Monzo's Double Payday feature gives smaller prizes to lower salaried customers

Chief_of_Staffy

In the not-too-distant future, if you were to tell someone that banks once attracted custom by providing efficient, accessible service and treating customers with dignity and respect as opposed to a clown show of incentives, bonuses and lottery draws, they will simply not believe you.

flaneurs_lobster

ForgChief_of_Staffy said:

In the not-too-distant future, if you were to tell someone that banks once attracted custom by providing efficient, accessible service and treating customers with dignity and respect as opposed to a clown show of incentives, bonuses and lottery draws, they will simply not believe you.

Forget incentives, bonuses and lottery draws, the only reason that anyone joins Monzo Bank is for the salmon-pink debit card.

Section62

flaneurs_lobster said:

Section62 said:

I think there is a valid question whether using 'eligible salary' as the criteria brings protected characteristics into the equation.

Given that the "protected characteristics" are defined in law, which particular subset of Monzo's customers are being discriminated against illegally?

The questions are being asked about the nature of the prize distribution, not the selection of eligible entrants.

I'm not saying "Monzo's customers are being discriminated against illegally", only that there is a valid question about the approach.

I'd think it is fairly obvious that age, disability, and pregnancy & maternity are protected characteristics which may have some influence on whether someone is a salaried employee, along with how much they earn in a given month.  Also sex, although it is possible that is more indirect than the others.

But IANAL.  Whether there is any unlawful discrimination would depend on other factors.  And I'm not saying there is.

Kim_13

While the insistence on photo ID continues to raise no issues, I can't see that this does. Both could be argued to be indirect discrimination. There are aspects that are closer to direct discrimination (those who are retired or on maternity leave, impacting how much their eligible payment is - with age and pregnancy being protected characteristics.) Pensioners, along with the least well off, are most likely to be paid more than once in the period (state plus private as opposed to two jobs, with one being bigger than the other and which one qualifies introducing another element of chance into it.)

The cynic in me says that the draw won't be entirely random, and that a high earner won't win anyway. 

Poor taste in tough times? Definitely - and presumably anyone who has recently been made redundant is ineligible even if they are now on JSA. But poor taste isn't illegal, as surprised as I am that they didn't say salary subject to a maximum of £X, pegging it to average earnings.

j.p

I don't know about others, but I personally find Monzo's Tone of Voice policy extremely repellent.

Monzo tone of voice

Chief_of_Staffy

j.p said:

I don't know about others, but I personally find Monzo's Tone of Voice policy extremely repellent.

Monzo tone of voice

You mean to say you're not slavering at the mouth to bank with an institution that "transforms the mundane with moments of unexpected delight" and "avoids things like gendered or ableist language, cultural appropriation, or terms that have a history rooted in structural racism"? Next you'll be telling me you just want decent customer service and the ability to spend your own money.

danny13579

j.p said:

I don't know about others, but I personally find Monzo's Tone of Voice policy extremely repellent.

Monzo tone of voice

I wonder how long did it take and how much did they spend to come up with this drivel? Some people in Monzo clearly have way too much time on their hands.

I think this may be my favourite bit. 🫤

Screenager

Good on Monzo. Are people seriously moaning about how a bank gives free money away. If you don’t like it go to a bank that keeps its own money.

Rob5342

j.p said:

I don't know about others, but I personally find Monzo's Tone of Voice policy extremely repellent.

Monzo tone of voice

I don't think that's anything unique to Monzo, that sounds like the typical sort of nonsense that most companies waste their time coming up with. 

flaneurs_lobster

Rob5342 said:

j.p said:

I don't know about others, but I personally find Monzo's Tone of Voice policy extremely repellent.

Monzo tone of voice

I don't think that's anything unique to Monzo, that sounds like the typical sort of nonsense that most companies waste their time coming up with. 

Exactly, most companies of any size will have something similar. Used to be call Style Guides or Corporate Communications Manuals - this is just an update that reflects the internet-based quasi one-to-one nature of online comms. 

A lot of financial companies back in the day just used the Financial Times Style Guide but that was really just about print publications and written output.

I'd suggest that the formalised and regulated nature of online financial products makes the language used rather stilted and boring, and many people are glad of this! I'd go further, many would prefer if all financial institution's websites were identical, containing nothing but a list of products, the interest rates and links to the T&Cs.

If a company wants to go full-on in its public-facing comms then good luck to it, they'll have done the analysis that says "we want to target Gen-whatever and they get off on this stuff - ladle it on".