com- “Wage payments are not high
petition for low-cost financial solutions, particularly
for low-income segments of the population. value transactions. These are
low value transactions. With
Specifically, the market for payroll solutions is digital, now the cost is lower
quickly evolving. While banks have traditionally
dominated payroll accounts, they have focused on – 20 percent lower than the
serving large enterprises (>200 employees) who branch – so I’m now pre-
are early adopters of digital wage payments. Banks pared to serve lower wage
view payroll accounts as a loss leader, particu-
larly in serving the low-income segment, although earners because the cost of
digital banking is quickly reducing cost barriers. digital is lower.”
– Retail Bank
However, banks are operating in an increasingly
competitive landscape. Mobile network operators
and fintechs are rapidly entering the market with
lower cost payroll solutions with easier account
opening requirements, which could be effective in
reaching these untapped segments, particularly
small enterprises and the sizable informal sector

who have been late adopters of digital technol-

ogy. Some are also entering into partnerships
with banks to offer such solutions. At the same
time, MFIs and cooperatives, who have tradi-
“For the lower end – where tionally served the low-income segment, are also
quickly digitizing and exploring ways to adapt and
salary payments are smaller
remain relevant. Thus, financial service providers
and affinity to smartphones is are cooperating even as they compete for the
high – there’s a strong case to payroll market.

make salaries go to e-wallets.”

Therefore, the market is ripe in the Philippines
– Mobile Money to reach wage-earning women who still receive
salaries in cash with innovative digital payment
solutions to shore up their financial security and
prosperity as well as help them to recover and
build resilience in the wake of COVID-19.
Key Findings

Financial Attitudes and Behaviors

In the Philippines, women hold the bulk of “If ever there’s an emergency,
household responsibilities and ultimately make especially now during COVID,
budget decisions. Family members often hand
over their earnings to the female head of house-
if I didn’t have savings, I
hold. Women manage the finances and decide wouldn’t have any expend-
how to allocate budget resources across house- able money, especially when
hold needs and expenses.
people don’t have jobs right
Savings is perceived as important, but continues now. Even if the pay is small,
to be a challenge especially given COVID-19. one should set aside money,
While there is clear recognition of the importance
of savings to build resilience, savings behavior
even if it’s just PHP 1000.”
is not a consistent practice – workers face tight
– Female, 22, Electronics
budgets and must prioritize other expenses and
save whatever is left over, if any.

Those who do save prefer to save in cash at home.

Saving at home is convenient and easily acces-
sible, thus very few workers save through formal
financial services. However, a few enterprises have Perceptions & Use of Financial Institutions
supported workers to establish cooperatives to
foster formal savings. Banks are perceived as trustworthy, but inac-
cessible while digital service providers are
While most workers recognize the convenience perceived as accessible but untrustworthy.
of digital payments, the majority still pay for Workers who use financial services typically use
expenses in cash. Primary expenses such as MFIs, cooperatives, or pawnshops. While banks
rent, food, and other necessities (50-60 percent are seen as a trustworthy and secure place to
of budget), bills (15 percent), remittances (20-25 save, workers feel that banks are for the wealthy
percent), and any savings (0-15 percent) are paid and onerous requirements make the account
for in cash. However, use of mobile money or opening process difficult. Digital solutions are
bank transfers to pay bills, and pawnshops as a convenient and accessible, with easy onboard-
means to transfer money (remittances) is increas- ing processes, but inexperience and lack of trust
ing, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. hinders widespread adoption.
Key Findings

Use of financial services is limited to salary pay- Benefits and Challenges of Wage Digitization
ments and ATM withdrawals. Even those workers
who receive digital wages typically withdraw cash
For a small enterprise (10-99 employees), paying
from the ATM immediately. There is limited use
wages in cash requires 12-16 person-days more
of digital financial services for other transactions
per month in staff time than paying wages digitally
such as e-commerce, or uptake of other financial
through bank transfer. While many enterprises in
solutions such as loans, insurance, etc.
the Philippines have adopted biometric scanning
to efficiently track time and productivity, small
Lack of trust, lack of accessibility, and lack of
enterprises paying wages in cash still rely on
relevant use cases are the most common reasons
manual processes (e.g., time sheets) to calculate
for not using digital payments. Lack of trust in
wages. Therefore, manually calculating workers’
digital financial services, due to inexperience or
wages takes 2-3 people up to 4 days (8-12 per-
perception of fraud, is the key barrier to uptake
son-days) while digital processes cut this time to
in the Philippines. The second key barrier is the
1 person, 0.5 days. For digital wage payments,
nascent digital ecosystem in terms of merchant
once the salary is approved, the records are
payments, bill pays, and other daily transactions,
uploaded to the payroll, and wages are immedi-
which means that workers cannot access and
ately disbursed into a bank account (1 person,
conveniently use digital payments in their daily
0.5 days). Cash disbursement requires additional
lives and must resort to cash payments.
steps for the enterprise to coordinate with the
bank to get the cash (1 person-day) and organize
cash for disbursement (4 person-days). Thus,
disbursing cash wages takes 14-18 person-days
per month to complete whereas disbursing dig-
ital wages takes only 2 person days per month
(see Figure 1).

“[A bank] is a luxurious place

for them, and it seems like
there’s an invisible barrier
between them and the bank.
I actually told [employees] to
open a bank account before,
but they said no. They are
really scared.”
– Garment, Small, Cash
 Key Findings

Figure 1. Processing for Paying Cash vs. Digital Wages

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Set Report time Accounting / Records are Salary is paid to
Salary is
production Record time Record output and output to HR team uploaded to bank account
approved
targets accounting / verifies salary payroll bank for
HR team disbursement
1 person,
1 person, 0.5 day
1 day 2-3 people,
4 days

11 10 9 8 7
Cash Accounting Factory coordinates Accounting
distributed team counts and Pick up cash with bank team prepares
to workers organizes cash from bank to deliver cash cash vouchers
into envelopes (exact change) Digital
4 people, 1 person,
1 day 1 day Cash

Both

Thus, there is a potential business case for

digitizing wage payments, especially for small
enterprises. Assuming that managerial staff earns
PHP 28,000/month (USD $583) and cash wages
take 12-16 person-days more per month than
digital wages, the process of disbursing cash “There is a difference in the
wages costs the enterprise PHP 11,200-14,933 time range in receiving the
more per month (USD $233-$311) than digital
wage payments. While this research focused on
cash or the salaries because it’s
digital wage payments through bank accounts digital. Before, it took a little
(bank transfer), emerging innovative digital payroll bit of time to do that because
solutions can further reduce the time (to min-
utes) and cost burden. These models should be
of the processing.”
further studied to build the business case and – Electronics, Large, Digital
encourage adoption of digital wage payments
by smaller enterprises.
Key Findings

While both enterprises and workers recognize

the benefits of digital wages, certain challenges
remain. From the worker perspective, digital wage
payments are instantaneous, safer than cash, and “For me, I prefer receiving my
helpful in preventing overspending. However, there salary via ATM because I can
is still a heavy reliance and preference to with-
draw wages in cash from an ATM to conduct daily avoid overspending. When you
transactions given the lack of infrastructure to sup- have cash on hand, you tend to
port the widespread adoption of digital payments buy unnecessary things.”
(e.g., the ability to use for merchant payments).
Furthermore, issues with technology (e.g., ATM – Female, 26, Retail
outage) foster distrust and reluctance in adoption
of digital wage payments by workers.

From the enterprise perspective, digital wage pay-

“As HR, I really want to shift to the ments simplify accounting processes, increase
ATM card, but we couldn’t reach time and cost efficiencies, and provide more accu-
the bank requirement of the min- racy and transparency. However, burdensome
account opening and maintenance requirements
imum of PHP 200,000 credit limit and employee resistance to switching remain
monthly, and you need that to open drawbacks. In fact, some enterprises who were
a payroll.” paying digitally switched back to cash payments
during COVID-19 lockdowns because employees
– Garment, Small, Cash could not access ATMs (see Figure 2).

Figure 2. Summary of Benefits and Challenges of Digital Wage Payments

Benefits Challenges

- Safer than cash - Still need to transact in cash

Worker

- Prevents overspending - Lack of accessibility of ATMs

- Get wages instantly - Tech and ATM problems
- Ability to save more - Lack of trust

- Simplified and centralized accounting - Burdensome account maintenance requirements

Enterprise

- Time saving - Some switched back to cash due to COVID restrictions

- Increased accuracy - Risk of employees pawning ATM cards
Recommendations

To drive widespread adoption and usage of responsible digital wage payments,

there are three key areas to cultivate.

1. Enhance and strengthen the digital digital service providers, it will be important to
payments ecosystem. understand the business impact and potential cost
impact of these new models and demonstrate a
- Strengthen the digital payments infrastruc- business case to incentivize smaller enterprises to
ture. The government should build on its successes offer these solutions to workers.
to now ensure that digital payments are accepted
widely throughout the Philippines (e.g., merchant - Tap employers’ and workers’ organizations
payments, bill pays, etc.), particularly in rural areas to advocate for and promote digital wage pay-
(e.g., sari-sari stores). Furthermore, there is a need ments. Aggregator organizations have wide reach
to increase access points (e.g., through agent and should be leveraged to supplement existing
banking) throughout the Philippines, particularly in communication channels and amplify the benefits
the rural areas, to ensure everyone has easy and of digital wage payments across their membership
convenient access to affordable financial services. as well as provide support for their members to
transition to digital wage payments.
- Promote opening and usage of Basic Deposit
Accounts. While millions of new accounts have
opened during the pandemic, financial institutions
view these accounts as unprofitable unless it leads
to cross selling of additional services. Thus, these
accounts risk remaining dormant (simply used for
cash withdrawal). Further research to understand
the behavioral challenges to usage, combined with
access to and education on additional financial ser-
vices (e.g., loans, insurance etc.) will help deepen
financial inclusion for workers.

2. Promote adoption of innovative

digital wage payment solutions among
small enterprises.

- Continue to develop the business case

for payroll solutions for MSMEs. While many
enterprises are not yet using the innovative payroll
solutions launched by fintechs and other nonbank
Recommendations

3. Enable women to actively use financial leveraging key influencers and prominent national
services to deepen financial inclusion figures, to educate customers and incentiv-
ize financial service providers to offer low-cost
- Identify and promote peer-to-peer ambas- accounts with simple account opening and main-
sadors and leverage FSPs, enterprises, and tenance processes.
trade unions to build digital and financial
capabilities to enhance adoption by workers. - Embed relevant use cases to ensure cus-
Building trust and experience is critical to ensure tomer “stickiness” with digital payments. As
broad uptake and usage of digital financial services. the number of accounts opened increased in the
To do so, financial service providers can leverage wake of COVID-19, there is a need to ensure that
early adopters of mobile payments within enter- customers remain part of the financial system and
prises to educate their peers on how to use digital use their accounts effectively. Building relevant
payments as well as consumer protection through use cases such as merchant payments and remit-
learning-by-doing and step-by-step visual trainings. tances along with behavioral nudges will be critical
to ensure that the use of formal financial services
To promote use of these accounts more broadly, goes beyond ATM withdrawals and becomes a
awareness campaigns should also be considered, sustained habit.
Target Personas
In addition to the global recommendations, our research identified two segments of workers that will benefit
from digital wage payments to deepen financial inclusion. To successfully transition to digital wage payments,
enterprises will need tailored solutions to address the unique needs of each segment.

Demographics
Figure 3. Persona - “Digital Dolores” Age: 22-30 | Marital Status: Unmarried / recently married
Children: None | Household: Parents
Employment Experience

- Recently joined (1-3 years) Recommendations

- Motivation is primarily for • Build relevant use-cases such as money transfer
independence and source of income remittances, e-commerce, mobile top-ups, savings etc.

- Works for a medium to large sized factory • Communicate accessibility and convenience of digital
financial services
- Wages are paid in either cash / digitally • Focus on financial literacy and financial capabilities
such as budgeting, saving etc.

Household Budget / Expenses Attitude to Financial Services Pain Points

- Limited expenses – some rent, - More intentionality to save due to - Familiar with digital technology
limited food expenditures less household expenses but needs to be convinced of
- Feels the burden to contribute - Seeks financial advice from family benefits of mobile financial
to household expenses (e.g., members services / digital accounts
supporting younger siblings’ - Sees the bank as a place to save, - Negative experience (either
education) but not in charge of but saves mostly informally personal or anecdotal) results
financial decision making in the in lack of confidence in digital
household financial services

“Digital Dolores” is young, unmarried, and has With this segment, the relevant use cases to embed
migrated from her hometown for a job (see Figure with digital wage payments include money transfer
3). She typically works for a medium to large size (remittances) as she sends money to her family,
enterprise where her wages are paid digitally, and is mobile top-ups and e-commerce, as she spends
a recent employee (1-3 years). She feels the burden a lot of time on social media and shopping, and
to contribute to the household expenses (e.g., to savings to help support her family, prepare for
support younger siblings’ education) but she is not emergencies, and plan for her future. It is important
in charge of the financial decision-making in the to communicate to her the accessibility and con-
household. She is familiar with digital technology, venience of digital financial services and consumer
especially using e-commerce and other delivery protection mechanisms. Finally, she is familiar with
services during the pandemic, but is not yet con- digital technology but there is a need to enhance
vinced of the benefits of digital financial services. her digital financial capabilities, through leverag-
Therefore, she withdraws her salary from ATM/e- ing influencers that she may be familiar with, to
money cashing counters and still primarily transacts build her skills in budgeting, saving, using finan-
in cash. cial services, etc., and to ensure she recognizes
the benefits of financial services in managing her
financial health and building her financial resilience.
Target Personas

Figure 4. Persona - “Hesitant Honoria” Demographics

Age: 30-50 | Marital Status: Single / Married / Partnered
Children: 2-4 | Household: Spouse, children, and
sometimes elder parents

Employment Experience
Recommendations
- Have more years of experience
in her job at same factory • Build relevant use-cases such as savings, bill pays
(5-10+ years)
• Communicate that digital accounts are safe, reliable,
- Either referred to the job or as a result less time consuming means of saving
of having no other opportunity
• Focus on building digital and financial capabilities –
- Works for a smaller factory step-by-step training on how to conduct transactions
- Wages are paid mostly in cash

Household Budget / Expenses Attitude to Financial Services Pain Points

- Responsible for decisions in the - Prefers having cash-on-hand - Little-to-no experience using
household; Manages household mobile / digital financial services
- Sees the bank as a place for the rich
budget and expenses
- Saves only after all expenses are - Limited awareness of digital
paid transactions
- Main expenses include: rent,
utilities, food and necessities, - If she saves, she saves informally - Lack of trust trust in digital
remittances at home, in a piggy bank or a - Inability to save
hidden location - Time poor

“Hesitant Honoria” is older, married, and has With this segment, one should focus on embedding
children (see Figure 4). She has been with her relevant use cases such as bill pays and savings to
employer for many years and desires stability in digital wage payments that are most critical to her
her job. She typically works for a smaller enter- managing her household expenses. It is important
prise, where she receives cash wages. She is to communicate to her that digital accounts are
responsible for the financial decisions in the safe, reliable, and more efficient means of trans-
household. She prefers to have cash on hand acting and saving, as she does not have a lot of
and sees the bank as only a place for the rich – time. To build her trust and confidence, she needs
if she does save, she saves informally at home. “high-touch” support with detailed, step-by-step
She still uses a feature (analog) phone, and has guidance on how to conduct digital transactions.
little-to-no experience in using digital financial Thus, leveraging her peers within the enterprise
solutions and therefore distrusts such solutions. to introduce her to digital financial solutions (e.g.,
She is time poor, given her responsibilities at her inviting her to join a cooperative) will be particularly
job and at home, and feels she is unable to save important to ensure a positive experience with digi-
given the myriad of expenses she has to manage. tal transactions because a negative first experience
will impact her perception and further erode her
trust in such services.
Conclusion

In the Philippines, there is a two-way dynamic. The By doing so, workers will deepen their access
acceleration of digital payments is driving digital and engagement with digital financial services
wage payments, and in turn, digital wage payments thereby building their security and prosperity, and
are lowering the hurdle to adoption and usage of ultimately their resilience to recover from eco-
e-wallets and other digital solutions. Now is the time nomic shocks (e.g., from COVID-19). Enterprises
to capitalize on this momentum and drive digital will benefit from cost savings and time efficien-
wage payments to deepen the financial inclusion cies that come with transitioning to digital wage
of Filipino workers. payments, leading to increased productivity and
business growth.
Moving from cash-based to digital wage payments
is a win-win for both workers and small enterprises While this study focused on the three key economic
if such solutions are accompanied by a strong and sectors for women in the Philippines (garment, elec-
inclusive digital payment ecosystem, incentives for tronics, and retail), it has wider implications for other
small enterprises to adopt digital payroll solutions, sectors, particularly the informal sector, that could
and building digital financial capabilities to foster lead to greater formalization of the economy and
trust among workers. Ultimately, for digital wage deeper financial inclusion of Filipino workers.
payment solutions to be successful they must
be tailored to women workers to ensure digital
payments are accessible, affordable, and widely
adopted and used throughout the Philippines.