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How Bright Health Fosters Employee Well-Being With Benepass’s Lifestyle Spending Account

“Benepass is a phenomenal partner. I love the fact that they are flexible to meet our needs and the platform is robust enough to deliver. As a people leader, if you have the vision and executive support for the program you want to build, Benepass is a true partner in bringing it to fruition. Everybody I've worked with at Benepass has been stellar." - Manessah Myrum, VP of People at Bright Health
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3000+

employees
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93%

engagement rate
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$250k

annual cost savings from LSA
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85%+

employee satisfaction rate

Key Results

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Improved employee well-being
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Benefits aligned with company mission
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Better employee experience
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Cost savings
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High scalability
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Increased flexibility
Benepass App "Explore Screen"

Background

Bright Health is on a mission to make healthcare simple, personal, and affordable. The Minneapolis-based company, founded in 2015, has seen meteoric growth over the past few years, quadrupling in size to over 3,000 employees in the last two years alone. 

The rapid growth, coupled with a transforming workplace environment due to the pandemic, ushered in new challenges for how to support employee well-being as the company scales. 

The challenge

“We used to have different vendors for our benefits spending accounts. They were clunky and hard to use. And we didn’t have a lifestyle spending account (LSA) at all,” said Manessah Myrum, VP of People at Bright Health, who joined the company in 2020. Manessah has led the initiative to redesign Bright Health’s employee benefits and wellness programs to align with the company’s mission. 

Manessah joined Bright Health at the height of the pandemic. Like many of her peers, she started in a completely remote capacity and quickly realized that Bright Health would need to expand on its benefits offerings to provide employees with the additional personal support they needed during this transformative time. Layering on additional perks like a gym membership or cell phone reimbursement through individual vendors with a distributed workforce would further complicate their benefits offering without providing flexibility or completely addressing wellness needs.

With their 3,000+ strong workforce now spanning across the U.S. and many employees working from home full or part-time, Bright Health sought a benefits partner who could offer both flexibility and scale to expand upon the benefits they currently provided and foster improved employee well-being. 

“I sought a partner that would allow us to provide both professional services like cell phone reimbursement and home office equipment but also put money directly in our employees’ pockets to address unique wellness needs during this challenging time,” Manessah explained. 

Why Benepass 

“I wanted to provide maximum flexibility to employees.” – Manessah Myrum, VP of People

Bright Health turned to Benepass to administer all its pre-tax benefits and launch a Lifestyle Spending Account, expanding Bright Health’s benefits program to meet both professional and wellness needs. “​​​​What stood out to me about Benepass is their adaptability and customization. A lot of the other LSA administrators weren’t willing to offer the same level of customization,” Manessah said. 

With Benepass, Manessah designed an innovative and unique benefits package that allowed the company to live its mission of fostering brighter, healthier lives, starting with their employees. What’s more, the unique benefits package offers a competitive edge for recruitment, retention and assimilating new employees from acquisitions. “We get such great feedback about it during the recruitment process and from current employees,” Manessah said. 

Powering the BrighterLife initiative

“With the BrighterLife program we provide the guardrails on how to use your LSA to invest in your wellbeing, but ultimately you choose how to spend the resources on what matters most to you and your family.” – Manessah Myrum, VP of People  

With the right tools in place from Benepass, Bright Health launched the BrighterLife employee well-being program, anchored by the company’s LSA. Bright Health employees are given a monthly allowance in their LSA to be used across six well-being categories of their choice including physical, mental, financial professional, environmental, and community. The flexibility empowers Bright Health employees to spend these dollars in ways that matter most to them and their family to support their holistic well-being. 

Examples of LSA-eligible items include acupuncture, gym subscriptions, child care, grocery delivery, laundry service, professional coaching, charitable donations, and so much more. 

With an employee engagement rate of 93%, the initiative is both widely used and has had a positive impact on overall employee well-being. 

“I’m so thankful to have the LSA. I get regular massages with this money and it’s truly enhanced my well-being,” explained one Bright Health employee. 

“I have student debt and I have a private loan that I have been utilizing the LSA for in order to make my monthly payments. I love having my LSA and can’t wait to finish paying my student debt to explore other ways to use my allowable amount,” said another employee. 

Growing benefits at no additional cost

With one central benefits administrator, Bright Health has been able to easily grow the BrighterLife initiative without having to source and onboard new vendors. In 2022, the program was expanded to include pet insurance, student debt repayment, vacations, carbon offset credits and charity donations. Because the additions only required an updated configuration from Benepass, Bright Health was able to add significant new benefit coverage at no additional cost. 

Improving the employee experience

With Benepass, all spending accounts including the LSA and pre-tax benefits are managed in one central online platform, improving the employee experience and reducing HR admin time. A seamless integration with Workday further simplifies usage for employees and administrators alike. 

Employees can access their spending account dollars across all their accounts using a physical Visa credit card or through Apple, Google, or Samsung Pay for contactless payment. Benepass mobile app for both iOS and Android lets employees check balances and recent transactions, track reimbursements if a personal card was used, and upload receipts when required. 

Looking to Benepass as a true partner, not just another vendor

Manessah had a vision for an innovative and unique benefits package that was easier to use for employees and addressed urgent well-being needs. With Benepass’ top-rated customer support team, she was able to design a completely customized program that aligned Bright Health’s benefits with its overall company mission. 

“I don't think I could recommend Benepass any higher than I do. I love the fact that it's just so flexible. As a people leader, if you have the vision and resources for the program you want to build, Benepass is a true partner in bringing it to fruition. Everybody that I've worked with at Benepass has been stellar,” Manessah said. 

Benepass’s team brought a combination of passion for HR and technological expertise to deliver a modern, better approach to benefits. Together with Benepass, Bright Health offers perks that employees love, are easy to use, and can scale as the company grows. 

Key results

“​​​​What stood out to me about Benepass is their adaptability and customization.” – Manessah Myrum, VP of People
  • Improved employee well-being: Bright Health has a 93% engagement rate for its LSA across six designated BrighterLife wellness categories.
  • Increased flexibility: Bright Health’s flexible benefits package is designed around the employee’s individual preferences and needs. 
  • Better employee experience: A single platform makes it easier for employees to take advantage of pre-tax and LSA benefits all in the same place. 
  • Cost savings: Bright Health has saved over $250K annually due to voluntary forfeiture. 
  • Benefits aligned with company mission: With Benepass, Bright Health built a tailored, innovative wellness benefits program aligned to their company mission.  
  • High scalability: Bright Health can easily add to its LSA, expand categories and scale to new regions with Benepass’s modern platform.