How Wish saves more than $500,000 a year on leave management

Wish is an industry-leading mobile shopping app that connects millions of consumers to thousands of merchants around the world. With competitive prices, curated product feeds, and a massive variety of items, Wish provides a discovery-based shopping experience that’s both affordable and entertaining.

For consumers, the Wish app is designed to delight and inspire, satisfying shopping needs for everything from clothes and baby gear to electronics and household tools. For merchants, Wish provides a convenient mobile platform to run their ecommerce business and take advantage of a growing global market.

Founded in 2010 in San Francisco, Wish now has 24 million users and 170,000 merchants in over 60 different countries. Behind the platform’s success are over 850 employees around the globe. To support their employees during major life transitions, Wish uses Sparrow for employee leave management.

Helping employees become their best selves

As an innovative company shaping the ever-changing mobile shopping landscape, Wish takes pride in hiring passionate, creative employees who march to their own drumbeat. Wish’s company culture embraces learning, celebrates individuality, and encourages employees to take risks.

To help employees show up as their best selves, the company offers a variety of benefits and perks, including flexible time off, remote work, weekly virtual events and activities, fitness stipends, Wish Cash for fun personal shopping, and comprehensive healthcare for employees and their families.

Wish employees can also take advantage of a slew of career development resources. “Professional development is very important to us, so we offer stipends for employees to sign up for courses, attend workshops, and continue their education,” said Pauline Lam, People Operations Manager at Wish.

One of Wish’s most important benefits is the generous paid leave they provide to new parents. To manage the employee leave process from start to finish, Wish relies on Sparrow.

The challenge: Managing leaves with a spreadsheet system

Before partnering with Sparrow, Wish’s HROps team managed leaves manually. “We used a spreadsheet, and the process was very time-consuming,” Lam said.

Not only did the HR team have to review eligibility benefits and state filing processes for a variety of different states, but they also had to fill out paperwork and follow up with state agencies for dozens of employees taking leave. Calculating payroll for employees on leave just added to the administrative load.

As more employees began to go on leave, Wish realized they needed a leave management solution that would provide better support all around. “We decided to partner with Sparrow to give employees a seamless leave experience, and reduce the workload for HR Ops and Payroll,” explained Lam.

The solution: Outsourcing leave to Sparrow

When Wish partnered with Sparrow to take over leave administration, their leave process improved from every angle.

“By using Sparrow, not only have we saved HR Ops valuable time—we’ve also mitigated compliance risks,” Lam said. That’s because Sparrow Leave Specialists have an in-depth understanding of state leave laws and filing procedures.

“Sparrow provides our employees with accurate and up-to-date details on current laws and different leaves available,” said Lam, “which is especially important with our company being based out of California, where leave laws are notoriously complex.”

From there, Sparrow fills out paperwork on behalf of Wish’s HROps team and Wish employees taking leave, keeps track of key deadlines, and follows up with state agency representatives and insurance providers to get information and approval documents. At every step, Sparrow Leave Specialists send Wish’s HROps team updates and notices.

“Working with Sparrow has given our internal team total reassurance that each leave is being executed correctly and fairly,” Lam said. The huge cost savings is just a bonus; in 2023, Sparrow saved Wish more than $600,000 by utilizing wage replacement for employees on leave.

Sparrow also streamlines the payroll component of leave administration by setting up automated payroll calculations and generating custom payroll reports. “We are so grateful for this partnership with Sparrow. Sparrow minimizes the manual calculations related to LOA pay and assists with employee inquiries of pay breakdown associated with their leave benefits,” said Jessica Sharma, Manager, Global Payroll.

For Wish, however, the best part about working with Sparrow is the hands-on care Sparrow Leave Specialists give Wish employees. “We are a remote working environment where we have employees all over the United States, and there are so many complex parts of going on leave and applying for benefits,” explained Lam, “so it’s nice to know that Sparrow holds employees’ hands throughout the entire process.”

Sparrow’s one-on-one employee support starts with an introductory phone call, where Sparrow Leave Specialists tell Wish employees what to expect before, during, and after leave. They also answer questions about Wish’s company leave policies and explain the payouts employees can plan for.

From there, Sparrow works with each Wish employee to complete their paperwork, follow up with insurance agencies, file for benefits on time, and prepare for their return to work. “It’s a great thing when I don’t hear from employees—it means they’re off on leave and they don’t have to worry about paperwork or pay headaches while they’re gone,” Lam said.

The result: A seamless leave process for everyone involved

Partnering with Sparrow for employee leave management saves Wish’s HR Operations and Payroll teams valuable time, while enhancing the employee leave experience from the inside out.

“I love being able to be hands off and know that our employees are completely taken care of by Sparrow,” said Lam.

Support employees and lessen your administrative load with Sparrow. Explore our offerings or book a demo today.