This ethnography studies workplace Rotating Savings and Credit Associations (ROSCAs), which are associations of participants who agree to make regular contributions to a fund that participants then distribute, in whole or in part, to each contributor in rotation. Workplace ROSCAs are a departure from traditional immigrant community and kinship-based models. This study explores how workplace ROSCAs, which receive little mention in the financial inclusion literature, are similar to and different from traditional ROSCAs; how participants interact with other parts of the consumer financial services industry; and who uses workplace ROSCAs to build assets.

Five themes emerged related to workplace ROSCA users, uses, benefits, differences, and participants. Seven findings derived from the themes. First, workplace ROSCAs are more widely used and established than indicated in the literature. Second, immigrants brought both workplace and traditional ROSCAs to the United States after their successful use in their country of origin. Third, workplace ROSCA users are diverse and have established credit. This finding contradicts the three established assumptions in the literature (that the poor, women, and the credit constrained are the predominant ROSCA users). Fourth, workplace and traditional ROSCAs are used for similar purposes, predominately asset building. Fifth, workplace ROSCA users want their short-term savings to be out of reach and shielded from both temptations and kinship networks. Sixth, participants perceived workplace ROSCAs as tools for financial security that are slightly less risky and dependent on trust than traditional ROSCAs. Seventh, workplace ROSCA users view themselves as fully banked, while policy makers classify them as underbanked. This research provides insight into workplace ROSCAs and recommends policy recognition of this established alternative savings product and asset-building tool.