- Key Insight: Discover how applying conjoint analysis to benefits reveals true employee priorities.
- What's at Stake: Misaligned benefits can drive turnover and undermine competitiveness.
- Supporting Data: BambooHR funds $2,000 vacation stipend, rising to $7,500 after 15 years.
- Source: Bullets generated by AI with editorial review
Alex Bertin, head of total rewards at BambooHR, had a long career in finance before joining the HR and benefit space — experience he is now using to improve employees' benefit options and optimize their use.
"My approach to benefits has been to base our decisions by finding and using data in a multitude of different places," says Bertin, who is also a 2025 Excellence in Benefits Awards winner. "This includes internal and external benchmarks, listening to our employees about what they want, as well as considering new innovative ideas from other people."
When Bertin first joined BambooHR, he performed what's called a conjoint analysis, a metric typically used in marketing to understand how consumers value different products, and applied it to employees and their outlook on benefits. The process pits two different bundles of benefits against each other; employees are guided through different scenarios and choose which they prefer. For example, a benefits plan containing certain benefits that includes 15 days of PTO will be compared to another plan with a different set of benefits, but instead includes 20 days of PTO.
Read more: This benefit pro built an award winning wellness program from scratch
The same process will be duplicated throughout the exercise with other benefits, and how employees respond to these scenarios provides Bertin and his team clear insight on what they're prioritizing in their every-day lives.
"This practice draws out how people value different aspects of benefits and it tells us a different story than what we would have assumed without having the data in front of us," Bertin says. "It has helped influence some of the decisions we've made over the past couple years and how we plan to evolve our benefits year over year."
One of the benefits BambooHR is most recognized for is their "Paid Paid Vacation." After the conjoint analysis was run on their workforce, it became apparent that what employees wanted the most was better leave policies. As a result, not only did they add additional PTO days and expand on existing holidays, but they also give every employee a $2,000 stipend they can use to pay for their vacations or during their time off. The benefit also acts as a tenure recognition perk, with the amount received increasing the longer an employee works at the company. At five years employees get $3,500, at 10 years they get $5,000 and at 15 years they receive $7,500.
"We were really trying to align with one of our values which is to enjoy quality of life," Bertin says. "This benefit is really helping our employees find that value themselves not only at work, but outside of work, too."
Read more: How Walmart's VP of well-being is transforming healthcare for millions
The feedback from employees has been overwhelmingly positive, and Bertin has even been applauded for the benefit by strangers once they learn where he works. While addressing leave policies is what worked best at BambooHR, it doesn't mean every organization will benefit from the same.
Bertin urges organizations to use the resources at their disposal to unearth their own data, even if it's not through a conjoint analysis, which would require the hiring of a consultant and a bigger budget. Even leveraging the benefit broker they already use could provide organizations with the necessary insights to start making data driven decisions at no additional cost. However, if organizations are willing to make the investment, it's well worth the spend, according to Bertin.
"With rising inflation and increased health care costs it's super important to any employee that they can take care of their family's most basic needs," Bertin says. "Benefits that meet those needs should be viewed as table stakes, because if you don't employees will leave and find somewhere that will."
