Why Bobbie chose Sparrow to support their employees’ leaves

Bobbie is the mom-founded and led, organic infant formula brand changing the culture around infant feeding. Modeled after breast milk and manufactured in the United States, Bobbie’s clean formula gives babies the nutrients they need to thrive—without unnecessary ingredients like corn syrup and palm oil.

Bobbie’s formulas, all of which are Clean Label Project Award winning, are the only infant formulas in the US that meet both FDA and EU standards. Behind Bobbie’s products are a team of parents, scientists, and nutritionists dedicated to providing the highest-quality formula possible, and helping every parent feel confident about the way they choose to feed their baby.

In 2023, Bobbie introduced Bobbie for Change, the social impact and advocacy arm of their company, to advocate for a variety of social issues, ranging from raising nutritional standards for infant formula in the U.S., more inclusive insurance coverage for baby formula, federal paid parental leave, an end to the maternal mortality crisis and more.

One way Bobbie connects their outward mission to their internal needs is by partnering with Sparrow for full-service employee leave management.

Supporting employees at every stage

Through their products, internal policies, and external policy advocacy work, Bobbie buoys parents during one of the most transformative stages of their lives—so it’s no surprise that they extend the same support to their employees.

“We take a lot of pride in being a workplace that unequivocally celebrates pregnancy and expanding families – this is core to our DNA as a brand that has always had a majority-parent team,” said Ben Prawer, People Operations Lead at Bobbie.

“Where some people might be scared or anxious to tell their boss that they’re pregnant or expecting a child, we have established a culture where Bobbie employees never feel that way. We cultivate a level of transparency, excitement, and authentic encouragement around family growth,” explained Prawer.

Parents at Bobbie can take advantage of a free one-year subscription to Bobbie for formula, reimbursements for Care.com memberships to find child care, and 16 weeks of paid parental leave for birthing and non-birthing parents, with the option to take up to eight more months of unpaid leave. They also offer a flexible return-to-work schedule when their leave is up, re-integrating with a part-time schedule and full pay to ease that transition back to work.

Bobbie offers a host of additional, thoughtful benefits to care for their fully remote team, parents and non-parents alike. That includes 100% covered health insurance for employees (and 70% coverage for their dependents), 401k matching, summer half-day Fridays, flexible paid time off, a two-week office closure at the end of the year, monthly internet stipends, and co-working space reimbursements.

Bobbie also hooks employees up with a Wellhub membership, which gives them free access to local gyms, as well as subscriptions to a variety of health apps, including Headspace for meditation and Talkspace for online therapy.

The company’s dedication to compassion and flexibility in the workplace has earned them a slew of awards, including Inc. Magazine’s 2022 list of Best Workplaces, Fast Company’s 2024 Best Workplaces for Innovators, and Fast Company’s 2024 list of Brands That Matter.

Maintaining their company culture requires a willingness to constantly improve. One area Bobbie recently evolved was employee leave management.

“Sparrow takes that extra step for us, whether it's helping to submit applications for the employee or communicating with all of the stakeholders around an employee's leave.”

The challenge: Maintaining compliance across 23 states without sacrificing the employee experience

Prior to teaming up with Sparrow for leave administration, Bobbie managed employee leaves in-house, with a leave consultant to assist with California cases.

However, even with some help, Prawer and his team were struggling to cater to everyone. “We have employees all over the country, with all different types of paid leave options,” he said. “And it was just a nightmare to figure out how to best help employees apply for benefits.”

Dealing with paperwork and complex compliance considerations, while trying to walk employees through the steps they needed to take, was tedious and time-consuming.

“Calculating how much money we needed to pay people and making sure that they were getting paid the right amount was another stressor,” Prawer added.

“On top of that, we also didn’t have short-term disability insurance at the time. And once short-term disability insurance came into the mix, managing leave was even more complicated,” he said.

“We sleep better at night knowing that everything is being done correctly according to our policy and without us needing to think about it.”

The administrative workload hindered the team’s ability to fully show up for Bobbie employees taking leave. “It was not a great experience for our employees, outside of the people in California who got help from our consultant,” Prawer explained. “We never felt like we were as on top of it as we would have liked to be.”

This was the tipping point for the people ops team. “As a company that takes a lot of pride in making sure people have a really good leave experience, not just for a parental leave but for a medical leave or a personal leave, we felt like it was necessary for us to get some outside help,” said Prawer.

They looked at a few different vendors, including one Prawer had had a good experience with at a previous company, but none of them stacked up to Sparrow. Prawer said Sparrow stood out for two reasons: pricing model and service.

“I really liked that Sparrow was competitively priced and had a good model where you only pay for what you use. There are certain leaves that we don’t send to Sparrow because they’re very easy to take care of in-house—but for those complicated leaves, it makes a huge difference to use Sparrow,” he explained.

Sparrow’s hands-on service was the second key selling point for Prawer. “I really like that Sparrow takes that extra step for us, whether it’s getting a limited power of attorney for employees to help submit things on their behalf or communicating with all of the stakeholders around an employee’s leave.”

“I love being able to see the payroll plan updated every pay period, knowing that the number we're putting in is the right number, and knowing our employees won’t be underpaid or overpaid.”

The solution: Use Sparrow to ensure compliance and enhance the employee experience

Sparrow saves Bobbie’s people operations team significant time and stress. “We sleep better at night knowing that everything is being done correctly according to our policy and without us needing to think about it,” Prawer explained.

The Sparrow team stays up to date on state leave laws, tracks filing deadlines, and submits all employer documentation on Bobbie’s behalf. Along the way, Sparrow sends the people operations team key updates so they’re always in the loop.

“It’s nice whenever I get something in the mail from California. I can just log into the Sparrow dashboard and there’s a document that tells me exactly what to put in and what to skip, and that clarity is really helpful,” said Prawer.

Payroll is another area Sparrow simplifies for Bobbie. “It’s been immensely helpful to plug in a number at every payroll period and not need to go through a calculation that we have to triple check,” he explained. “It’s much easier now that we don’t have to work with the short-term disability provider, the state, and the employee just to track payroll.”

Sparrow sets up automatic payroll calculations for Bobbie and creates custom payroll reports so Prawer and his team can see exactly what an employee’s pay is and what the company is responsible for contributing.

“The feedback from our employees has been really positive. It's just been simple and easy -- giving our team the information and assistance they need without being overbearing.”

“I love being able to see the payroll plan updated every pay period and know that the number we’re putting in is the right number,” he said. “And knowing our employees won’t be underpaid or overpaid.”

In addition to streamlining payroll and admin for Bobbie’s people operations team, Sparrow also directly improves the leave experience for Bobbie employees. The first step is holding a one-on-one introductory call, where Sparrow Leave Specialists break down the benefits a Bobbie employee is entitled to, explain the filing process, and answer questions.

Then Sparrow completes paperwork and files for benefits on behalf of Bobbie employees. Sparrow Leave Specialists also liaise with state agency representatives and insurance providers, so Bobbie employees don’t have to chase down documents themselves or spend hours on hold with a government department.

“The feedback from our employees has been really positive,” Prawer said. “It’s just been simple and easy. Giving our team the information and assistance they need without being overbearing.”

Prawer appreciates Sparrow’s efficiency and attentiveness in equal measure. “The best part of partnering with Sparrow is knowing that things are taken care of, and having a team that’s very responsive and caring and provides excellent customer service,” he explained.

“The best part of partnering with Sparrow is knowing that things are taken care of. The team is very responsive and caring and provides excellent customer service."

The result: Time and stress savings across the board

Partnering with Sparrow for end-to-end leave management has saved Bobbie’s people operations team dozens of hours a month in administrative tasks and employee correspondence, not to mention significant stress.

“Sparrow has given me better sleep and more peace of mind,” said Prawer, part of which comes from the fact that Bobbie employees now have a seamless leave experience under Sparrow.

That reassurance has a profound ripple effect. With more time in his day, Prawer can better serve Bobbie employees—and those employees will, in turn, continue positively shaping the culture around infant feeding and modern parenthood.

Want to give employees a stress-free leave while cutting down your to-do list? Sparrow’s here to help. Explore our offerings or book a demo today.