Medical schemes
Statutory + private
Statutory schemes (NHIF/SHIF, NHIS, CNSS, etc.) pre-configured. Private medical insurance per country with employer/employee split, dependents covered, optional direct settlement.
SACCO · staff loans · medical · pension — all in payroll
Every Benefit.
Every Loan.
On Every Payslip.
SACCO deductions, staff loans with auto-repayment, medical schemes, pension funds, dependents, beneficiaries — every benefit lands on the right line of every payslip, every month, in every country. No spreadsheet keeping the score.
SACCO-ready
Loan auto-repay
Statutory pension built in
Payslip · May 2026
Mary K. · Nairobi
Gross salaryKES 200,000
Statutory
PAYE−42,300
NSSF−2,160
SHIF−5,500
Affordable Housing−3,000
Benefits & loans
Stima SACCO−5,000
Staff loan (12/24)−6,250
Medical (private)−1,800
Pension (voluntary)−4,000
Net pay
KES 129,990
Sound familiar?
Benefits administration, the way it usually goes.
A spreadsheet for every benefit
One sheet for SACCO. Another for medical. Another for staff loans. The HR officer copies the totals into payroll each month, and one is always wrong.
SACCO returns done by hand
At month-end, finance compiles a SACCO schedule, sends it to the bank, then to the SACCO. Three people involved, three places it can break.
Loan repayments tracked in a notebook
You disbursed a loan in March. The repayment schedule lives in someone's desk drawer. Did this month's deduction happen? Honestly, no one is sure.
Dependents only known when someone gets sick
Medical scheme calls asking for the spouse's ID. HR scrambles. Tax relief on dependents was missed for 14 employees last year.
Six benefit categories
Every benefit your employees actually have.
Statutory and voluntary, employer-funded and employee-deducted, single and multi-scheme — modelled the way African employees actually use them.
Pension & provident
Mandatory + voluntary tiers
NSSF (Kenya/Uganda/Tanzania), RSA pension (Nigeria), GEPF (South Africa), CNSS (Morocco) — mandatory tiers built in. Voluntary top-ups per employee, employer match supported.
SACCO & savings
Multi-membership per employee
Each employee can be a member of multiple SACCOs (e.g. company SACCO + teacher's SACCO). Share contributions and loan repayments deducted on schedule and remitted in bulk.
Staff loans
Full lifecycle
Application, approval chain, disbursement, amortisation schedule (straight-line or reducing balance), automatic monthly deduction. Top-ups and early repayment supported.
Salary advances
Interest-free or low-interest
Quick advances against next payroll. Caps configurable per employee or band. Auto-deducted on the next cycle. No formal loan paperwork.
Insurance & gratuity
Life, group, end-of-service
Group life cover, group personal accident, end-of-service gratuity calculated per country labour rules. Beneficiary records with nominated percentages.
Staff loan lifecycle
From application to last instalment — without a paper file.
Most companies disburse staff loans in good faith and lose track. SmartHR runs the full lifecycle, with audit trail and a never-miss-a-repayment guarantee.
1
Apply
Mobile, web, or USSD. Amount, purpose, repayment period. Eligibility checked against rules (tenure, debt-to-salary, existing loans).
2
Approve
Line manager + finance/HR. Each step audit-logged with timestamp, IP, device. Configurable per amount or per role.
3
Schedule
Amortisation schedule generated — straight-line, reducing-balance, or custom. Shown to employee and finance before disbursement.
4
Auto-repay
Each instalment deducted from the next payroll. Top-ups, early repayment, and write-offs supported. Audit-clean to the last cent.
Active loan · LN-2026-0142
Mary K. · School fees loan
Principal
KES 150,000
Term
24 months
Per month
KES 6,250
Outstanding
KES 75,000
Progress · 12 of 24 instalments
50%
Amortisation schedule visible to employee
Early repayment supported
Top-up application from same record
SACCO spotlight
SACCOs are how Africa actually saves. We treat them properly.
Most HR systems built outside East Africa treat SACCOs as "another deduction line". Our employees are usually members of two or three SACCOs at once — company SACCO, professional SACCO, harambee SACCO. SmartHR Africa was built knowing that.
- Multi-SACCO membership per employee.
- Share contributions, deposits, and loan repayments deducted on schedule.
- Bulk monthly schedule generated in standard SACCO file format.
- Direct remittance to SACCO bank accounts via the bulk-payment file.
- SACCO loan deductions ring-fenced — never reduced below contractual amount.
SACCO memberships
Mary K. · 3 active
Stima SACCO
Company
Member since 2019
Monthly
KES 5,000
Shares
KES 142,000
Mwalimu National
Professional
Member since 2021
Monthly
KES 3,000
Shares
KES 78,000
Harambee SACCO
Voluntary
Member since 2024
Monthly
KES 1,500
Shares
KES 14,500
Total monthly deduction
KES 9,500
Family on file
Mary K.
James K.
Spouse · DOB 1985-04-12
Faith K.
Daughter · DOB 2014-09-03
Brian K.
Son · DOB 2017-12-22
Margaret K.
Mother · DOB 1958-06-08
Dependents & beneficiaries
Know who's on the family card before the family calls.
Tax authorities want dependents for relief. Medical insurers want dependents for coverage. Life insurance pays out to beneficiaries. End-of-service gratuity goes to nominated beneficiaries. SmartHR keeps it all in one record, accessed in the right place at the right time.
- Multiple dependents per employee with relationships and DOBs.
- Tax-relief flag where a dependent grants statutory relief.
- Medical scheme coverage applied per dependent.
- Beneficiary nomination percentages summing to 100%.
- Employee can self-update via the mobile app, with HR approval where required.
Common questions about benefits & loans
Don't see yours? Ask the team →
Yes. Each employee can be a member of one or more SACCOs (e.g. teacher's SACCO, harambee SACCO, company-specific SACCO). Monthly deductions, share contributions, and loan repayments all push from payroll into the SACCO's bank account or system. Bulk schedules and standard SACCO file formats supported.
Full loan lifecycle: application (mobile/web), approval chain, disbursement, repayment schedule generation (straight-line or reducing-balance), and automatic deduction every payroll. Top-ups, early repayment, and write-offs all supported. Outstanding balances, principal vs interest, and amortisation schedules visible to both employee and finance.
Configurable as a separate product from formal loans. Typically interest-free, capped at a percentage of net salary, automatically deducted from the next payroll. Useful for emergency requests without the formal loan paperwork.
Statutory schemes (NHIF/SHIF in Kenya, NHIS in Nigeria, etc.) are pre-configured with current rates. Private medical insurance schemes can be added per country, with employer/employee split, dependents covered, and direct settlement via the insurer where supported.
Each country's statutory pension (NSSF in Kenya/Uganda/Tanzania, RSA-funded pension in Nigeria, GEPF in South Africa) is pre-configured. Mandatory tiers calculated automatically; voluntary top-ups configurable per employee. Employer and employee portions split correctly on each payslip.
Yes. Each employee can have multiple dependents on file (spouse, children, others) with relationships, dates of birth, and tax-relief status. Tax authorities that grant per-dependent relief (Kenya before 2023, others currently) have it applied automatically.
Beneficiary records are maintained per employee with percentages, relationships, and contact details. End-of-service payouts (gratuity, leave-balance encashment, life insurance) follow the employee's nominated percentages with audit trail.
Yes. The benefits dashboard shows total contributions and deductions per benefit per month, broken down by employer share vs employee share, with country and cost-centre splits. Direct CSV/journal export to QuickBooks, Sage, Xero, or NetSuite.
Stop running benefits in spreadsheets.
Tell us your benefit mix — SACCOs, medical schemes, staff loans, voluntary pension. We'll show you a demo with your real benefits stack, in your countries, in one cycle.