About schuh
schuh is one of the UK's leading footwear retailers, employing a predominantly young, hourly-paid workforce across its stores and support functions.
As employee expectations evolved and financial pressures increased, schuh wanted to provide meaningful support that aligned with its values, strengthened employee wellbeing, and helped attract and retain talent.
At Schuh, the philosophy is "Same but different." By embracing diversity and promoting inclusivity, the company empowers its people to be fiercely themselves, creating a culture built around six core values: Authentic. Inclusive. Collaborative. Brave. Passionate. Unique.
This commitment to employee wellbeing shaped the type of partner Schuh was looking for, with financial wellbeing needing to feel like a genuine extension of its people strategy rather than simply another employee benefit.
Why did schuh need Stream?
schuh's workforce is largely made up of employees aged 16-25, many of whom expect greater flexibility around how they manage their finances.
Traditional 4 weekly pay cycles were increasingly out of step with employee expectations, while financial wellbeing support available elsewhere in the market often focused solely on pay advances rather than broader financial health.
The business also wanted to remove operational burdens from payroll and store teams while supporting recruitment, retention and colleague wellbeing.
"People don't want to wait monthly to be paid and they want access to their money quicker. Actually, if you know they can have access to that money tomorrow, it allows us to assign those shifts quicker."
What challenges did Stream solve?
The team wanted much more than earned wage access, they wanted a solution that aligned with the company's wellbeing values and provided employees with a complete financial wellbeing toolkit, including savings, education, budgeting and responsible credit.
Rather than offering a standalone earned wage access product, Schuh wanted a partner that could genuinely support employee wellbeing while reinforcing its values of being authentic, inclusive, collaborative, brave, passionate and unique.
The simplicity of the experience was also critical, allowing employees to access support without creating additional payroll administration. Equally important was finding a partner that shared schuh's commitment to employee wellbeing and could support long-term engagement, rather than simply providing another employee benefit.
"The Financial wellbeing offering for us stands out as the biggest selling piece as opposed to the access to streaming your own pay, and aligns well with our core values. Our quarterly loyalty figures will testify to that!”
"Other providers just don't have the same offering yet and the main factor for us is being able to tie this benefit back to our core values specifically around our Do More Good campaign and the offering for wellbeing!"
What measurable outcomes were achieved?
What was the business impact?
Since launching Stream, schuh has seen exceptional employee adoption and engagement. The platform has become a recognised part of the employee experience, helping colleagues manage everyday finances while supporting broader wellbeing goals.
Managers have also seen operational benefits, including fewer financial concerns being escalated through traditional channels and greater visibility of worked hours.
“Every quarter we share Stream stats internally and are often welcomed with something new and refreshing that's coming soon. Quite often someone discovers a feature they didn't know about, which only enhances the benefit further”
- Stream helps identify payroll issues before payday
- Employees use Stream to review worked hours and accrued earnings before payday.
- Payroll discrepancies are identified and resolved earlier.
- Fewer pay-related issues surface after payroll has been processed.
- Increased employee confidence in pay accuracy.
"People don't actually use Dayforce for that. They use Stream because they can see what they've worked, they know if it's accurate. If it's not accurate, they're quick to go back because they can't stream what they thought….It allows us to do business quicker.”
- Reducing reliance on staff loans and pay advances
- Employees can access earned wages when needed without relying on internal advance requests.
- Greater access to responsible financial support through Stream - including £85,000 to £95,000 in potential interest saved
- Significant reduction in administrative requests for financial assistance.
"We've definitely seen a reduction in pay advances and staff loans. I'd estimate it's reduced by at least 85%."
- Supporting shift fulfilment and workforce flexibility
- Employees are more willing to pick up additional shifts.
- Managers can fill rota gaps more quickly.
- Faster access to earnings creates an immediate incentive for overtime and extra shifts.
"Stream has allowed us to offer shifts with the peace of mind our teams can access their money sooner and use this as a tool for checking the accuracy of their timesheets.
This helps store teams focus on serving customers more efficiently, knowing colleagues can pick up shifts promptly and be paid for extra hours if/when they want"
- Supporting recruitment and attracting talent
- Stream is featured throughout the employee journey, from recruitment to onboarding and beyond.
- Provides a tangible wellbeing benefit that differentiates schuh in a competitive labour market.
- Helps attract talent who may otherwise face cashflow challenges when starting a new role.
"Having the opportunity to offer a benefit like Stream in our talent process specifically in our screening/onboarding process and beyond, allows us to stand out within the Retail market and encourage that loyalty from our teams
If you want to be seen as a retailer that's hitting the right spot and ticking that wellbeing piece, Stream does that. It's already miles in front."
