Customer case study: Rustic Countrysides

The challenge

As the general manager at Rustic Countrysides, Tom Hack understood that a tight labor market made attracting talented employees difficult. Rustic Countrysides already offered several benefits, like retirement and life insurance, but wanted to give itself an edge over its competitors by adding a unique perk to its benefits package. Because the organization had a small benefits budget and 22 employees, it needed a solution that wouldn’t break the bank and would be useful enough for its staff to participate in. 

Tom considered building a perk stipend as Rustic Countrysides’ new benefit and administering it in-house. But he knew managing this process would take a lot of work. He and his accounting team would be responsible for manually determining categories for reimbursement, collecting and reviewing receipts, and processing payments in addition to their existing tasks. 

They were willing to self-administer a benefit and take on this process to provide a perk their staff would love, but it would have been time-consuming and frustrating.

The solution

Luckily, the owner of Rustic Countrysides heard about PeopleKeep from a family member and shared insight about PeopleKeep’s benefits administration software with Tom, who immediately researched the company and its reviews to learn more. After speaking with a personalized benefits advisor and learning about PeopleKeep’s WorkPerks stipend administration software, Tom made the decision to sign up for WorkPerks.

With WorkPerks, Rustic Countrysides could offer employee stipends to cover the cost of various perks. Because the organization wanted to ensure all its employees could take advantage of their benefits in the way that would best fit their needs, it chose a diverse array of perk categories that employees could use their stipends on.

The perks Rustic Countrysides' employees can pay for with their WorkPerks stipends include:

• Wellness perks
  • Gym and studio memberships
  • Exercise classes
  • Chiropractor visits
  • Massage therapy
  • mental wellness
• Professional development and training
  • Books
  • Conferences
  • Courses
  • Certifications
  • Educational assistance
• Commuter and transportation benefits
  • Gas mileage
  • Vehicle maintenance
  • Vehicle repair
• Childcare and senior care expenses
• Family development perks
  • Music lessons
  • Martial Arts, dance, and gymnastics lessons
  • Family counseling
• Family life and disability insurance

Because employers pay out WorkPerks stipends on a reimbursement model, Rustic Countrysides didn’t have to pre-fund an account. It would only need to pay employees once they incurred an eligible perk expense. Once an employee submits an expense’s proof of purchase through PeopleKeep, the organization reviews the expense and approves the amount in the benefit administrator’s online portal and then reimburses the employee up to their allowance amount.

After leadership met to determine what allowance amount would work for their budget and their employees’ needs, they decided to offer each employee $200 per month. With this allowance, their staff could cover the cost of a wide variety of approved perks. The customization options that WorkPerks provided to Tom and the leaders of Rustic Countrysides enabled them to design a winning benefit.

The results

Now that Rustic Countrysides has completed the onboarding process, all full-time employees using WorkPerks are pleased with its intuitive platform. They find the user interface easy to use and the reimbursement process quick and seamless.

As the benefit administrator, Tom can manage the benefit in just two hours per month. He can log in to the dashboard before each payroll cycle to approve expenses and schedule reimbursements with just a few clicks of a button. Because he’s able to easily communicate with PeopleKeep’s customer success team, he is knowledgeable about the benefit and can help employees if they have questions or need help. 

Tom is thankful for PeopleKeep and its WorkPerks platform for helping him provide Rustic Countrysides’ employees with a versatile stipend benefit without the hassle of having to administer it in-house. The software streamlined the reimbursement process, and employees can choose the best way to make their benefit work for them. As the organization’s staff grows, Tom has the option to add even more perk categories to their WorkPerks benefit, strengthening the employee experience and keeping their compensation package attractive.