A Bermudian-registered company has launched its blockchain-based employee goal-management and compensation app to what it said is an initial user base of more than 150,000 US employees from numerous partner companies.

blockWRK’s launch has been accelerated in the wake of a rapid increase in employees working remotely as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, the company said.

With many employees now used to working from home, and employers facing critical worker shortages, employers are seeking new tools to manage decentralised workforces and maintain employee engagement and productivity.

blockWRK said it is designed to provide companies with new management tools using blockchain technologies to set company, group and individual level goals, with daily or weekly incentives and compensation.

George Mylonakis, a former HR executive who is blockWRK CEO, said: "Before the invention of blockchain smart contracts, setting and managing different daily goals for each employee in your company was impossible.

"For the first time, blockWRK lets employers manage the day-to-day activities that accumulate to make or break a company. And managers – for the first time – can see a dashboard of real-time performance, by employee, so they truly know who their top performers are."

The company said the application allows HR administrators and managers to set companywide, departmentwide or individual role level daily and weekly goals.

It added that employees who achieve their goals are instantly paid in WRK tokens, an innovative ERC-20 cryptocurrency, which can be converted to US dollars on the blockWRK branded Visa debit card, or deposited directly to the employee's bank account.

The company said the system is meant to replace antiquated yearly review, bonus and raise cycles that are often too infrequent to effectively incentivise employees.

It said studies have shown that small, frequent rewards directly tied to specific goals increase intrinsic motivation in employees more than larger, less frequent rewards do.

Frequent recognition improves worker productivity and engagement while making employees feel their work is appreciated. The system, which was in development before Covid-19, is now uniquely positioned to assist companies grappling with newly decentralised workforces, the company said.

The company said blockWRK also consolidates many other employee benefits into a single app, simplifying benefits management for HR administrators and providing sought-after benefits to employees of small and mid-sized companies.

Employees are provided $5 flat-fee paycheque advances, the company said, adding that other benefits include free mental health counselling on demand and free access to telemedicine services.

blockWRK said it has already partnered with a number of US employers and several firms that provide payroll processing and HR services covering more than 150,000 employees that will make up blockWRK's initial user base by the end of its pilot phase.

The company said the blockWRK application has been integrated with one of the top payroll processing software providers, and a comprehensive marketing partnership programme with that firm will expand the initial user base across their workforce of more than two million US employees.

blockWRK said it has attracted more than $2 million in private investor funds from US-based HR companies and strategic partner firms.

The application is currently at the beta stage of development with the launch of the full version scheduled for mid-Q3 of 2021, the company said.

Blockwrk Ltd, an exempted company limited by shares, was registered in Bermuda on January 28, 2019.