Client Background
Picsart is a privately held software developer whose self-named product is the #1 creative platform and social editing app in today’s creator economy. Picsart serves more than 150 million active creators who present, remix, and share nearly 1 billion images a month, using one of the largest open-source collections of content worldwide, featuring stickers, free-to-edit photos, and more.
Founded in 2012 and headquartered in San Francisco, Picsart provides a progressive, diversity-forward environment to professionals in cities around the world, including Los Angeles, Miami, Beijing, Tokyo, Berlin and Yerevan, Armenia. Picsart is proud to count Sequoia Capital, Softbank, DCM Ventures, Insight Venture Partners, and Siguler Guff & Company among its backers.
Overview
With its diverse range of employees and future-oriented strategy, Picsart is dedicated to remaining at the cutting edge of employee benefits. This is especially important for a company of their size, as larger employers are more capable of affording broader and more robust benefits packages. Attracting and retaining the best personnel means competing with the Apples and Googles of the world, not just in salary and prestige, but in ways to make each employee’s life easier.
As Director of People Operations at Picsart, Elizabeth Maddick knows from experience that some essential benefits are just easier for big firms to provide. “Five years ago I began my journey to start a family when I didn’t have anything like ARC Fertility,” she says, “and I had to come off my insurance to go on my husband’s, who worked at a very large company. Larger companies obviously have an advantage when it comes to insurance.”
Maddick and her team understood that fertility benefits are more than just a moral imperative for companies. Important quality of life programs can help create a better, more stable workforce. People are more likely to show long-term devotion to companies that anticipate their needs, including the need to safely and affordably have a family. “Satisfied employees lead to retention, and help you compete against companies with richer benefits,” Maddick says.
Problem
Director Maddick understood at once the challenges she would face offering fertility assistance to employees. Cost was the first major hurdle, as many of the options were prohibitive, and even broaching the subject of fertility can be daunting in a meeting about costs and dividends: “Presenting costs to financial people requires showing value and where the money is going,” says Maddick.
The most obvious step was to offer fertility benefits through a medical insurance package, but options for a company like Picsart were limited. “We knew we could have it through our insurance,” says Maddick, “but unfortunately because we’re not a large employer in the state, some carriers don’t even offer it, and when they do it’s only for a medical reason, which excludes so many people from that benefit.” With Picsart wanting to include single and LGBTQ+ employees in their family building benefits, such restrictions were disqualifying.
Throughout the search for a fitting fertility option, the People Operations team was also “competing with other benefits. Companies are providing gym memberships, wellness classes, such an array of things that are important to each person,” says Maddick. Fertility treatments remained a hard sell. “It’s not a topic people are willing to talk about openly and often. If you haven’t been through it, you don’t understand how hard it can be. I never thought about it before I realized I needed it.”
Solution
It was Maddick’s own personal experience that inspired her to lead the team to the right solution. “I had my own personal fertility journey, so I have an agenda when it comes to benefits from the employee side. When I found out about ARC Fertility and did my research, it was naturally something that I wanted to look at. I’d been through it; I wanted to help people.”
The ARC Fertility Employer Program differs from traditional insurance programs. Rather than requiring a constant fee, ARC only charges employers when employees use their services, and only for the services rendered. The company as a whole is not expected to bear the costs of individuals’ family goals. This flexible approach meant Picsart would only pay what it needed to help its employees, rather than committing to a higher insurance premium.
“When I was researching the different solutions to present to the board and our finance team, ARC was definitely the best solution for a company of our size. It gave us the flexibility of being able to help where we can.” says Maddick.
Results
ARC Fertility solved all the problems Picsart feared when offering family planning assistance. Picsart began offering the ARC Fertility Employer Program in 2019 and, according to Maddick, “We’ve been with ARC for a couple of years now and we’ve been delighted.”
Unlike a major insurer, ARC Fertility does not set limitations on who can pursue family building benefits; this rewards diversity and creates the sort of inclusivity Maddick was looking for. “Showing care for all our employees is always a positive thing,” Maddick says. Furthermore, the ease of access encouraged employees to seek out the benefits and not feel ashamed when discussing their use. In turn, this created less anxiety among workers looking to start a family. “When it comes to family building and helping people through this process, there’s no way to overstate all these stresses and how it can overflow into your work life.”
Ultimately, the ARC Fertility Employer Program proved to be the right choice for Picsart, offering a robust plan with flexible pricing. Maddick stressed that companies worried about the cost should do whatever they can to provide these benefits in the best form possible. When it comes to fertility benefits, she says, “if you aren’t in a position to go all out, even a little help improves the process.”
