How Webflow uses Compt to offer more flexible, personalized, and meaningful perks to everyone (without increasing administrative burden)
When it comes to remarkable company culture, Webflow is frequently the example of choice. Almost daily, you’ll see their team members tweeting or sharing how much they love working at Webflow, and how it has been a transformative experience for them.
Webflow is deserving of these accolades too — Webflow is known far and wide as an excellent place for people to learn, grow, and become more. Part of their secret? Their people-focused mission (they have two missions, one for their company and one for the world), is to empower their team to lead fulfilling and impactful lives. With a mission like this, it’s easy to see how their place is one where people aspire to work.
Their other secret? They aren’t afraid to challenge the status quo, and reimagine what an unbelievable culture is. Instead of company values, they focus on behaviors “because values mean nothing without action.” They’re boldly transparent, putting the percentages around their team’s race and ethnicity, gender expression, primary working location front and center. And they also were some of the first to implement stipends for their people to offer more inclusive, meaningful perks that everyone can use.
Speaking of walking the walk of being people-first by leveraging stipends, we recently sat down with their brilliant VP of People, Heather Doshay, to discuss how their perk stipend programs are impacting their people and their business.
So let’s start from the beginning. What were you doing before you connected with Compt? What problem were you trying to solve?
At Webflow, we have two missions: one for us and one for the world. We want to enable everyone to create for the web and empower our team to lead fulfilling and impactful lives while we do it.
We weren’t fully living up to our second mission because it was hard to manage. When I first joined Webflow, it was maybe the first week when people were putting meetings on my calendar because they were hoping that my being hired would lead to wellness programs. One person who approached me wanted to focus on fitness, and the other one wanted mental health. Our People Team was extremely lean at the time, and we couldn’t invest in both… that is until we realized we could with Compt!
The notion of having “equal” perks and benefits at distributed companies with partially onsite teams is real. Startup offices generally get lunch, snacks, and other in-office perks that people who work from their homes don’t get. Some companies solve this by giving access to coworking desks in their local towns, but for many people, they work remotely because they have to work from home for one reason or another, so the benefit isn’t really appreciated. When we first brought on Compt, we were about 70% remote, and I was trying to find a way to make people feel equally invested in, no matter their location when the same perks simply don’t work for all.
Where did you first hear about Compt? How did you perceive us in comparison with other ways of solving your problem?
PeopleTech Partners!
When I first heard the pitch, I was impressed. I trusted that it was founded by a CFO who truly knew both the practical needs we have on the ground and the compliance around perks and spending. The other ways of solving this were way more manual and prone to error. We had never attempted health and wellness perks or remote office perks monthly because it was too hard to track. We did a professional development dollars perk that was going unused by some or way over by others because no one knew how much they had left.
How have you seen Compt utilized at Webflow?
The team broke out in applause the day we announced Compt. People were tweeting up a storm and saying things like “I’ll never leave this company now”! It was such a happy moment to see how much joy we brought the team that day through this simple addition.
With Compt and the intentional design of categories, we see higher utilization rates than almost any other benefit or perk (maybe second to health insurance and commuter stipends).
There are plenty of perks previous companies have offered, and they aren’t cheap (!), but they go underutilized because they only matter to a segment of the population.
While it’s expected that people will always take issue with any perks program offered, people mostly express gratitude that we offer such a flexible perks platform. People on the team have said explicitly that this really shows them how invested (literally) Webflow is in our mission to help the team live fulfilling lives. Hearing the stories of people who can afford things they typically did not budget for but were important to their health and wellness gives me a great feeling knowing we are truly helping our team, and specifically in the way that works best for their individual needs.
Has introducing Compt had an impact on Webflow as a company?
I would say Compt took our benefits and perks portion of our total compensation plan and brought it to the next level.
We had competitive benefits before, but now we have a unique edge in recruiting and retaining amazing humans for our company. I think this improved with Compt because it allowed us to offer perks that actually matter to all of our various people based on their unique life circumstances with a real dollar value.
Is there anything else you’d like to share about your experience with Compt?
Webflow prioritizes the development of a diverse team, and diverse people have diverse needs. With Compt, we were able to offer flexible perks to our team members that align with our company values. Most importantly, it made it easier for both the team members and my people team to administer than simply letting people expense.
Webflow’s notable program metrics:
- 100% team account activation
- 92% team engagement so far in 2020
- Perk programs offered: Continued Education, Health Perk, Remote Office, Anniversary Gift, Onboarding Equipment, Temporary SF-Remote perks
- A few personalized perks purchased by their team: Weighted blanket, Headspace subscription, French lessons, design principles course, Skillshare subscription, pomodoro timer, noise-cancelling headphones, and blue light blocking glasses.
Read more about the benefits Webflow gained with Compt from the full case study.