These two YC Companies Want to Change Employee Benefits

Gillian O'Brien
Nov 5 · 7 min read
Cherry (W19) co-founder Gillian O’Brien presenting to newly on-boarded employees at Nylas.

Employers today are ultra-focused on providing competitive perks for their employees. Employee expectations have changed and compensation isn’t the sole motivation for an employee to stay with a company anymore. Instead, employees look for flexible working conditions, mental health support, inclusive environments, purposeful work, and perks that stand out.

With the unemployment rate being the lowest it’s been since ’69 — employers know they need to deliver on those expectations.

And though employees do have increasingly high standards, the expectations of employers should not go without mentioning. Modern companies — especially tech companies — expect a great deal from their teams, and it’s becoming increasingly hard for those teams to disconnect from work when the day is over.

Companies are beginning to see themselves as responsible for providing positive environments and lifestyles for their people, and reflecting the values of their employees in the values and actions of the company—also known as company culture.

Cherry, a new benefits platform, and Wren, a service that helps people fight climate change, are two recent Y Combinator startups that are working together to help companies rethink benefits.

Co-founders Gillian O’Brien (Cherry) and Ben Stanfield (Wren) are here to answer a few questions about their companies.

What is Cherry?

Gillian: Cherry is a flexible benefits platform that empowers employees to choose their own perks. Each person gets a virtual debit card and access to a Marketplace where they can create a custom benefits package to fit their individualized needs. The Cherry Market has everything from Uber & Lyft to local gyms to breast milk shipping and meditation apps like Headspace.

The Cherry card works just like a regular visa debit card, and can be added to mobile wallets for in-person purchases. HR administrators get to decide how open or closed they want the perks program to be. Should we offer our team total flexibility on Wellness, or should we restrict it to these 8 vendors?

No matter what they decide — the end result is a benefits platform with flexibility and inclusivity. HR is not deciding what “employee happiness” or “employee wellness” looks like. The employees are.

What is Wren? And how does it fit in with Cherry’s platform?

Ben: Wren is a monthly subscription to offset your carbon footprint. You calculate your annual carbon emissions, then fund projects that plant enough trees or protect enough forest to pull down those emissions.

It’s a new type of benefit and the easiest thing you can do about sustainability as a growing business

We’re building Wren because millions of people around the world want to get involved with fighting climate change but don’t know how. (Not convinced?)

We launched in June and have subscribers in 54 countries, and we’re turning our focus to support companies on their sustainability journey. Ten pilot companies are offsetting their employees’ personal emissions, and we’re excited to grow that number with Cherry!

How do Cherry & Wren work together?

Ben: It’s designed to be dead-simple: When an employee visits Wren with a referral link from Cherry, they’re greeted with a custom message:

The employee proceeds to enter information about their carbon footprint and learn about their impact on climate change. Next, they learn about different carbon reduction projects on our platform, like Community Tree Planting or Clean Cooking Fuel for Refugees, and choose one to support each month. All they have to do is pay with their Cherry card, and Wren offsets their carbon footprint. Each month new data, stories, and progress updates are sent from the project.

Product screenshots from Wren, including a dashboard that displays the details of your carbon footprint (left) and a project story page (right).

In addition to the impact the contributions have on the environment, we want Wren to be an educational experience too, where people can ask questions about their personal emissions, and what habits they can change to be more sustainable at home and work.

Why are Wren and Cherry partnering like this?

Gillian: Employee perks started out as free coffee and snacks — later evolving to include meals onsite. Historically, perks have been about keeping employees in the office. If lunch and dinner are provided by the company, staying an extra hour or two doesn’t sound so bad, right? Later, companies started to compete — who could pull off the most fun and crazy startup environment? Perks like beer on tap, video game rooms, and nap pods started to emerge.

But now, employers are more mindful of creating inclusive environments. Support for new parents, pet-friendly offices, egg freezing, adoption assistance, and mental health counseling are part of the current benefits stack. The end goal is no longer about keeping employees in the office or about one-upping competition. It’s about empowering your team to bring their best self to work, and contribute in a way that matters to them.

Ben: But a traditional benefits system isn’t the first place that comes to mind to improve your company’s brand or culture. That’s where Cherry comes in: you can pick and choose the benefits your employees actually want, and with Wren as Cherry’s newest offering, you can also take your first steps toward sustainability while getting everyone at your company involved.

Gillian: Exactly. And we’ve seen employees globally demand action from their employers on climate change. Gen Z especially is conscientious of their environmental impact, and offering Wren means that employers have an opportunity to make a difference.

Do employees want to choose their benefits?

Gillian: Employees want to work for companies with empathy. They want their individualized needs to be seen and heard. They also want to feel proud of the company brand. With Cherry/Wren, employees are being given the freedom to choose benefits that will make the most impact for them, individually. Then, knowing they can put their benefits dollars towards sustainability — knowing the company you work for values this — will have a huge influence on employee loyalty.

Why should a business owner be excited about this?

Gillian: The workforce is more diverse than ever before and the old way of providing benefits hasn’t caught up. One-off benefits leave people out and get low engagement rates from employees. Ultimately, the company wastes money on a perk that goes unused and unappreciated. It’s a missed opportunity for employers to really provide benefit to their employees and help them succeed.

With Cherry/Wren, employees are being given the freedom to choose benefits that will make the most impact for them, individually.

With flexibility and choice through Cherry, your company can take care of each individual employee and save money by ensuring that benefits budgets don’t go to waste.

Ben: Exactly–once an employee contributes through Wren, we handle all communication with them about the sustainability projects they’re supporting and continue to offer educational and practical knowledge about climate change. Our goal is to minimize overhead and admin time for our customers!

What size company does this make sense for?

Gillian: Sustainability, fertility, and childcare were once seen as benefits for later-stage companies, but now — any size company can set up these benefits with ease through Cherry’s simple Slack integration.

Later stage companies that currently find the personalization of perks impossible can use Cherry to support this initiative at scale. Our reporting tool will help benefits administrators learn what percentage of employees care about sustainability

Interesting in learning more?

Gillian & Ben are passionate about employee benefits — and think they should have true impact on employees, and on the planet. To get in touch with them, click the links below, or visit their websites: Cherry - Wren

https://www.linkedin.com/in/gillian-o-brien-13753610b/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/meetben/

Welcome to a place where words matter. On Medium, smart voices and original ideas take center stage - with no ads in sight. Watch
Follow all the topics you care about, and we’ll deliver the best stories for you to your homepage and inbox. Explore
Get unlimited access to the best stories on Medium — and support writers while you’re at it. Just $5/month. Upgrade