Habtoor Leighton is a United Arab Emirates-based construction company whose notable projects include the construction of the iconic Burj Al Arab, the world’s tallest hotel, Dubai International Airport, and the Jumeirah Beach Hotel in Dubai. Many of its workers are immigrants and as such do not have a local bank account and therefore no means of transferring wages back to the family without the use of expensive money transfer companies. In addition, there is a new government mandate which stipulates workers be paid in electronic form as opposed to cash or paper cheque, creating operational challenges for Habtoor in terms of equipping and paying its workforce efficiently. Mint’s solution is to manage and distribute operationally efficient prepaid payroll cards to Al Habtoor’s 35,000 workers across their group of companies. Each division comprises 3,000-5,000 workers. Workers are issued a card with their wages automatically loaded on the first day of a pay period, providing instant payday access to Al Habtoor’s employees. This Mint managed card program also includes state of the art edge mobile phone based money remittance tools accessible from an employee’s mobile phone, ATM access and a host of loyalty benefits attached to the payroll card, such as reduced mobile top-up rates from du Mobile are planned. Employees can transfer money using one’s own mobile phone, reducing costs that are incurred from expensive money transfer companies, and avoid long waits to cash cheques. It is safer than cash or check payments and operationally more efficient in terms of cost and time saving. Additionally should a card be lost or stolen, it is simpler to replace than a lost or stolen cheque or cash envelope because it can be cancelled and reissued like a traditional credit card. The program is also a cost and time saver to Habtoor Leighton as it eliminates printing and labour cost for payroll distribution and is more efficient in terms of fraud prevention and dealing with lost or stolen cheques.
