At BenchSci, we know the health and well-being of our team members have a huge impact on their ability to both do their best work and live fulfilling lives. We’re constantly re-evaluating and updating our benefit offerings to ensure they reflect the needs of our rapidly growing team. After assessing recent feedback solicited from team members company-wide, we’ve come to the realization that there are no one-size-fits-all solutions in this regard. Everyone has their own unique situation, and team members should be able to personalize their benefits to best fit their lifestyle, wellness goals, and family needs. 

That’s why we’re excited to announce our new lifestyle spending account (LSA) program, launching on June 1st of this year. This program will provide funds intended to support the physical, financial, and emotional wellness of each BenchSci team member in ways that are truly meaningful to them.  

What can BenchSci’s lifestyle spending account be used for?

Our team told us they want physical, financial, and emotional wellness programs, with the most requested perks being gym memberships, internet discounts, time savers, and travel. We wanted to accommodate but also expand upon these ideas to develop flexible, competitive benefits while still remaining intentional with our offerings. As such, we've established three major expense categories which the LSA can be put toward—wellness, lifestyle, and productivity. We are not creating an exhaustive list of everything that can and cannot be expensed, as the entire point of the LSA is to provide as much freedom as possible for each team member to tailor their benefits to have the greatest positive impact on their singular life. Instead, we simply ask our team members to use their best judgment when determining how they should allocate their LSA funds. 

But to give an idea of what it can be used for, here are just a few examples:

Wellness:

• Gym membership
• Personal trainer
• Music classes
• Guided meditation
• Sporting equipment
• Running shoes
• Fitness trackers

Lifestyle:

• Internet bill
• Mobile phone bill
• Childcare
• Dog walking or pet sitting
• Espresso machine
• Tickets to events (e.g. movies, concerts, theater)
• Travel expenses
• Video games or gaming consoles

Productivity:

• Online courses (not job-related, we have a separate learning and development allowance to cover work-related courses)
• Keyboard, keyboard extensions, mouse
• Monitor (including desk or wall mount)
• Desk (including adjustable height)

Some of the items on this list may be surprising to some people, but to us, it all makes perfect sense. Everyone’s different, and different people thrive under different circumstances. If an espresso machine helps a team member feel more motivated to get a jump on work in the morning, or an Xbox helps them unwind after a long day so they can come back feeling refreshed the next, why shouldn’t we support that? In the end, we all benefit. 

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