A carefully crafted perks and benefits package has the ability to do much more than help companies win the talent war. Perks like paid parental leave send a powerful message to employees that they don’t need to choose between work or family. Professional development stipends are a tangible example of a company’s commitment to helping employees take the next step in their careers. Time off to volunteer shows that a business wants to make a difference in the world.
Passion should always be a job seeker’s North Star, but once that compass points to a company, its perks and benefits should be examined with a fine-toothed comb. We spoke with leaders at nine tech companies about their most notable perks — including what’s new for 2023 — and how they help employees thrive inside and outside of the office.
SoFi is a fintech company offering checking and savings accounts, mortgages, refinancing services and other financial products.
What are the most notable perks or employee benefits you offer your team? How are you investing in your employees in 2023 and beyond?
“We take a holistic approach to employee wellbeing,” said Chief People Officer Anna Avalos. “Some of the notable benefits that support this approach are: our low-to-no-cost medical plans, mental health services through a partnership with Modern Health, family planning benefits, caregiver leave and gym and wellness programs. Additionally, we contribute $200 per month toward their student loans and offer free financial classes. We listen and adapt our offerings using an annual employee engagement survey as well as quarterly pulse surveys, and the leadership team creates action plans to address the greatest areas of opportunity.
“A few notable things have come from this. For starters, we invest in regular training and development for managers and make it easy for employees to drive their careers and expand their skill sets by continuing to invest in training, resources and new initiatives, like our internal mobility program. With each pulse survey and piece of feedback we receive, we have had the opportunity to iterate on how we communicate with employees. For example, we have established our SoFi Leadership group made up of our organization’s top-tier leaders, launched new employee resource groups and enhanced our companywide all hands.”
“We take a holistic approach to employee wellbeing.”
SoFi’s perks at a glance:
“One of the perks I’m most proud of is our overall flexible approach to work,” Avalos said. “Our employees have the option to choose from in-office, hybrid or full-time remote. Plus, to help employees find work-life balance we offer ‘SoFridays’ where non-exempt employees start their weekends at 2 p.m.
“We offer a formal mentorship program called GROW for underrepresented minorities and groups, which pairs these future leaders with senior employees who provide real-time feedback, active coaching, key business knowledge and advocacy. Since inception, 43 percent of GROW participants have been promoted. Hourly early career operations professionals can take advantage of our ‘Explorer Program,’ where they’re placed on a new team for six months to explore cross-functional career opportunities, build new skills and expand their professional networks. Sixty percent of participants have moved into new full-time roles and two moved from support roles into associate manager positions within one year of completing the program.
“Finally there’s SoFi Gives, which provides all eligible employees with up to 16 hours of paid volunteer time within a calendar year. Since launching SoFi Gives in February 2022, employees have volunteered a total of 1,042 hours through remote and in-person activities.”
Grubhub is one of the pillars of the online food ordering industry, enabling people in more than 4,000 U.S. cities to order from more than 320,000 restaurants.
What are the most notable perks or employee benefits you offer your team? How are you investing in your employees in 2023 and beyond?
“Our benefits are designed to support employees and their families, build a more inclusive culture and promote overall health and wellbeing,” said Director of Benefits and HRIS Jen Banczak. “Providing time for new family members to grow and bond is essential, and we are proud to offer a number of family leave benefits, including up to 16 weeks of time off for employees who deliver a child and eight weeks of baby bonding time for both parents. We also have a returnship program that allows employees to return to work on a reduced schedule with full pay. Additionally, we have a working parent support group and send new parents a Grubhub gift card.
“In 2023, we plan to offer additional wellness and mental health resources and programs to support our employees and their families. We offer numerous perks outside of our traditional health, welfare and retirement benefits, including a weekly meal allowance, employee discount program, weekly virtual workout classes and a floating holiday that can be used for a variety of reasons, including volunteering or for employees to recharge their physical, mental and emotional health.”
“In 2023, we plan to offer additional wellness and mental health resources and programs to support our employees and their families.”
Companies in the manufacturing and distribution industries use Epicor’s enterprise resource planning software to streamline their operations, increase productivity and to forecast demand and adjust production accordingly.
What are the most notable perks or employee benefits you offer your team? How are you investing in your employees in 2023 and beyond?
“At Epicor, we know that an engaged workforce drives a strong culture and ultimately better business,” an Epicor team member told Built In. “Importantly, being engaged at work means different things to different employees. To that end, we provide flexibility in our benefits to best fit an employee’s lifestyle. We offer flexible healthcare coverage with personalized plan options, a hybrid work model, a flexible time-off policy and paid maternity and parental leave. We have also implemented a student loan repayment program to help employees pay down student loans quicker.
“All of these benefits contribute to the total investment we put into our employees, and for 2023 we’re excited to be increasing our 401(k) match, enhancing our award recognition program and increasing the frequency of our corporate bonus payment. Investing in our employees is a top priority to foster personal and professional growth.”
“Investing in our employees is a top priority to foster personal and professional growth.”
Epicor’s perks at a glance:
- Hybrid work
- Flexible time off
- Mental health services
- Paid maternity and parental leave
- Student loan debt payment program
Vista helps small business owners punch above their weight when it comes to design and marketing. Its portfolio of companies includes the graphic designer freelance platform 99designs, online print shop VistaPrint and the free design software VistaCreate.
What are the most notable perks or employee benefits you offer your team? How are you investing in your employees in 2023 and beyond?
“Our remote-first culture empowers team members to improve their work-life balance and wellbeing by using asynchronous working methodologies and non-linear working hours,” said VP of Technology Christina Wick. “In support of wellbeing, we offer time-off programs like ‘recharge Fridays,’ or half days, and for each Vista five-year anniversary team members can take a well earned multi-week sabbatical. Investing in and listening to our people is core to who we are, and the ‘what’ and ‘how’ of our work is guided by a set of ‘Vista Behaviors,’ one of which is to find, grow and support great people.
“We recognize outstanding talent and actively seek out opportunities to help them grow. This includes engineering mentorship opportunities and access to training to broaden and deepen their existing skill sets. We are also thoughtful about supporting diversity of all kinds, especially neurodiversity, and have created career tracks that support the career growth of all types of engineers.”
“We recognize outstanding talent and actively seek out opportunities to help them grow.”
Vista’s perks at a glance:
- Remote-first culture
- Competitive time-off programs
- Recognition programs
- Mentorship opportunities
- Learning and development opportunities
- Career growth
EPAM is a global consulting and design firm whose specialities include platform and product strategy, data strategy and analysis, and enterprise IoT.
What are the most notable perks or employee benefits you offer your team? How are you investing in your employees in 2023 and beyond?
“With more than 60,000 people in 50-plus countries worldwide, we value different working styles, opinions and experiences at EPAM,” said Senior Director of North American Talent Acquisition John Campagnino. “Working as one team allows us to deliver the most creative and cutting-edge solutions and ideas for our customers. Recognized as a best place to work across the world, we continually look for ways to add value for our employees, including continuous learning programs, performance recognition, purpose-driven work and much more.”
“We continually look for ways to add value for our employees, including continuous learning programs, performance recognition, purpose-driven work and much more.”
EPAM’s perks at a glance:
- Remote, hybrid and onsite working options
- Ample opportunities to do good in the community, like EPAM’s global eKids programs that encourage children to explore the world of software engineering with guidance from employees and coaches
- Tuition reimbursement
- 401(k) program
- Employee stock purchase program
- Employee relocation program
Staffing companies use Bullhorn’s software to manage all aspects of recruiting, from sourcing and searching to billing and payment. Along with centralization, the platform also automates time-consuming communications work and can match candidates to job openings.
What are the most notable perks or employee benefits you offer your team? How are you investing in your employees in 2023 and beyond?
“At Bullhorn customer support, we strive first and foremost to deliver an incredible customer experience and to set our employees up for long-term success,” said VP of Global Support Megan O’Donoghue. “We believe that both are inextricably linked as happy employees lead to happy customers! We encourage each employee to grow their career at Bullhorn by providing a diverse set of resources that support career exploration and guidance. This includes curated training courses for study and certifications, mentorship programs and internships within the business.
“As the business grows, we take time out to assess our tools and processes and build initiatives to remove friction from our workflows to make the team’s jobs easier. We work hard to get the team’s input and feedback, which could happen via skip-level meetings, one-on-ones, anonymous internal surveys or by involving individuals in large-scale improvement projects. This input is invaluable as it ensures that the leadership team keeps employees and customers top-of-mind while making decisions.”
“We encourage each employee to grow their career at Bullhorn by providing a diverse set of resources that support career exploration and guidance.”
Bullhorn's perks at a glance:
- Remote-first environment
- Competitive benefits
- Flexible work schedule
- Generous parental leave
- Unlimited vacation policy
- Paid volunteer days
Zayo is a communications infrastructure provider with a network stretching more than 130,000 miles between North America and Europe. Along with infrastructure, the company also offers managed edge services.
What are the most notable perks or employee benefits you offer your team? How are you investing in your employees in 2023 and beyond?
“Zayo is very excited to add two new critical employee benefits in 2023,” said Head of Global Payroll and Benefits Susan Tinger. “The first is a mental health program providing eight free coaching sessions and eight free therapy sessions, and the second is a benefits and wellbeing platform. Both are offered to all employees and dependents in all countries where we operate. These valuable resources are part of Zayo’s commitment to promoting and supporting inclusion and belonging.
“Zayo’s benefits strategy is tied to our purpose of ‘we connect what’s next,’ and our core values. This means we provide benefits programs that are innovative, forward-looking and relevant to current and future Zayoites. We offer customized benefits based on employee needs and listen to feedback throughout the year. Our comprehensive offerings are simple to use and personalized to the experiences of employees. In addition, each year we continue to invest in our employees’ growth and development. In 2023, we introduced a manager and leadership development journey to help people leaders evolve through their career.”
“We offer customized benefits based on employee needs and listen to feedback throughout the year.”
Zayo’s perks at a glance:
- Mental health program with eight free coaching and eight free therapy sessions
- Benefits and wellbeing platform with a tiered incentive plan
- Gympass offers free digital wellbeing apps and discounted gym memberships worldwide
- Teladoc expert medical opinion
- Collaborative events: Thirsty Thursdays, Meet and Eat, and Cake Day
Pennymac is a fast-growing fintech company that helps clients make informed decisions about buying or refinancing their homes
What are the most notable perks or employee benefits you offer your team? How are you investing in your employees in 2023 and beyond?
“One of the greatest advantages of working at Pennymac is the opportunity to be at the forefront of mortgage technology development,” said Manager of Production Business Technology Jason Jimeno. “Our custom, cutting-edge technology streamlines the mortgage lending process for customers and employees alike, making it more competitive and user-friendly across all origination channels. Our talented team of award-winning technologists are solution-focused, driven and highly motivated. We provide an exceptional work culture with continuing education, training and benefits, so our team is always set up for greatness.
“In 2023, we will continue to actively engage with our employees, peers and various divisions to enhance the success of Pennymac. Pennymac has expanded its mentor and mentorship program and provides various training programs ranging from lunch and learns to online courses. Together, we will continue to explore additional ways to improve efficiency and increase value for our customers. Additionally, Pennymac is dedicated to giving our team members opportunities to broaden their skill sets while offering practical learning experiences to drive career advancement.”
“We provide an exceptional work culture with continuing education, training and benefits, so our team is always set up for greatness.”
Pennymac’s perks at a glance:
- Generous holidays, vacation and sick time
- Paid parental leave
- Company matched 401(k)
- Business resource groups to celebrate diversity, inclusion and specialized interests
- Discount on your home loan
Disrupting the enterprise commerce software market, commercetools offers a leading platform for next-generation B2C and B2B commerce.
What are the most notable perks or employee benefits you offer your team? How are you investing in your employees in 2023 and beyond?
“We’re headquartered in Germany, but we have a flexible and hybrid workforce with employees spread across every continent –– so we’re pretty globally minded and have a wealth of cultures internally,” said Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Leader, Americas, Stephanie Forbes. “One of the perks and benefits that comes with that global mindset is the ability to work in a different country for three months. Another aspect of the global mindset that we’re cognizant of is the need to have an inclusive and equitable culture that supports growth in diversity. At commercetools, we have doubled down on investments in diversity, equity and inclusion. In 2023, we’re launching allyship training to better support our diverse communities, and investing more in our ERG programming and internal talent mobility training to help open up upskilling opportunities for our employees.”
“At commercetools, we have doubled down on investments in diversity, equity and inclusion.”
