How (and Why) Legacy is Reinventing Workplace Benefits

Let’s talk about the least sexy topic in the world that still manages to affect every waking hour of your workday: how benefits and culture overlap. Because here’s the deal: these matter. They are about basic, fundamental respect for who you are, and helping you be the best version of you with people you love working with.

And so when we talk about “humanizing the path to parenthood” for our clients, it’s non-negotiable for me that Legacy’s choice of the word “humanize” extends far beyond our fertility products.

As the company’s founder, I’m asking clients to trust me with the pain and joy of their path to parenthood, and what kind of company would we be if we didn’t extend that same care and kindness to our own people?

One of my proudest accomplishments is reinventing what workplace benefits can be and long story short, it’s paid off. Because in the history of the company, we have had a near-100% retention rate, with, on average, less than 1 person per year choosng to leave.

Here is the story of Legacy benefits.

“Humanize” is not lip service

Legacy started with a simple question: “What would I be excited to receive working with a company?” Because of this clear focus, we offer a unique set of benefits designed to help others become the best versions of themselves. We’re selfish. If our people are the best versions of themselves, then we have the best people. Period.

Legacy offers excellent standard benefits. These may not shock and awe, but they will give anyone applying for a job at a startup assurance that life will be ok:

• 401k match of 2%
• Health benefits available immediately
• Unlimited PTO + mandatory time off

We also offer some benefits that are more Legacy-specific, like:

• Unlimited executive coaching for each employee
• 3 months paid leave for all new parents (whether birth parents or not)
• $2,500 charity matching per person per year
• 67% reimbursement for health and wellness or professional growth spending
• Unlimited access to Legacy products (masturbating on company time is OK here)

That’s my tl:dr version, but I want to dive deeper into how we made these decisions and why these choices matter.

Legacy’s benefits reflect our culture

Another benefit is the culture we offer, and before you protest that culture isn’t a benefit, let me share some of the ways that our culture, our benefits, and our values are aligned. Our company values are Customer-Centricity, Reliability, Kindness, Openness, and Winning. We tailored Legacy’s offers to the latter four.

Kindness

Legacy is a kind workplace — no cutthroat culture, no hustle & grind, no burning the midnight oil, and all of those cliches. We demonstrate this commitment to kindness by:

• Keeping boundaries around work hours: Not only do we require time off, but we do not hound employees on the weekend. We go out of our way to avoid messaging or calling. I like to use the “schedule” feature so messages hit their inbox during work hours. And although some folks like weekend time for creative work or deep thought, we’ve never had a meeting scheduled on a weekend.
• Not hiring assholes: Honestly, this is easier said than done. A lot of brilliant people are unkind. I can only ever remember one instance where one person was outright rude to another — and the person responsible is no longer with the company.
• Committing to emotional check-ins: Look, it’s easy to jump straight to work topics every time. But a team is a bundle of people, and people are a bundle of emotions. If you can’t understand how your team feels, you’ll never understand how to motivate and inspire them. So we have frequent emotional check-ins; and I promise, they’re never cringy or awkward; they’re just real talks about how you’re feeling and what your team can do to support.

Openness

Legacy understands that employees are individuals (hence our executive coaching commitment). We also know that everyone’s life journey is different. We want to embrace what our employees bring to the table — their talents, experiences, strengths, and opinions. We demonstrate this with:

• Expanded parental leave: Many workplaces offer maternity leave, but Legacy extends that to all parents, including adoptive ones. This is especially important as a company in the fertility space. We do not abandon our team parents once the baby arrives.
• Executive coaching. Every Legacy employee gets free, unlimited executive coaching as many times a month as you need with a coach that serves no one else in the company. Most people meet with their coach 1–2 times per month.

Reliability

Legacy doesn’t just offer benefits. We also consider how those benefits might impact our employees’ lives for the better, tailoring implementation to ensure that all team members have access in a way that maximizes positive outcomes. They aren’t called “benefits” for nothing. We show this consideration by:

• Treating you like an adult. Whenever possible, we don’t have unnecessary bureaucracy or policies in place (very much inspired by Netflix’s No Rules Rules). We expect you to act in the best interest of the company, and keep it at that. No cumbersome expense policies, no fixed budgets — just do what you need. We hired you because we trust you.
• Implementing nudges: Sometimes it’s the little things to help support the team. For example, our 401k retirement plan automatically sets up a 6% contribution. Employees can go in and change these settings, but they rarely do. Combined with our 2% match, Legacy team members are saving 8% for their future through a tax-advantaged vehicle. My background is in behavioural economics — this is known as sticky defaults.

Winning

There is always a reason to celebrate. And while we embrace failure as a learning process, we never want our people to fail because of something our company could have prevented. When we win, society must win.

• 67% reimbursement for health and wellness spending: Startups can be stressful (and do we have some war stories already). Legacy’s employees should never have to choose between paying bills and funding what helps raise their quality of life. From new mattresses to gym memberships, we trust our employees to know what’s best for their health and we stand behind their decision.
• 75% reimbursement for professional development: I mean, we hired them all executive coaches, so why wouldn’t we back their other professional growth needs? Books, classes, retreats, you name it. When our people win in their own lives, Legacy reaps the benefit.

We’ve created a workplace that puts people first

And a healthier startup culture that we hope will someday be a model for other companies.

Since our company was founded 4 years ago, we are at near-0% voluntary turnover, and I could not be more proud of that number. Legacy’s employees come in with their gifts, and they continue to gift us as they grow into their roles here.

Could we save money as a startup by nixing benefits? Of course. We could also pay lip service to benefits by creating a culture that discourages their use, but we don’t. Ultimately, if we want to serve our customers with the kindness and respect they deserve during a sometimes challenging journey, that company culture has to originate within our own ranks.

Legacy is a company working to humanize the path to parenthood, but we’re also committed to humanizing the workplace and the startup world.

Note: Updated Dec 2023