How Exabeam Transformed Employee Care

A fast-growing leader in security information and event management (SIEM), Exabeam gives security teams the tools to uncover, investigate, and resolve threats in record time. Their goal is to make sure every organization has access to world-class threat detection, investigation, and response technology. Named a 2021 Gartner Peer Insights Customer’s Choice for SIEM, Exabeam is trusted by organizations like Delta Air Lines, P&G, Levi’s, and FEMSA.

Powering their incredible technology are more than 600 talented, close-knit employees, over 400 of whom live and work in the US. To support those employees, Exabeam utilizes Sparrow’s full-service leave management solution.

Creating a nurturing culture

One of Exabeam’s core values is delivering the exceptional—and that applies to everything from the technology they innovate to the way they treat their employees. “We’re committed to making Exabeam a great place to be,” said Lara Bedrossian, Global Benefits Manager at Exabeam.

“We want to attract and retain great talent of course, but even more than that, we want folks to be excited to be here, to have resources, and to feel cared about.”

That’s why Exabeam prides itself on creating a friendly and inclusive working environment where people can be themselves and communicate openly. The company also gives employees a high degree of autonomy to manage their workloads and schedules in a way that supports their lifestyle and personal needs.

In addition to providing employees with life insurance, health insurance, flexible vacation, and paid parental leave, Exabeam also offers wellness and education resources, volunteer days, and monthly rest days.

“We recently added Thank You Days, which are full-day company closures so employees can rest, recharge, and take care of themselves,” Bedrossian said. “We also had our inaugural ExaCares Day, which is a global volunteer day for Exabeam employees to do good and give back.”

When it comes to their benefits and resources, Exabeam is just getting started. “We’re exploring more progressive types of programming, not just to hit benchmarks, but to give folks pride in being an Exabeam employee,” explained Bedrossian.

Those programs include employee resource groups (ERGs) focused on women in tech, Black people, the LGBTQIA+ community, and veterans, as well as educational series designed to help employees enhance their lives. More ERGs continue to pop up quarterly and are wholly supported by the Exabeam CommUNITY Council (ECC).

“The ECC is sponsoring a financial series this summer with our 401k advisors, so employees have more information and tools about their own financial health and futures,” she said.

Part of how Exabeam stays ahead of the curve is accepting regular feedback and making continual improvements. “No feedback is bad feedback—we want to hear it all,” Bedrossian added.

The challenge: Finding a high-touch leave management system

As part of their commitment to employee support, Exabeam needed a better way to guide employees through the leave process. “We were managing leaves using a combination of spreadsheets and checklists,” Bedrossian said.

“The team had various pay-related spreadsheets they’d populate for payroll to manage through paid leave components. And it became very burdensome,” she explained. “There was no single benefits resource at the time, and the volume was such that far too much time was spent managing employee leaves.”

Not only did Exabeam’s people and culture (P&C) team have to stay up to date on complicated state leave laws, they were also constantly following up with employees, chasing down signatures, and organizing mountains of documentation.

When leave management became tedious and inefficient, Exabeam decided to reevaluate their options. “We did some analysis and realized there would be a cost savings to bringing in an external partner to manage leaves,” said Bedrossian. The company wanted a high-touch, personalized experience for leave administration, so they turned to Sparrow.

The solution: Partnering with Sparrow for full-service leave management

Partnering with Sparrow has transformed Exabeam’s entire employee leave process, streamlining backend administration and enhancing the employee experience. “Our experience has been great. Leave administration is Sparrow’s bread and butter, so it makes it easy to partner up with them,” said Bedrossian.

Bedrossian is the only full-time person focused on benefits. “For now, I’m the end-all-be-all of benefits, which is why I’m so grateful Sparrow works with us,” she explained. Sparrow supports her by providing benchmarking and consulting on best-practices for leave policies, payroll calculations, documentation, and employee communications.

Bedrossian said she gets swift responses and regular reports from her Sparrow Leave Specialist, both of which help cut down her to-do list and minimize unnecessary back-and-forth communications with employees.

No matter what Exabeam needs, Sparrow takes care of it. “‘No’ is not in their repertoire,” Bedrossian added. “For example, we had no internal reporting mechanism for intermittent leave,” she explained. “We’re not equipped from a person-power perspective to manage all those logistical and administrative nuances, so Sparrow helped us with that when we didn’t have a timekeeping system.”

Using Sparrow hasn’t just reduced the P&C team’s administrative load—it’s also streamlined regular processes for Exabeam’s payroll team. The Sparrow platform performs automatic payroll calculations and generates custom reports, while Sparrow Leave Specialists provide dedicated support to help resolve issues.

“Sparrow recently identified a discrepancy in pay for someone’s disability leave, and they handled it so well. They communicated with the employee and payroll team, and I was copied on the email,” Bedrossian said.

Another area where Sparrow assists Exabeam is modifying and expanding their leave policies. “We’re doing a mini revamp of our policy right now,” said Bedrossian. “And Sparrow has been so collaborative. We leaned on them heavily to guide us and clue us in on what works. With their support, we updated our leave policy to be more clear and consistent, and made sure the language was clean.”

Exabeam knows leaves of absence are both complicated and personal, which is why they appreciate the way Sparrow supports their employees. “The relationships Sparrow Leave Specialists have with our employees are amazing. They keep them aware and manage the whole leave process for them,” Bedrossian explained.

Sparrow Leave Specialists strive to lead with empathy and kindness in every interaction. “Sparrow brings humanity back into employee leave administration. Life is going to happen to employees, and I personally don’t feel like I could do them justice with a thousand other spinning plates,” said Bedrossian. “There’s no way I can give someone the dignity and attention of sitting with them and answering questions while also handling the compliance piece of leave.”

By turning leave management over to Sparrow’s experts, Exabeam can focus more on growth and employee care.

Strengthening employee care with Sparrow

With leave admin taken care of, Exabeam is excited to continue “enhancing and improving the employee experience in a very equitable, thoughtful, and inclusive way,” said Bedrossian.

“We want to think outside the box,” she explained. “In addition to seeing if we can enhance our health plans or add more paid leave, we’re also looking at what we’re doing to support folks who might be going through a gender transition or who want to grow their family. We’re thinking about what sorts of programs and modes of support we can offer to employees at every stage of their life.”

Exabeam’s goal is to be as inclusive as possible, always embracing opportunities to improve. “We don’t rest on our laurels—there’s always a way to be better and do better,” she said.

If your company needs high-tech, high-touch employee leave management, check out the Sparrow’s employee leave experience.