How Viz.ai cut their leave administration workload in half

Viz.ai is a software company revolutionizing patient care coordination—and creating better health outcomes. Viz.ai’s AI-powered intelligent care coordination solution streamlines clinical workflows and transforms patient care in over 1,600 hospitals and health systems in the United States and Europe.

The technology can analyze medical imaging data—everything from CT scans to EKGs—to provide real-time insights and automatic assessments that accelerate diagnosis and treatment. Viz.ai’s suite of solutions covers five essential areas: neurology, radiology, vascular, cardio, and trauma.

The company’s mission is to increase access to life-saving treatments—and they’re making good on their promise. With Viz.ai, the time from CTA completion to team notification is 73% faster, giving healthcare providers more time and information to act on critical diagnosis and treatment decisions.

Creating a culture of kindness

Viz.ai’s workplace is built on a culture of kindness. The company has amassed a plethora of impressive awards, including Best Company for Outlook, Culture, Career Growth, and Diversity from Comparably in 2022 and 2023. They also made Forbes’ 2023 list of America’s Best Startup Employers and recently won a top spot in Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies list of 2024.

“Our employee care philosophy is all about inclusivity,” said Liana Rodriguez, Director of Global People Operations at Viz.ai. “We want to make sure we offer a range of well-being benefits—whether that’s for physical, emotional, or family well-being—for everyone.”

Viz.ai’s employee benefits are designed to support employees at different life stages with different lifestyle needs. The company’s core benefits include comprehensive healthcare coverage, flexible remote work, a 401(k) plan, generous vacation time, monthly Wellness Days, professional development stipends, tech allowance, and paid parental leave.

“We aim for diversity and options in what we offer,” Rodriguez said.

“And we’re always looking for new and better ways to take care of our employees and support them in and out of work,” added Monica Cruz-Beethe, Sr. Manager, People Operations at Viz.ai.

One way Viz.ai improved their already stellar employee experience was by hiring Sparrow for full-service leave management.

The challenge: Managing leave for employees in 36 different states

Viz.ai wanted to give their employees a stress-free leave experience, but the administrative work of leave management took a toll on their energy and resources.

“Our former PEO handled some of the tactical leave work, but we were mostly using spreadsheets,” said Cruz-Beethe. “The process was very manual. Everything was at least 20 steps.”

One of the people team’s biggest sources of frustrations was compliance. With employees scattered across 36 states, Viz.ai had to review complex leave laws, study individual state filing processes, track dozens of deadlines, and juggle seemingly endless follow-ups and paperwork.

“We’d have to deal with so many different state processes, then gather invoices from employees to top off their payments,” Rodriguez explained. “So if our employees got a payment from the state, it was another manual task on our to-do list, making sure we collected the information and sent it to our PEO.”

Payroll was another massive administrative burden. “A lot of our time was spent on payroll, figuring out which claims were coming from where and adjusting calculations,” Cruz-Beethe said.

When Viz.ai decided to leave their PEO, they knew they needed a better way to manage leaves internally. “I wanted to explore leave vendors, but there were already a couple I knew I didn’t like from previous work experiences,” said Rodriguez.

However, when they were recommended to Sparrow, Rodriguez and her team felt ready to commit. “When it comes to advising and educating employees about leave, we knew that was an area we wanted to elevate,” Cruz-Beethe explained. They were excited about Sparrow’s dual offering of administrative services and employee support.

“In the end, Sparrow really aligned with our vision of how the leave management process should be handled,” added Rodriguez.

The solution: Partner with Sparrow to streamline backend work and support employees

When partnering with Sparrow, Viz.ai had two main goals: reduce their administrative load and raise the bar for their employee experience. “Sparrow is an extension of our team,” said Cruz-Beethe. “They have the expertise we were missing.”

With Sparrow, Viz.ai’s people team doesn’t have to worry about staying up to date on state laws, reviewing paperwork, or managing deadlines—Sparrow does it all.

“Sparrow took the guesswork out of the leave process; they were there to guide us through state-specific laws and explain how everything intertwined with our company policies,” explained Cruz-Beethe. “They’ve been really helpful in educating our managers and admin on the process and what to expect.”

“Working with Sparrow gives my team more peace of mind that we’re not missing anything,” added Rodriguez.

Not only that, but the time and cost savings is critical. “We definitely reduced our time spent on leave management by over 50%,” said Rodriguez.

Along with handling paperwork and compliance, Sparrow also streamlines payroll for Viz.ai, running custom reports and automating payroll calculations.

“Without Sparrow, I’d probably have to hire a full-time payroll and benefits specialist just to handle leaves, especially because we have a higher volume of leaves now that our employee population has shifted into a new life stage and many are parents,” Rodriguez explained. Wage replacement also helps Viz.ai’s bottom line; in 2023, Sparrow recouped roughly $180,000 in wage costs for the company.

Throughout the leave process, Sparrow Leave Specialists keep Viz.ai’s people team in the loop with regular emails and automatic dashboard updates. Rodriguez said she really appreciates the Sparrow dashboard, which shows every employee’s leave status and type in one place.

“The user interface is very simple and accessible,” she explained. “If I need information for the leave plan or payroll plan, I can see it right away and I don’t have to ask questions.”

With Sparrow’s hands-on support and leave expertise, Rodriguez and her team can direct their attention toward other complicated aspects of their day-to-day work, like taxes.

“If we didn’t have Sparrow, I truly cannot imagine the workload we’d have between processing payroll, managing benefits, managing all the state taxes and payroll taxes, and family medical leave. That would put a lot of burden on us,” she said. “And now we can use that time to focus on other projects and ongoing work.”

Guiding Viz.ai employees through leave

Taking over admin work isn’t all Sparrow does for Viz.ai—Sparrow Leave Specialists also work one on one with Viz.ai employees taking leave.

“We love Sparrow’s high-touch service,” said Cruz-Beethe. “When we get feedback from our employees about leave, one of the key themes is that they feel taken care of throughout the process. They’re being educated on what to expect and they’re being notified of any issues. There’s a direct point of contact for them with Sparrow.”

That’s because one Sparrow Leave Specialist works directly with each Viz.ai employee taking leave, from the time they announce their leave to after they’ve returned to work. Sparrow Leave Specialists take the time to explain the process of filing for benefits and break down exactly what each employee will be receiving from the state and from Viz.ai.

“We wanted to make sure employees were well aware of their leave options and could have the most pain-free experience possible,” Cruz-Beethe explained.

One way Viz.ai minimizes employee stress and increases peace of mind is by having Sparrow fill out and file all the paperwork for employees. “The fact that Sparrow can act on behalf of our employees when it comes to filing the leaves is huge,” she added.

“Our employees are very sophisticated, but even still, understanding state benefits can be confusing,” Rodriguez explained.

“Some employees don’t even know their state offers paid family leave, or they don’t understand how it works with top-off payments. So having Sparrow help employees navigate everything and educate them means they don’t have to worry about it at all.”

Viz.ai appreciates Sparrow’s attentive, personalized customer service at every stage. “I love Sparrow’s responsiveness and the fact that you only have one person you have to talk to,” said Cruz-Beethe. “It makes a huge difference in our workflow and peace of mind to have direct contact and not have to be transferred around.”

Rodriguez agreed. “In a world full of ticketing and chatbots, Sparrow is making sure you have that powerful human to human interaction,” she said.

“When our employees are on leave dealing with exciting or stressful new changes, they want someone to talk to that’s not a robot, someone who understands leave nuances and also cares. And Sparrow delivers that high-touch service.”

Protect your people team’s time and your employees’ peace of mind with Sparrow. Explore our offerings or book a demo today.