Employee Benefits Take Center Stage

We were thrilled to be recognized by the Portland Press Herald as a “Standout Employer” when it comes to using employee benefits to create a workplace where people want to be. This recognition aligns perfectly with our goal to offer competitive and innovative benefits that help attract new hires and make all our WEXers’ lives better – at work, at home and at play.

The focus of the recognition was our 6-week paid parental leave program, which was rolled out in the United States last year. Hilary Rapkin, our SVP and general counsel who oversees HR functions at WEX, joined a panel discussion hosted by the Press Herald on HR practices that make companies stand out. Below are excerpts from Hilary’s comments during that public forum.

What was the impetus for your paid parental leave benefit?

We were looking at the future of WEX and how we were going to attract the talent we need, as well as create the kind of work environment we want. Central to that is our CEO Melissa Smith’s idea of living your whole life, which is really part of the WEX culture. We want to support people in the office, as well as in what happens in the rest of your life, so you’re more successful when you’re at work.

Our research showed that 39% of companies in the tech and financial services industries offer paid parental leave, so we knew it was something to consider. Currently, only 17% of U.S. companies offer paid parental leave, so we’re definitely on the forefront of the changes that we hope will happen more broadly. Since we’re a global company, we already knew that parental benefits are generally a lot more generous outside of the U.S. Implementing a paid parental leave program would help us create a more level playing field for our U.S. employees and also make us more competitive with recruiting.

What were employee reactions when you rolled out your paid parental leave benefit?

People were overwhelmingly positive and really grateful they were being given six weeks of paid parental leave for both mothers and fathers. We rolled out the program in September 2016, and since we were already three-quarters of the way through the year, we choose to make it retroactive to January. There was a lot of gratitude from people who had already taken PTO or unpaid time off earlier in the year – we actually credited their PTO account or paid them for the time they took off unpaid.

What has been the most surprising thing about your parental leave program?

We’ve had about 65 people utilize the parental leave benefit, and it’s been equally divided between men and women. Sometimes there’s a stigma to men taking parental leave, and there shouldn’t be, so I’m really pleased that the people who are using it at WEX are both new moms and dads.

Tell us about your sabbatical program

We rolled out the pilot of our Expedition sabbatical program in April that’s available for people with six years or more of service at WEX. The philosophy behind it is to allow people to recharge and continue with personal development – whatever form that takes. We worked to make it balanced within the company, so the pilot recipients are people from different offices and lines of business. It’s another example of something we give WEXers to support their whole life and to do something meaningful for their development.

Do you find that engaged employees are happier?

We participated in the Great Place to Work survey this year because we wanted to be more data-driven in understanding and building employee satisfaction, and we got a lot of information on employee engagement. We were pleased by the outcome as we actually were certified as a Great Place to Work right out of the gate. As happy as we are with this result, we realize we still have work to do and there is a tremendous amount we can learn from the survey results. One important fact we learned from the survey is our focus on community involvement from a philanthropic perspective has had a huge impact on employee satisfaction. People enjoy and respect our involvement globally and that creates a lot of employee loyalty and engagement.

What’s next?

We’re looking at our global footprint and where we can level things from a benefits perspective. Internal development is also a hot topic, and we already have a pretty robust development program for our senior leaders and we want to roll that further into the organization. We want to be known as a learning organization that’s successful at growing our talent – and our CEO Melissa Smith is the best example of that. Also new this year is GPS, a rating system for performance appraisals that does away with the traditional written reviews. We’ll see how it works at end of the year, but the early reports are that people are having more meaningful, engaging conversations around their work and development goals.

Learn more about our paid parental leave and other employee benefits, WEX culture, and view current job postings at our career page.