Coda Achieves Engagement Rates of Over 90% With Flexible Benefits

Background

Coda is a collaborative, all-in-one platform that brings teams and tools together by consolidating docs, spreadsheets, and applications all in one place. This powerful product enables teams to build workflows to suit their specific needs and drive workplace efficiency. Their ability to bring that mission to life is through the talent of 200+ Codans, who are geographically distributed across the U.S. 

At Coda, employee engagement is not just a buzzword but a crucial component for sustained success. To support and fuel employee engagement, Coda prioritizes employees’ overall health and wellbeing through affordable health plans, flexible leave policies, an array of perks, and comprehensive lifestyle benefits. To further improve their benefits program, the company sought a new partner to help employees access their benefits in a hassle-free way.

Tackling the administrative burden of reimbursements 

“Employees had to wait a long period before seeing their reimbursements get approved. Many frequently asked how much they had left in their budgets for the month. It was really painful for employees and admin alike. We believe that perks should feel like perks, not an extra inconvenience to manage in your day-to-day.” - Lucy Yip, People Operations Lead

Before joining Benepass, Coda’s benefits administration process was challenging for both admins and employees. Employees were required to submit a reimbursement request for every transaction, “which is incredibly tedious if you think about all the various transactions happening for work, travel, or office spend,” said Lucy Yip, People Operations Lead. 

As the company grew, the process became more burdensome, prompting the team to look for an alternative solution. “We tried to commit to approving items within a week, but as we grew from 100 to 200 employees, the expense reimbursements volume also grew alongside that,” Lucy said. 

Consolidating multiple programs onto one card-first platform 

“The physical card has been a game-changer.” - Lucy Yip, People Operations Lead

The Coda team opted for a card-first approach to reduce administrative burden and improve the employee experience. Employees received Benepass Visa cards to use anywhere in the world, making it easier to spend their benefits and eliminating the time-consuming reimbursement process. 

With Benepass, the team consolidated their various non-taxable and taxable benefits programs onto a single platform that allows both admins and employees to manage benefits and track spending. 

Codans now use the platform to access the following benefits:

• Work From Home Equipment: A non-taxable benefit covering office equipment and furnishings, office supplies, and tech accessories 
• Professional Development: A non-taxable benefit covering conferences, online courses, coaching, educational materials, ChatGPT subscriptions, and conference travel 
• Lifestyle: A taxable stipend covering entertainment, fitness, home services, mental health, pet care, spa and beauty, nutrition, groceries, and food

“I love that the product can offer consolidation and have different categorizations. When it comes to having to account for everything on the backend, it’s really important that spend and taxes are being captured accurately in the right spaces for our general ledger and all the accounting intricacies,” Lucy said. 

By implementing a card-first approach, the team opened up more time for strategic work. “The amount of hours that were put into reviewing and approving is now being spent on work that provides a lot more value, whether that’s building programs to scale or having more high-touch interaction with employees,” Lucy said. 

Equipping Codans with more flexibility and choice 

“We want to empower employees to prioritize what’s important to them in their own lives.” - Lucy Yip, People Operations Lead

While Coda’s WFH and professional development benefits were existing programs that they transitioned onto Benepass, their lifestyle benefit is a new benefit offered to employees. Previously, Codans received $13 a day for a lunch stipend and $50 a month for fitness. However, the team realized that rolling these benefits into a lifestyle spending account and expanding its flexibility would better serve employees. 

“We questioned why we were being so precise with the amount of spend in specific spaces?” Lucy said. “How do we enable them to make decisions that are suited to their lifestyles? We wanted to remove that restrictive element and allow them to be more autonomous in having more ownership over their life.”

With many of their employees traveling frequently, it was important for Coda to partner with a vendor capable of delivering benefits globally. Employees can spend their benefits anywhere Visa is accepted, and the platform automatically converts funds into an employee’s local currency.

“We love that there’s a global component to this because a lot of our Codans like to travel,” Lucy said. “When they find themselves abroad, currency conversion is often a big pain point.”

The increase in flexibility has led to a considerable boost in engagement. Coda’s benefits programs now receive an average monthly engagement rate of 88%, with some months seeing engagement rates as high as 93%. 

Leveraging an accessible, data-rich platform

“Another thing I love is being able to run reports on Benepass where the user interface is super simple and easy to navigate,” - Lucy Yip, People Operations Lead

Coda’s admin team has enjoyed a relatively hands-free process since implementing Benepass. “Normally we get a ton of expense questions and it’s been nice to just trust and rely on your team to facilitate that and answer them kindly and comprehensively,” Lucy said. 

The team also leverages the platform’s self-service capabilities to run reports and gain insights that help them improve their programs. Utilization data is particularly useful for the team to learn more about their employees’ needs. 

“Data tells a story. It tells us how our employees are using their money and if they’re not utilizing the programs, it sparks that question of why,” Lucy said. “Benepass reports drill down into sub-categories which is helpful to understand areas of higher or lower spend. Granular data allows HR teams to analyze behavior and, where appropriate, nudge behavior in a different direction.”

Looking forward, the team is eager to continue optimizing their programs to help their employees feel supported and take care of their wellbeing. “We fully believe that by taking care of our employees, they can show up happier and engaged,” Lucy said. 

Key results 

“If I were to share one thing with other People leaders, I’d say Benepass is a hassle-free platform that enables administrative efficiency, maximizes employee satisfaction, and flexes with you as you grow with their high-touch partnership.” - Lucy Yip, People Operations Lead

• Reduced administrative burden: Benepass’s card-first approach and robust customer support allow the admin team to save time they previously spent processing reimbursements and answering employee questions. 
• Enhanced employee experience: Codans can now spend their benefits without dipping into their own pockets and waiting for reimbursement, creating a more equitable and satisfactory user experience.
• Increased flexibility and engagement: Employees have more freedom to spend their benefits on items and services that match their unique wants and needs, leading to higher employee satisfaction and monthly engagement rates of over 90%. 
• Equitable benefits for a mobile workforce: The Benepass card works anywhere Visa is accepted, making it easier for Coda to provide equitable benefits to employees no matter where they work from or travel to.