H&M Group supports digital wage payments
Today, the textile industry gathers at the Bangladesh Digital Wages Summit in Dhaka to promote a transition for textile factories to go from cash to digital wage payments to empower garment workers.
A large number of textile factories in Bangladesh are still paying their workers in cash. A transition towards digital wage payments could empower workers by improving their access to financial services, savings, credit and insurance, which would lead to additional economic opportunities and independence for garment workers.
H&M Group supports this transition, and all supplier factories H&M Group works with will have digital payment systems by 2020.
“We will continue to support industry collaboration for scaling digital wages in Bangladesh. The move from cash to digital payments will help to empower the garment workers, especially women who represents the majority of the workforce”.
Kiran Gokathoti, Sustainability Manager Bangladesh, H&M Group
A digitization will bring more people in Bangladesh into the formal economy. It would enable the textile workers to receive their salary and other payments through a personal bank account, mobile money or payment card solution, instead of cash-based systems. Both textile workers and employers will benefit from this transition; creating a faster, safer and more transparent wage payment. It also has the potential to empower women, who represent the majority of the garment workforce in Bangladesh, as digital payment systems will increase their possibility to control their own income, and in this way strengthen their economic independence.