How Gong turns their team members into raving fans

Gong empowers everyone on the modern revenue team to improve productivity, increase predictability, and drive revenue growth by deeply understanding customers and business trends and driving impactful decisions and actions. The Gong Revenue AI Platform captures and contextualizes customer interactions, surfaces insights and predictions, and powers actions and workflows that are essential for business success.

Over 4,500 companies rely on Gong to unlock their revenue potential, including LinkedIn, ADP, Snowflake, and us at Sparrow. The company was recently named a leader in Forrester’s Revenue Orchestration for B2B Platforms Q3 2024 report.

Since Gong launched in 2015, the company has grown to over 1,200 employees worldwide, with offices in the United States, Tel Aviv, Dublin, and Singapore. To support its employees before and during leave, Gong uses Sparrow’s full-service employee leave management.

Creating a company culture worth raving about

One of Gong’s core operating principles is to create raving fans, a goal that extends to their employees as well as their customers.

“Not only do we want our customers to be raving fans of Gong as a platform, we want our team members—our Gongsters—to be raving fans of our benefits programs,” said Karen Hoang, Senior Manager, Benefits Programs at Gong.

That’s why Gong puts employee well-being at the center of their benefits strategy. “Whether it’s mental, emotional, or physical well-being, we invest a lot in those programs for our team members,” Hoang explained.

In addition to a variety of medical, dental, and vision plans, Gongsters can take advantage of a flexible wellness fund, work-from-home stipend, covered therapy and coaching sessions, generous vacation time, quarterly recharge days, employee equity, a 401(k), education and learning stipends, employee resource groups, mentorship opportunities, and 20 weeks of paid parental leave.

It’s not just the benefits themselves that contribute to a positive workplace culture, though—it’s the execution behind them. Gong has a high standard for employee care, which is why it partners with Sparrow for leave administration.

“It was apparent that Sparrow was focused equally on technology and user experience. Their dedication to the product really speaks to our people and what we care about at Gong.”

The challenge: Giving employees an excellent leave experience

Before teaming up with Sparrow in early 2024, Gong faced some challenges in delivering a great employee experience for leaves.

“One of our main pain points was that team members were confused by some of the steps they needed to take if action was required outside of our company,” she explained. “When they had to connect with a state agency for a state disability or family leave program—that was really confusing and complicated for them.”

Gongsters could become overwhelmed by the logistics of filing for benefits and submitting paperwork, and some experienced delayed payments and slow response times.

“We have people who’ve had multiple leaves at Gong and unanimously, they've said their experience with Sparrow has been less stressful and more seamless."

Leave management wasn’t exactly streamlined on the employer side either. “Although we were using a ‘full-service’ administrator, we were still heavily involved in auditing,” said Hoang. “We  encountered a lag in response times from both the employee and employer admin sides.”

Eventually, Gong decided to consider other options for leave administration. “There wasn’t one specific thing that prompted us to switch providers,” Hoang said. “It was a culmination of many things that we felt weren’t satisfactory or up to our standards.”

Gong chose Sparrow because of the hands-on help it gives employees and how developed and intuitive Sparrow’s portal was. “It was apparent that Sparrow was focused equally on technology and user experience,” she explained. “Their dedication to the product really speaks to our people and what we care about at Gong, too. We wanted to work with an administrator that had similar philosophies as we have about our own products.”

The solution: Support employees with Sparrow’s hands-on service

Gong knew they needed a leave vendor who valued the employee experience as much as they did—and Sparrow delivered.

“We like that Sparrow can take on the claims filing and management piece on behalf of a team member,” Hoang explained. Sparrow completes paperwork and delivers notifications for Gongsters taking leave, liaises with state agency representatives and insurance providers, and keeps HR, payroll, and managers updated on key dates and changes.

At every step of the journey, Sparrow Leave Specialists are there to answer questions and explain what’s going on. They break down the benefits Gong employees are entitled to and show them how, where, and from whom they’re getting paid. They even give Gongsters resources and reminders about preparing to return to work.

“Without my probing for information or surveying people directly, I’ve had team members proactively let us know that they had a positive experience with Sparrow, that the representatives they spoke to were super professional, timely, and empathetic,” said Hoang.

“When employers explore leave management services, it's because they're feeling the pain and the administrative burden. When you work with Sparrow, you don't realize how much you were actually doing for leave until they take it off your plate. I wish we did it sooner.”

“Plus, now we have people who’ve had multiple leaves at Gong,” she added. “And unanimously, they’ve said their experience with Sparrow has been less stressful and more seamless.”

Elevating the employee experience is just one aspect of Sparrow’s work; they also streamline leave on the employer side. With Sparrow, Hoang doesn’t have to fill out paperwork, stay up to date on state leave laws, or conduct lots of back-and-forth with employees. “I spend at least 30% less time on leave-related interactions thanks to Sparrow,” she said.

“When employers explore leave management services, it’s because they’re feeling the pain and the administrative burden,” Hoang added. “And when you work with someone like Sparrow, you don’t realize how much you were actually doing for leave until they take it off your plate. I wish we did it sooner.”

Another area where Sparrow saves Gong time is payroll. Sparrow’s automatic payroll calculations and payroll reconciliation support help Gong’s payroll team work more efficiently. “Sparrow has been a tremendous support to our payroll team, streamlining our leave of absence processes and saving us valuable time. Their availability and dedication ensure we always have the help we need.” says Bao Duong, Senior Payroll Analyst

“Sparrow has been a tremendous support to our payroll team, streamlining our leave of absence processes and saving us valuable time. Their availability and dedication ensure we always have the help we need.”

Gong also appreciates the time savings they achieve with Sparrow filing for state benefits. Sparrow assisted Gongsters with claiming more than $350,000 in wage replacement.

However, Hoang said her favorite part about working with Sparrow is the knowledge and expertise they bring to all things leave management. “I love knowing that I can trust whoever I’m interacting with or reaching out to,” she explained.

“I’m not second-guessing when a response is coming back, or scratching my head wondering what something means. Anytime I’m looking for clarification or following up on an employee issue, I get a timely, well thought-out reply—there’s just consistency across the board with Sparrow,” she said.

“There’s clearly a high standard that everyone’s being held to at Sparrow, and it makes a huge difference in the customer service and care we receive.”

“Sparrow has been able to take these repeatable tasks off my plate, which ultimately will have a positive impact on our employees and the organization.”

The result: More time to create an unmatched employee experience

With Sparrow in charge of leave management, Hoang has more time and brainpower to dedicate to her role. “We’re a lean team and have to wear the hats to manage day-to-day administration as well as strategic initiatives,” she said.

“Now that Sparrow has been able to take these repeatable tasks off my plate, that’s ultimately going to have a positive impact on our employees and the organization overall.”

Give your employees the stress-free leave experience they deserve—while freeing up your to-do list. Review our offerings or book a demo today.