How Crisis Text Line Moved Off a PEO, Improved Their Benefits, and Saved Money
Case Study Fixed Navigation
Industry
Non-Profit, Mental Health
Employees
200
Headquarters
New York, NY
HR Leader
Megan Schulze, People Operations Partner
HR Challenge
Needing a Competitive Benefits Offering
for Remote Work
Results
Improved Benefits Experience, Hours Saved
About Crisis Text Line
Supporting People in Crisis
Crisis Text Line was born from a vision of serving people in crisis from all walks of life and from that vision a new tech-forward paradigm of crisis intervention was introduced. Trained volunteer Crisis Counselors are paired with data science and cutting-edge technology to create a text line that provides fast and high-quality support for people in crisis. After four months of launching, the organization was receiving texts from almost every single area code in the United States and has now grown to become the nation’s largest text-based crisis-intervention service.
Meet Megan, People Operations Partner
Megan found herself at Crisis Text Line through a unique opportunity. A year before Megan joined the team as a full-time staff member, she was a volunteer. Volunteer Crisis Counselors were responsible for taking care of the conversations coming in through the platform. They were provided comprehensive training on how to approach conversations, how to connect with people, and how to de-escalate situations users were facing.
Megan came across the opportunity to join the team as an office manager, but with her background as a volunteer in customer service and her enjoyment of problem-solving, Megan found herself functioning as an HR department.
“When I came on as our office manager we had no formal HR vertical. We had an informal HR leader and had nothing in place that resembled a People Ops team. I came in and started doing a lot of the People Ops functions like our employee onboarding, our benefits administration, our payroll, and all that stuff. Then it just really built upon each other and as a team grew, we were able to specify roles.”
Now as a People Operations Partner, Megan works with CTL’s employees to ensure they are having the best experience possible, make sure they’re feeling supported, and make sure they have access to everything they need.
HR Challenges
Megan’s team did not have time or resources to provide the individual support their diverse team needed
As the company continued to grow exponentially, Crisis Text Line began to see the number of employees spread out across the country grow concurrently. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, CTL was sixty percent remote and now the company functions 100% remote.
Better Benefits for a Diverse Employee Base
“Within the Crisis Text Line team, we have members who are working twenty-four-seven-365 which calls for a unique set of needs. We have teams across tech and data, social work, and mental health coming from different backgrounds so finding a holistic benefits plan to meet all their differing needs was necessary.”
Access to Technology and Support
“Since we were growing so quickly, we didn’t have the time to make sure our benefits package was accessible and effective for all of our employees. Finding benefits that you can access in New York but also access in California is not the easiest thing to do without the use of different carriers or completely different user experiences.”
“The most impactful thing is having the benefits support so that people can actually utilize what they have. A lot of times folks don’t understand what they’re eligible for or what they’re entitled to through their benefits. And then you don’t see people using them.”
Bennie’s Job Duties
Holistic, All-Encompassing Benefits Program
“Bennie took us a step beyond traditional benefits.”
Easy Implemantion and Easy Access for Employees
“Implementing a new HRIS was life‑changing for employees.”
Employee Support
“Employees get the individual support they need from Ask Bennie.”
Holistic, All-Encompassing Benefits Program
“Bennie took us a step beyond traditional benefits.”
Holistic, All-Encompassing Benefits Program
“We are able to look at our staff needs and meet our employees where they were at and give them those tools and benefits that were most impactful for them to navigate their lives outside of work.”
The Bennie team was able to completely revamp Crisis Text Line’s benefit offerings. Before Bennie, CTL only offered basic insurance such as medical, vision, dental, and then some ancillary offerings. Not only was Bennie able to match CTL’s previous package, but with Bennie’s 360 views of your benefits with strategic touchpoints, CTL was able to incorporate additional holistic benefits such as access to mind care for mental health, access to child care, and access to policy stipends upfront.
“We were really able to elevate the employee experience holistically and equally. We wanted to take a step beyond your traditional benefits and Bennie gave us that opportunity.”
Easy Implemantion and Easy Access for Employees
“Implementing a new HRIS was life‑changing for employees.”
Streamlining a new HRIS with Bennie’s 4‑Step Process:
“Implementing a new HRIS system was life-changing for employees. This was another major pain point. No one was using our previous HRIS system. No one knew how to access anything, they weren’t able to log in, it was a nightmare. To have a new streamlined tech-forward platform was critical.”
Benefits and HR technology can be overwhelming. Using Bennie’s 4 step vetting process to help streamline your technology, Megan was able to make the final decision to onboard a new HRIS system.
“The team was amazing. They felt like an extension of Crisis Text Line like they were really part of our team. They work hand-in-hand with me, calling me if there was an emergency and we would address it right away. This was one of the biggest projects of my career and the Bennie team held my hand through it all, always being there to answer my questions.”
Employee Support
“Employees get the individual support they need from Ask Bennie.”
Individual, Expert Support for Employees
“I’m not a benefits expert. I don’t have time to reach out to insurance companies. Being able to share a tool with my employees that not only provides them with the individual expertise support but also gives them someone to empathize with has been really helpful.”
Bennie’s mobile app provided CTL’s employees with a concierge service that was not available before Bennie. With Bennie’s easy-to-use web and mobile benefits experience, CTL’s employees had access to their plan details, insurance cards, account balances, and more all within one application.
“We have a young staff of people getting married and having kids that need help navigating plan changes. We have staff with complex medical needs that are able to get the specific individual support they need from Ask Bennie.
“We have a young staff of people getting married and having kids that need help navigating plan changes. We have staff with complex medical needs that are able to get the specific individual support they need from Ask Bennie."
Opening New Doors for Employees, and Saving HR Time & Money
Streamlined Benefits Processes with Added Employee Support
Before Bennie, Megan’s team was working with their previous benefits broker and could not get past the issues caused by the dispersed manner of their remote team. With a New York centric plan, many members were signed up for benefits they didn’t actually have access to. Next, they resorted to a PEO, and Megan’s team shortly realized that was the best way to go. After transitioning off of a PEO, the Bennie team saved Crisis Text Line over $470k a year. They were able to reinvest those funds into a more robust and diverse benefits package.
“With our previous PEO there was no customer service, the benefits were lackluster, and nobody could get the support they needed to understand their benefits which made me really appreciate the concierge service Bennie offers.”
Working with Bennie opened many doors for Crisis Text Line. Bennie was able to save Megan’s team time and money by streamlining all the work Megan would face on a day-to-day basis by implementing a new HRIS system. The team was able to revamp their onboarding process providing new tools and resources for new team members.
“Coming from such an antiquated system and having to do everything with a creative workaround process it’s such a relief having it all done for me with just a click of a button. It’s been so helpful, just having a place to direct folks to. It saves us time, it saves our employees time, it takes some of the stress away from benefits itself.”
“We’re seeing people use benefits more. It’s meeting people where they’re at, we’re a tech-empowerment mental health company and Bennie’s platform really matched who we are as a company.”