FAQs About Fringe
We’ve compiled common questions from prospective customers and answered them for you below.
General
What is Fringe?
Fringe is a first-of-its-kind fringe benefits marketplace that gives you an easy way to offer employees their choice of 100+ lifestyle benefits that they’ll LOVE! Benefits center around services that will give employees time back, reduce stress, impact the family, and spark joy! Learn more about how Fringe works.
What are Fringe Benefits?
Fringe Benefits are above-and-beyond benefits that employers give their employees. Some fringe benefits are given to the general population of employees while others might only be given to C‑level employees. Some fringe benefits are given as rewards for work well done while others are administered to all.
Fringe Benefits are typically used for recruiting or retention purposes by an employer. They can include things like tuition assistance, childcare reimbursement, stock options or even coffee and meals.
Fringe offers a fringe benefit marketplace. Funded by their employers, employees are able to select from over 100 innovative and life-simplifying services. Unlike traditional benefits, Fringe benefits meet needs now.
Our services include massage, grocery delivery, child care, ride sharing and a whole lot more!
Lifestyle Spending Accounts (LSAs)
Is Fringe a Lifestyle Spending Account (LSA) solution?
Yes, and much more. With Fringe, you can offer employees lifestyle benefits that are proven to impact their happiness, engagement, and retention.
How is Fringe different from a traditional Lifestyle Spending Account (LSA)?
Traditional LSAs are difficult to set up and have complex utilization rules. They also require ongoing management to review and approve employee expenses and are cumbersome to easily access their benefits.
With 80% faster setup than other LSA programs, Fringe can consolidate your other programs, like rewards and recognition and charitable giving, all in one platform. Our team also takes care of employee communications, saving your team hours every week.
Choice overload increases stress and the open-ended nature of traditional LSAs come up short in helping guide employees to the benefits that will be most meaningful. Fringe’s curated marketplace reduces stress by providing a set of flexible options that drive a more satisfying experience.
Getting Started
How does Fringe’s pricing structure work?
The platform fee for using Fringe is $5 per employee per month (min. platform fee is $200/mo) plus whatever you choose to provide to employees as a benefit allocation (min. $300 per employee annually). Interested in a discount? Talk to Sales.
Example A: 100 employees with $25/mo funding
- Platform fee = $5 x 100 employees = $500/mo
- Benefit allocation = $25 x 100 employees = $2,500/mo
- Total investment = $3,000/mo
Example B: 1000 employees with $75/mo funding
- Platform fee = $5 x 1000 employees = $5,000/mo
- Benefit allocation = $75 x 1000 employees = $75,000/mo
- Total investment = $80,000/mo
Do I need a minimum number of employees to get started?
There is no minimum number of employees to use Fringe. However, there is a minimum platform fee of $200/mo, no matter how many employees you have. For group sizes of less than 100 employees, please request a proposal here.
How much should I be spending on fringe benefits per employee each month?
Most organizations offer employees $50 — $75 in benefit funding per month.
What utilization rate can I expect using Fringe?
How can I get started with Fringe?
To create a Fringe demo account and explore the platform, click here. Want to talk to a member of our team? Contact us.
I’m a benefits broker. Can I offer Fringe to my clients?
Yes, we have partnerships with many brokerages across the US. Please visit our broker page to learn more.
Are there minimum funding amounts?
The cost for using Fringe is $5 per employee per month (min. admin fee is $200/mo) plus whatever you choose to provide to employees as a benefit allocation (min. $300 per employee annually).
What is the point conversion rate?
5 Fringe points equals $1 USD.
Are Fringe benefits taxable?
Yes, employer funding in Fringe is considered a taxable “fringe benefit” to employees (it’s taxed the same way as a gift card might be). Most companies add this as compensation on employee W2s at the end of the calendar year.
International
Do you support international currencies?
Our point conversion is $1 USD to 5 Fringe points. Every day we review all products with non-USD currencies, and update their point pricing according to that day’s exchange rates.
One thing to note: if you are using Fringe outside the US and your selections exceed your available points, you will be prompted to pay the difference with a credit card in USD. You will pay a 3% conversion fee. The balance will be represented in USD, but your card will be charged in your native currency.
What services are available to international employees?
Fringe offers a curated marketplace of 300 global offerings to employees in over 60 countries. Many of the service offerings are even specific to the country of which they’re being accessed. For more information about providing benefit equity to your international employees, reach out to our Fringe Sales Team for more information.
What global options are available?
We are proud that our platform has over 300 global vendors to give equitable choice to your employees.
Careers
Do you have any job openings?
Thanks so much for your interest in working with Fringe. We’d be happy for you to send in a formal job application. Please take a look at our open positions. You can apply to anything that’s of interest. A Fringe hiring manager will be in contact with you in the coming days and weeks if they think there may be a good fit!