This month’s Compt product updates focus on tightening the everyday experience: making recognition more human, reducing friction in payroll workflows, and grounding benefits decisions in real benchmarking data.

Here’s what’s new across the Compt platform.

Recognition just got more expressive.

When we first launched Team Recognition in Compt, one of the earliest questions we heard was simple and telling:

Can we add a GIF?

Recognition is more meaningful when it feels personal. Now, employees using a Team Recognition program in Compt can search for and add a GIF (or upload their own GIF or image) to include visuals with every e-thanks or monetary recognition shoutout.

If your team uses the Compt Slack integration, those GIFs appear directly in your recognition channel, keeping appreciation visible without introducing another tool or workflow.

These moments might feel small, but they tie directly to a broader shift we’re seeing in benefits design: employees engage more when programs feel natural and lightweight. Consolidation works well here, too: You don’t need a separate recognition solution if it’s already embedded in your Compt lifestyle benefits.

If you’re interested in launching Team Recognition, request a demo of Compt.

The redesigned payroll experience launches for all customers on February 24.

Payroll is one of the most sensitive workflows HR and Finance teams manage. Accuracy, clarity, and tax compliance are nonnegotiable, and unnecessary friction increases risk.

Over the past year, we’ve refreshed several areas of the Compt platform. The latest update focuses on payroll, delivering:

• A cleaner, more modern interface
• Clearer navigation across payroll reports
• A more intuitive experience for reviewing and finalizing reimbursements

This update is intentionally evolutionary. Existing payroll reports, configurations, and compliance logic remain unchanged. The goal is simply to make a high-stakes workflow easier to get right.

All existing customers will be migrated starting February 24, 2026. New customers who launch after that date will receive the new experience automatically. 

If you have questions about how the new payroll experience will work with your current benefits setup, a Compt team member would be happy to help. 

The 2026 Annual Lifestyle Benefits Benchmark Report is live.

Our 2026 Annual Lifestyle Benefits Benchmark Report is now available, marking the sixth year we’ve published this research as part of our ongoing Compt product updates.

Each year, we analyze how stipends and LSAs are actually designed and used across the Compt platform, then translate that behavior into benchmarks HR and Finance teams can plan around. This information can also help you stand out from a talent acquisition perspective in terms of ensuring your lifestyle benefits are competitive in the marketplace. 

The report answers questions we hear on many customer calls:

• Which stipend and LSA categories companies are offering
• What employee participation and utilization rates look like in practice
• How much employers typically fund, sliced by company size, region (including international) and industry
• Median, minimum, and maximum funding ranges (not just averages)

This year’s data also reflects a broader shift toward consolidation, simpler administration, and benefits designed around everyday employee needs (while still leaving space for moments of celebration and joy).

Explore the 2026 Annual Lifestyle Benefits Benchmark Report.

Compt is committed to designing lifestyle benefits that are easy to run (and easy to use).

These Compt product updates reflect what we’re seeing across the market. HR and Finance teams want benefits programs that are easier to operate day to day, not just appealing on paper.

They also reinforce how Compt approaches lifestyle benefits: with an emphasis on durability, clarity, and ease of administration as programs evolve. The platform is designed to support teams as their needs change, without requiring constant reconfiguration or additional tools.

If you’re evaluating changes to your benefits stack this year, request a demo to see how Compt fits into your approach.

FAQs: Lifestyle benefits platforms

This section reflects the questions we hear most often from HR and Finance teams evaluating, expanding, or consolidating lifestyle benefits programs in 2026, including questions that come up when reviewing recent Compt product updates.

The post What’s New in Compt: Product Updates, February 2026 appeared first on COMPT.

Not in theory, and not in a slide deck — but in how lifestyle benefits like stipends and Lifestyle Spending Accounts (LSAs) are actually used once programs are live and employees begin submitting expenses.

That’s exactly where the Compt 2026 Annual Lifestyle Benefits Benchmark Report comes in.

Available today, the report provides employee benefits benchmarks based on full-year 2025 data from Compt customers across industries, company sizes, and geographies. It shows how employers structured and funded their lifestyle benefits and how employees actually spent and submitted against them.

This isn’t a predictions piece. It’s a snapshot of real decisions and outcomes, offering a practical view of what’s working for HR and Finance leaders at a time when every employee benefit feels expensive.

What does this year’s employee benefits benchmark data reveal?

The defining shift in 2025 was discipline.

That discipline showed up less in what employers offered and more in how lifestyle benefits were structured, funded, and delivered. 

Across the data, Compt customers made pragmatic design decisions: consolidating scattered perks into all-inclusive LSAs, choosing funding cadences aligned to how and when employees actually use their benefits, embedding strong categories like wellness inside broader programs, and anchoring benefits in everyday needs that scale across roles, locations, and worker types.

The result is benefits design that balances employee impact with cost control — without adding complexity.

Our 2026 benchmarks show exactly how that plays out in practice:

• 64% of employers now operate lifestyle benefits through an all-inclusive LSA, confirming consolidation as the default operating model.
• Quarterly funding reached 85% utilization, compared to 52% for monthly and 65% for annual programs, reflecting differences in use patterns rather than performance.
• Wellness stipend utilization reached 86% inside an LSA, compared to 62% as a standalone stipend.
• Nearly 1 in 10 stipend dollars was spent at grocery retailers.
• 20% of professional development expenses were AI-related.

These patterns held across roles, worker types, and locations. Data from hourly and salaried employees on U.S.-based and international teams shows that when benefits are designed around everyday needs and personal choice — including space for small joys — they scale without requiring separate programs or differentiated rules.

Employees are now using lifestyle benefits to manage real life.

In 2025, employees directed stipend spending across 64,000+ unique vendors globally, with 70% of that spend flowing to local, regional, niche, or independent businesses. At the same time, familiar names like Amazon, Walmart, Costco, and Kroger remained prominent as grocery and household spending increased in response to economic pressure.

When employees are given flexibility, they direct their benefits toward the expenses that matter most in daily life — where financial pressure and practical support intersect.

As a result, lifestyle benefits are increasingly used to create stability, helping employees cover food, wellness needs, connectivity, work equipment, and other essentials that support their ability to stay grounded and productive, while still leaving room for everyday purchases that make life feel more manageable (and fun). 

For many leaders, this raises a practical planning question: Which everyday expenses are your benefits actually helping employees absorb?

Professional development is evolving into an always-on tool stack.

The report also highlights a clear evolution in professional development. 

We’ve talked a lot about AI stipends in the last year, and in 2025, 20% of all professional development expenses were AI-related. These were primarily online tools and productivity software rather than courses, certifications, or conferences. Employees are learning by doing and experimenting with tools they can apply immediately in their day-to-day work.

This marks a shift away from episodic learning and toward continuous upskilling that fits in naturally as roles (and the world) evolve. 

For organizations reviewing their benefits mix, this invites a broader reflection: Is your professional development program structured for how learning actually happens now?

Go beyond curiosity with real, actionable benchmarks and advice.

The 2026 Annual Lifestyle Benefits Benchmark Report is designed to support real decisions that HR and Finance face every day.

Inside the full report, you’ll find benchmarks and context to help you navigate:

• Program consolidation and simplification
• Funding cadence and utilization expectations
• Participation benchmarks across employee types
• Global parity and international program design
• Taxable and nontaxable benefit strategy
• Benefits for hourly vs. salaried workers

Every insight connects data to practical implications, making it easier to explain not just what you’re proposing, but why it works.

Download the Compt 2026 Employee Benefits Benchmark Report.

The 2026 Annual Lifestyle Benefits Benchmark Report is available now, and it’s free to download.

If you’re benchmarking an existing program, validating decisions already in motion, or planning refinements for the year ahead, these employee benefits benchmarks are designed to help you move forward with clarity and confidence.

Ready to see how your programs compare? Download your copy of the 2026 Annual Lifestyle Benefits Benchmark Report.

If you want help applying these benchmarks to your own lifestyle benefits program goals, request a Compt demo to talk through next steps in real time. 

The post The 2026 Annual Lifestyle Benefits Benchmark Report Is Available Now appeared first on COMPT.

With this launch, companies can stretch every lifestyle stipend dollar further without adding another vendor, portal, or login. Employees get immediate savings on large and small purchases across categories like fitness, food, travel, tech, and family life, while HR keeps the flexibility and tax compliance of open-ended stipends.

This is the first integrated solution that combines reimbursement-based lifestyle benefits with an embedded employee discount experience. It gives your teams freedom of choice and valuable deals, all in one platform. And with unprecedented high everyday costs and tight budgets in every household, employees really need benefits that make a real impact right now.

The new Employee Discounts feature lives inside a dedicated “Discounts” page in Compt. Employees can browse featured deals and securely access the full PerkSpot marketplace via SSO.

There are no extra contracts or implementation projects for HR; if you’re already using Compt for Lifestyle Spending Accounts (LSAs), Rewards and Recognition, Professional Development Pro™, or Business Expense Management, you can simply turn Employee Discounts on at no additional cost. 

Employee discounts made simple: save more, with no extra vendors

Traditional employee discount portals often mean yet another link buried in an intranet, another vendor to manage, and another login for employees to remember. Usage generally remains low and the benefit rarely feels connected to the rest of your program.

With Employee Discounts, powered by PerkSpot, savings show up in the same place employees already go to:

• Browse eligible reimbursement categories
• Submit receipts for lifestyle stipends and/or business expenses
• Recognize their peers and redeem recognition rewards
• Buy company swag and branded gear with their swag stipend

PerkSpot’s network powers thousands of curated deals across 25+ categories. Employees can discover offers from brands like Nike, Apple, HelloFresh, AMC, BetterHelp, Samsung, Marriott, Jeep, and more, and in many cases save between 20-60% on everyday purchases. Some deals, like movie tickets and auto care vouchers, can be purchased directly inside Compt thanks to PerkSpot’s embedded in-app offers.

Behind the scenes, Compt keeps everything organized by stipend, budget, and tax treatment. HR and Finance get a single source of truth, now with discounts included, without changing anything about payroll or adding more tools.

Top ways HR teams use Employee Discounts

Employee Discounts is designed to support the same life moments and categories you already fund through stipends — now with extra savings baked in.

Here are a few common use cases:

• Everyday financial wellness: Help employees stretch their paychecks with savings on groceries, apparel, electronics, and more. With nationwide high costs and both personal and organizational budgets looking tight for the year ahead, adding discounts is a visible, tangible form of employee support.
• Health and wellness programs: Pair your wellness stipend with discounts on gym memberships, fitness apps, mental health services, sports equipment, and healthy meal kits. By submitting an already-discounted receipt for reimbursement, employees get more clear value from the benefits they already have.
• Learning and growth: Combine professional development stipends with discounts on online courses, books, and learning subscriptions. Like with wellness above, stipends cover the cost; discounts make them go further.
• Family and lifestyle support: Offer savings on travel, family entertainment, and everyday essentials that matter to caregivers, remote employees, and distributed teams.
• Recognition and spot bonuses: When employees receive a spot bonus or recognition stipend through Compt, they can also discover deals on experiences and items they might use that money on. This turns a single reward into multiple moments of impact.

Because everything runs inside Compt, HR doesn’t have to promote “yet another benefits portal.” Employees can naturally take advantage of discounts when using the platform to access the stipends and rewards they already know about.

What savings actually look like for employees

Savings vary by merchant and category, but here are examples based on typical PerkSpot offers and common stipend scenarios:

• Fitness and wellness: An employee with a $100/month fitness subscription finds a score: 25% off via Employee Discounts! They submit their discounted receipt for reimbursement via their wellness stipend allowance, and rather than using the entire stipend on one purchase, they save $25 to use on other eligible wellness purchases. 
• Family movie night: A family of four sees two movies a month, using discounted tickets that save $5-$10 per ticket. That’s up to $80 per month in savings, and the tickets themselves may still be reimbursable under a family, entertainment, or Treat Yourself stipend category.
• Weekend travel: An avid traveler books a $500 hotel through a travel discount at 20% off. That’s $100 saved on a single trip, on top of any eligible stipend reimbursements.
• Auto care: An employee buys discounted oil changes or service vouchers for 15% off, and then submits receipts against a commuting or Treat Yourself stipend, thereby stacking savings without any additional costs to your benefits program. 

These are the kinds of real-world moments employees remember — and talk about — when they think about your benefits.

Stack even more value with reward points

On top of built-in savings and stipend reimbursements, employees can also earn and redeem reward points on select deals in the Discounts experience. It’s an effortless way to stretch their lifestyle stipend dollars even further.

How reward points work

Employees earn reward points on qualifying purchases through the Discounts portal. Points vary by deal, and balances are automatically tracked inside PerkSpot.

• 100 reward points = $1.00 in savings.
• Points can be redeemed on 240+ brands (including gift cards).
• Redemption works directly in the portal, with no codes or extra accounts required.

Ways employees can use reward points

• Save money and get rewarded. When your employees purchase from participating merchants, they automatically earn points redeemable for future discounts.
• Stack savings even more. Employees can redeem their points for gift cards at their favorite stores and combine those gift cards with an available deal in the Discounts portal.
• Stretch those paychecks. Employees can use reward points to further reduce the cost of purchases they already plan to make. Over time, this becomes a powerful way to turn monthly spending into noticeable savings.

Not every discount includes reward points. But those that do offer an additional boost that helps employees feel the immediate impact of your lifestyle benefits program.

Why this works better than typical employee discount portals

Most employee discount programs force a tradeoff:

• Locked-in marketplaces with limited vendors and rigid catalogs

OR

• Open stipends with flexibility, but no built-in savings

With Employee Discounts, powered by PerkSpot, you don’t have to choose.

• Built in, not bolted on: Discounts live directly inside the Compt platform alongside stipends, Rewards and Recognition, company swag, and Business Expense Management. (Who needs more vendor reviews on their plate? Not you, that’s who.) 
• Freedom first, discounts second: Employees can still spend their stipends at any eligible merchant. Discounts are optional — think of them as a bonus, not a walled garden.
• One program, more value: HR and Finance still see all stipend activity in one place, making it easier to show the ROI of your lifestyle benefits program without fragmenting your tech stack.

This launch reinforces Compt’s reimbursement-first approach while adding curated savings for the brands employees already use, which is a combination most lifestyle benefits providers can’t offer today. Think of it as a marketplace without walls — employees get all the freedom of open reimbursement, plus the convenience of curated deals.

See how Employee Discounts work

Ready to see Employee Discounts in action?

Request a demo to explore how Compt + PerkSpot can help your team:

• Stretch lifestyle stipends and LSAs further.
• Support employees’ financial wellness in a tangible, everyday way.
• Offer 15,000+ unique deals from 1,000+ trusted brands without adding vendors, logins, contracts, workflows, or complexity.

Interested and already a Compt customer? (Thank you!) Talk to your Customer Success Manager about adding Employee Discounts to your existing lifestyle benefits program.

FAQs: Employee Discounts, powered by PerkSpot

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Together, these trends point to the next phase of employee experience: consolidated lifestyle benefits that adapt as quickly as the workforce has learned to. 

Our latest product updates build on that momentum. Each enhancement is designed to make lifestyle benefits smarter and simpler — another step toward a benefits experience that runs quietly (and compliantly) in the background and gives HR teams the space to focus on what matters most: their people.

The Company Swag Store + Swag Stipend delivers branded gear without the hassle.

Managing company swag has been too complicated for too long. HR wasn’t built to juggle sizing spreadsheets, storage closets, and shipping logistics. With Compt’s new Company Swag Store + Swag Stipend, you can take swag management off your plate, reduce wasted swag spend, and give your employees a more flexible way to show their company pride. After all, not everybody likes the same things when it comes to company swag and branded merchandise!

How it works after you sign up:

• We’ll brand your store. Your Customer Success Manager can spin up a custom, best-sellers swag shop based on your logo and brand colors. 
• Your employees shop anytime. The Company Swag Store is easy to access from the Compt platform so your team can order what they want, when they want. 
• You set the budget. Add a “Company Swag” stipend to reimburse employees for their purchases. Creating a one-time spot bonus or allocating a recurring $25-100 per employee per year are both reasonable options. 

Fast facts:

• The Company Swag Store is powered by Snappy, with global shipping to 170+ countries in 12-15 days. See the FAQ for information on specific shipping considerations by country.
• Each product is made to order and shipped to your employees’ doors. 
• Your people will gain access to popular brands like Nike, Carhartt, Bella + Canvas, and The North Face. 

Interested? Explore the Company Swag Store or go ahead and request a demo to see it for yourself. 

The redesigned Compt payroll experience saves time for administrators.

We’re rolling out a modernized payroll experience within Compt. The refreshed design brings the same clean, intuitive look and feel you’ll experience in newer areas of the platform, with simpler navigation and better alignment across reports.

Customers’ existing custom payroll reports will stay exactly as they are, with no need for additional setup or migration. We expect this will provide a smoother experience for admins (and one fewer process that feels like work).

Compt integrates with Google Maps to provide faster, more accurate mileage reimbursements. 

Within our Expense Management module, your employees can now leverage our Google Maps integration to easily submit mileage claims. When employees enter their origin and destination, Google Maps auto-calculates the distance, reducing the need to manually upload screenshots.

Welcome to the era of accurate, auditable mileage reimbursements that stay fully IRS-compliant, all within the same tool you use for lifestyle benefits like stipends and Lifestyle Spending Accounts (LSAs), professional development, rewards and recognition, and company swag. Compt does it all! 

Additional Compt product updates make day-to-day benefits administration easier. 

We’re also rolling out: 

• AI-powered live support. Compt’s new Support Assistant uses advanced AI to provide fast, accurate help within the platform. We held off on implementing a support chatbot for a long time because we didn’t want to compromise the employee experience, and we’re seriously impressed by the quality and accuracy of our new Support Assistant. But never fear — a human member of our Support team is always one click away if needed. 
• Detailed expense views. Click any row of the reporting table to view complete expense details in context. 
• New “Client” field for business expenses. Track client-related spending by adding this optional field in your Business Expense Settings. 
• Enabled multiple attachments for professional development. Employees of Compt customers can now add multiple receipts or certificates to a single professional development reimbursement request, which is especially helpful for course bundles or conferences. 

The latest employee benefits data shows that simplicity wins. 

These improvements reflect what we’re seeing across the market: HR and Finance teams are actively streamlining and consolidating their tech stacks to save money and provide tools and benefits that employees will actually like and use.

Recent research underscores this trend. According to HR.com’s State of Today’s HR Tech Stack and Integrations report, 73% of organizations with well-integrated HR technology say those tools have improved overall productivity, and 69% report higher HR efficiency as a result. Meanwhile, 85% of HR leaders say they’re under pressure to consolidate their HR technology and reduce spend. 

Compt’s own data shows the same story in action: As of midyear 2025, average stipend funding increased by more than $170 per employee year over year, and average program participation continues to exceed 90%. When HR tools and benefits programs are easy to use, supportive of employee choice and personalization, comprehensive, and integrated, adoption naturally follows — along with measurable improvements in employee engagement and HR admin efficiency.

Each of these product enhancements helps bring that vision closer: a compliant, automated lifestyle benefits experience that supports both HR and employees. 

Build the future of employee experience with Compt.

Join the growing number of companies shifting to consolidated, choice-driven benefits. Compt helps you manage every stipend, reimbursement, recognition program, and business expense in one streamlined platform that’s simple to use, IRS compliant, and built for how people work today.

Ready to see for yourself? Request a demo.

FAQ: November 2025 Compt product updates

The post What’s New in Compt: Product Updates, November 2025 appeared first on COMPT.

Compt, the best lifestyle benefits platform for personalized employee stipends and perks, and Snappy, the leading corporate gifting platform, today announced their partnership and the launch of the Company Swag Store — giving companies a free, fully branded and on-demand online store combined with a free swag stipend that employees can use to choose the branded gear they actually want.

Compt enables HR teams to deliver flexible, tax-compliant stipends across categories like wellness, professional development, family, and recognition. Snappy enables companies to create memorable, branded moments with personalized gifts, produced and shipped on demand. This is the first integrated solution that links stipends with a print-on-demand company swag store.

The free* Company Swag Store + Swag Stipend product brings these strengths together: HR can launch a fully branded store in minutes, employees get ongoing access to choose swag anytime, and everything integrates seamlessly into Compt’s stipend and recognition platform.

Swag made simple: branded items, employees order, store to door

Traditional swag programs require HR to manage bulk orders, track sizes, store inventory, and ship boxes, often resulting in unused closets of merch, wasted spend, and countless hours spent on facilitating shipping. At the same time, employees rarely connect with generic gear or gift cards.

With the Company Swag Store, HR selects products and sets a swag stipend, while employees shop on demand. Snappy produces and ships items directly, eliminating the need for HR to manage fulfillment or inventory. In other words, Compt and Snappy give HR the best way to set up an end-to-end swag program that lets employees spend their swag stipends on branded products without managing closets of merch.

Top Company Swag Store options and use cases

• Culture and community building: Always-on access to swag, purchased with stipend (or personal) funds, helps employees show pride in their company year-round.
• Onboarding: Day-one swag and a stipend help new hires feel connected from the start — a simple policy for onboarding that works just as well for global or remote teams.
• Recognition: Automate stipends and celebrate anniversaries, birthdays, and new hires with personalized gear.
• Distributed teams: Employees across locations can access the same branded perks, ensuring consistency and inclusion.
• Uniforms: Give front-line and customer-facing teams the branded gear they need to represent your company every day.

Everything runs inside Compt, eliminating the need for HR to act as a fulfillment center.

Best way to launch a free Company Swag Store 

The Company Swag Store is free for all Compt customers, with no subscription fees. Companies only pay when employees order, plus a one-time $500 setup fee for payroll integration. Because everything is tax-compliant and automated, HR saves hours while budgets stay predictable, making this the best way to budget for branded merchandise alongside other wellness or recognition stipends.  

“Too many HR leaders are stuck wasting time and money managing swag no one uses,” said Amy Spurling, Founder and CEO of Compt. “With Snappy, we’ve built a turnkey way to build culture and celebrate employees with branded gear they’ll actually want.”

Stores come stocked with 80+ high-quality items, including hoodies, hats, water bottles, backpacks, tech gear, and more. The catalog is always growing, so employees never run out of options.

“Snappy Stores empower HR professionals to bring culture to life. From branded
collections that reinforce identity to personalized campaigns for milestones, Stores create pride, belonging, and connection throughout the employee journey, no matter where employees are.”

— Hamutal Oren-Fox, Chief People Officer, Snappy

FAQs: Company Swag Store + Swag Stipends

See how the Compt + Snappy Company Swag Store works

Get started with a quick call with the Compt team to explore the first free company swag store powered by stipends. It’s the easiest way to link swag stores to lifestyle stipends and benefits, give employees print-on-demand swag credits, and manage everything in one tax-compliant platform.

Need buy-in first? Download our one-pager to share with your team.

About Compt

Compt is the global lifestyle benefits platform trusted by companies in all 50 states and 75+ countries. Compt’s flexible, easy-to-use, tax-compliant platform helps HR teams deliver stipends across wellness, professional development, family, commuter, recognition, and more. For more information, visit www.compt.io.

About Snappy

Snappy is a leading corporate gifting platform that helps organizations drive engagement, retention, and business growth through thoughtful, scalable gifting. Trusted by over half of the Fortune 100, Snappy has delivered over 7 million gifts to 176+ countries. Snappy’s gifting platform supports use cases across employee, customer, and prospect lifecycles, offering curated gift collections, branded swag, global experiences, and gifting APIs. Founded in 2015, Snappy is a series D company that continues to redefine how businesses build meaningful connections through gifting.

The post Compt and Snappy Launch First Free Company Swag Store + Swag Stipend for HR and Employees appeared first on COMPT.

The report analyzes stipend and Lifestyle Spending Account (LSA) data from January through June 2025 across industries and company sizes. Its findings underscore a clear trend: employers are consolidating perk spend, expanding flexibility, and prioritizing benefits that meet employees’ real-life needs — even as salary budgets remain flat.

A closer look at 2025 midyear trends

• All-Inclusive LSAs dominate: 65% of employers now offer Lifestyle Spending Accounts (LSAs), with 77% funded quarterly. These programs consolidate benefits into a single, flexible budget that employees actually use.
• Employees choose local: 70% of stipend dollars were spent at niche vendors and local and independent businesses rather than major retailers like Amazon or Walmart, reinforcing the impact of flexible, reimbursement-based models over limited vendor marketplaces.
• Professional development surges: 99% of professional development stipends are now annual, with spend flowing to books (19%), AI and emerging tech tools (15%), and courses (9%). The rise of AI stipends points to a major 2026 planning opportunity.
• Regional gains across the U.S.: The West led stipend funding with $1,514 per employee while the Midwest climbed nearly 20% to $754, showing every region is investing more in lifestyle benefits despite economic pressures.

“Flat salary budgets don’t mean you stop investing in people. It just means you have to be smarter about it,” said Amy Spurling, Compt’s Founder and CEO. “Benefits that fit real lives (stipends for gym reimbursements, groceries, childcare, AI skills) are the difference between employees who stay and thrive and employees who leave.”

Other key findings and implications for business leaders

Beyond the headline increase in stipend funding, the report paints a picture of how benefits are evolving in real time. Small companies continue to outspend their larger peers, investing $1,716 per employee (more than double the amount at large organizations). Meanwhile, every region of the U.S. saw an uptick in benefits funding, with the West topping the list at $1,514 per employee and the Midwest making its strongest showing yet with nearly 20% YoY growth.

Equally telling is how employees are using those dollars. While 78% of current spending remains taxable, employers are steadily expanding into nontaxable categories, like cell phone, internet, and student loan repayment, to stretch budgets further.

Taken together, these shifts make the implications for HR and Finance clear: employees want benefits that feel personal, predictable, and future-focused. The playbook for 2026 is consolidation through all-inclusive Lifestyle Spending Accounts (LSAs), consistency through quarterly funding, and forward-looking investments in professional growth and financial wellness.

Download the benchmark report

About Compt

Compt is a global lifestyle benefits platform, trusted by companies in all 50 states and over 75 countries. Compt’s flexible, easy-to-use, tax-compliant platform helps companies offer a broad range of stipend categories, including wellness, professional development, family building, commuter, LSAs, and more.

The post 2025 Midyear Benchmark: Employee Stipend Funding Climbs to $1,029 Per Employee appeared first on COMPT.

But when it comes to stipends and Lifestyle Spending Accounts (LSAs), features built for Finance teams are just as critical. They’re thinking about budgets, compliance, audits, and cash flow.

Before I founded Compt, I served as a three-time CFO and two-time COO across several high-growth companies. I was the one fielding software requests, asking the tough questions around budgets, compliance, security, and scalability. And I built Compt to answer them. We’ve intentionally built our platform to meet Finance’s unique needs — so they don’t just tolerate a benefits platform, they prefer it.

Here are eight examples of how we’ve embedded Finance-first thinking into our functionality:

1. Cash Flow Planning with Engagement + Spend Timing Insights

What it is: On the dashboard, Finance can see not just how engaged employees are with stipends—but when they’re spending.

Why Finance loves it: This helps with cash flow planning by surfacing monthly, quarterly, and annual spend patterns. Finance can proactively manage outflows and avoid end-of-year budget chaos (like a $15M stipend budget being used all in December).

2. Download All Receipts Instantly (Perfect for Audits)

What it is: A single-click export of all past receipts, including audit-trail-ready detail on each spend.

Why Finance loves it: It eliminates the scramble during audits. Auditors (with dedicated permissions!) can self-serve, retrieve documentation, and validate every expense’s accuracy — without Finance needing to store, manage, or chase down files.

3. Built-in Budget Accrual and Use-It-Or-Lose-It Logic

What it is: Custom rules that define how and when funds accrue, with clear controls over spend timeframes.

Why Finance loves it: It allows for clear liability tracking and cash planning. For example, with quarterly accruals, Finance only exposes a portion of the annual budget at a time — and use-it-or-lose-it rules prevent liabilities from building up on the balance sheet.

How it works: Below are the three budget accrual options:

1. Upfront: Employees get the full stipend amount at the beginning of the cycle.
   
   Example: For a $300/quarter stipend, they would get $300 on the first day of the quarter. If a new employee joins in the middle of the quarter, they would still get $300.
   
2. Upfront with Prorating: New employees get a proportional amount if they join after the cycle starts. When launching this type of stipend, all existing, eligible employees will get the full amount of the stipend.
   
   Example 1: For a $300/quarter stipend starting on January 1st, all eligible employees will receive $300 on January 1st. An employee who joins on February 1st would get $200 for that quarter.
   
   Example 2: For a $1,200/year annual stipend starting on July 1st, all eligible employees will receive $600 on July 1st. An employee who joins on August 1st will receive $500.
   
3. Monthly Accrual: Employees accrue their stipend balance as each month passes.
   
   Example: For a $300/quarter stipend starting January 1st, they would get $100 on January 1st and then get an additional $100 added to their balance on February 1st and March 1st.

4. Group-Based Stipends with Country-Specific Currency Support

What it is: Segment employees into custom groups (by country, employment status, etc.) and set stipend values in local currencies.

Why Finance loves it: It removes messy manual conversions. For international teams, each group sees and spends in local currency — no surprise calculations.

5. Automatic Taxability + Limits

What it is: We auto-classify taxable vs. non-taxable benefits and enforce IRS thresholds.

Why Finance loves it: Finance doesn’t have to download reports, determine which items are taxable, or claw back payroll dollars later. For example, if an employee spends over the $5,250 allowed for education assistance, we automatically tax the overage.

6. Payroll Integration That Respects Individual Tax Rates

What it is: We integrate directly with payroll to manage reimbursements and taxability at the individual employee level.

Why Finance loves it: Every employee may have different withholdings, tax statuses, or exemptions. Compt provides a clear report of each employees spending amount and stipend taxability, so your payroll system can apply the appropriate tax treatment based on individual employee profiles. That means accurate W-2s without manual back-end corrections or guesswork.

7. Employees Can’t Overspend Their Budget

What it is: Compt enforces stipend limits.

Why Finance loves it: No surprises. No manual math. If an employee has $793 left and submits a $1,000 receipt, they’ll only be reimbursed for the amount they have left ($793). It’s built-in budget control, without awkward rejections.

8. Full Visibility into Approval Flows + Receipts

What it is: Employees must provide receipts, confirm details, and (optionally) provide additional documentation.

Why Finance loves it: Fraud prevention is built into the process — before money ever leaves the company. Plus, with receipt reviews, there’s always a clear record of what was spent, by whom, and why.

Bonus: Transparent Employee View = Fewer Questions for Payroll

What it is: Employees can track the status of every claim — knowing exactly where their submissions are in process from submitted from pending, processed, or rejection.

Why Finance loves it: Employees self-serve and know exactly where things stand, reducing interruptions and manual audits. Plus, less “Did you pay me yet?” questions.

Built for Finance and HR Teams

Behind every clean, intuitive front-end experience in Compt is a deep well of compliance, budget optimization, and risk-reduction features. This is about better lifestyle benefits for employees, in a platform that Finance can trust.

Schedule a demo of Compt today.

The post 8 Powerful Features We Built With Finance in Mind (That HR Also Loves) appeared first on COMPT.

That’s when we knew we had to build something to make professional development management better. A comprehensive solution to transform the way administrators and employees alike handle professional development. 

And today, we’re announcing the launch of Professional Development Pro™ to do just that.

Our comprehensive solution transforms how organizations manage, track, and optimize their professional development programs. Our product addresses two critical challenges facing organizations today: the burden of scattered, manual program administration and the difficulty of suggesting personalized and relevant learning opportunities for all employees.

Our customers have been helping us build and refine our new product to get it ready for you. Here’s a closer look at Professional Development Pro™ by Compt.

A Centralized Hub for Professional Development Management

Managing professional development programs has traditionally been a labor-intensive process involving multiple spreadsheets, endless email chains, and complex budget tracking across departments and regions. Compt Professional Development Pro™ eliminates these inefficiencies through:

Centralized Program Management

• One single source of truth that brings all of your requests, approvals, reimbursements, communication, audit logs, and budget tracking together.

Flexible Budget Management & Control

• Multiple budgeting approaches: individual, shared department, or case-by-case review
• Multi-level budget segmentation by role, department, region, and other custom parameters
• Multi-currency support for global organizations
• Real-time budget tracking with flexible override capabilities

Automated Approval Workflows

• Direct integration with your HRIS for automatic manager routing
• Optional secondary approvers and backup approver functionality
• Centralized communication with complete audit trails
• Configurable approval expiration settings

Compliant & Streamlined Systems

• Payroll integrations for seamless reimbursements
• Built-in tax compliance categorization for simple payroll processing
• Customizable request forms for both pre-approval and reimbursement
• Comprehensive reporting and analytics

Introducing Recommendations: A new way to learn from your professional community

Beyond streamlining administration, we’re excited to introduce our groundbreaking Recommendations feature, designed to help employees make informed decisions about their professional development investments by:

• Showcasing ratings and reviews of learning experiences based on real spending from people in similar roles
• Providing real user ratings and reviews upon completion
• Highlighting trending courses and programs within your professional community
• Enabling knowledge sharing across departments and regions with the ability to turn on cross-company learning

This social learning component not only helps employees discover valuable learning opportunities but also ensures your organization’s learning investments deliver maximum value.

Built for Scale and Compliance

Professional Development Pro™ is specifically designed for medium to large organizations, offering:

• Flexible architecture to support all types of learning programs, from tuition reimbursement to skill certifications
• Enterprise-grade security and compliance features
• Seamless integration with existing HRIS and payroll systems
• Comprehensive audit trails for all transactions
• Built-in tax compliance support with automatic categorization

Getting Started

Ready to transform your professional development program? Visit Professional Development Pro™ to see an interactive demo or request a personalized walkthrough.

Welcome to a new era of professional development management.

The post Introducing Professional Development Pro™: Transforming How Organizations Manage Learning Programs appeared first on COMPT.

“It’s inspiring to see companies finally solving the support gap for their workforce, and one of the main reasons I started Compt,” said Amy Spurling, founder and CEO of Compt. “When employees can use benefits for what they actually need, from mental health support to childcare, they don’t just appreciate it—they use it. And the data backs this up.”

Key Findings:

• Health and wellness (18%), food (17%), and ‘treat yourself’ (13%) make up nearly half of all stipend spending, reflecting core everyday needs.
• Caregiving support saw a 300% increase as companies responded to mounting pressure—with childcare costs averaging $18,000+ in 2023 and 73% of employees reporting caregiving responsibilities.
• Despite inflation pressures, employees are actively investing in their well-being, with 71% choosing specialized providers and local vendors over major retailers.
• Quarterly stipends dominate benefit delivery at 66%, showing employees value regular, predictable support.

The 2025 employee benefits data, analyzed from a full year of transactions, span 65,000+ unique vendors globally, which suggests a clear evolution in benefits strategy. When given flexibility, employees actively invest in their well-being — from mental health support to family care. Compt customers, in particular, are seeing, on average, 94% participation from employees, which contrasts sharply with traditionally low participation rates of standard benefits packages.

“Compt has been instrumental for us to be able to increase employee satisfaction and utilization rates far higher than we could have ever achieved with our old perks approach.”

Melissa Salcius, Director of People Operations at Fictiv.

The Impact in Action 

While the 2025 employee benefits data shows strong participation, employee stories highlight the true power of flexible benefits. A sampling of anonymized customer claims demonstrates exactly how benefits supported employees in their time of need:

• “529 contributions for my kid.”
• “Portion of rent.”
• “Security camera for viewing my elderly father at his home for safety.”
• “Pampered spa time with my daughter I hardly ever get to spend time with. She lives 1,600 miles away.”

“The high participation and dramatic shifts in spending tell us something crucial about the future of benefits,” Spurling continued. “Employees look to their employers for real support in managing their lives and caring for their families. Companies that understand this are seeing unprecedented engagement.”

Download the Full Report Here

About Compt

Compt is a global lifestyle benefits platform where companies empower employees with benefits and rewards they’ll use and appreciate — whoever and wherever they are in life. Compt’s flexible, easy-to-use, tax-compliant platform supports employees in all 50 states and more than 75 countries, offering a broad range of categories from wellness to professional development. For more information, please visit www.compt.io.

Media Contact

Lauren Schneider
Head of Brand and Communications
Compt
lauren@compt.io

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The post Compt Unveils 2025 Employee Benefits Data: 60% Health and Wellness Utilization Signals Market Shift appeared first on COMPT.

A Closer Look at Regional Differences:

The 2024 report highlights the dramatic variation in stipend budgets across the United States, with the West leading the way with a 14% budget increase from 2023 to 2024, while the Midwest lags significantly behind. There is a 292% difference in budgets between the West and Midwest, with the Midwest trailing behind. This underscores the growing economic divide between regions and raises important questions about how companies can tailor their benefits strategies to meet regional needs.

“The regional disparity we’re seeing in stipend budgets is a wake-up call for businesses to rethink their compensation strategies. By recognizing and addressing these differences, companies can better support their diverse workforces and, ultimately, drive greater satisfaction and productivity,” said Amy Spurling, founder and CEO of Compt.

Other Key Findings:

• Diverse Vendor Usage: Despite regional differences, employees across the country are leveraging their lifestyle benefit stipends to access a wide array of spends, with over 37,000 different vendors accessed in the first half of 2024. This trend reflects the increasing demand for personalization and flexibility in employee benefits.
• Small Firms Increase Spend: Small companies (with fewer than 100 employees) have increased their stipend budgets by nearly 14% as they seek to attract and retain top talent in a competitive job market. This contrasts with mid-sized companies, which have slightly decreased their budgets, likely due to economic pressures.
• Shifting Employee Priorities: The report also notes a shift in employee spending, with increased emphasis on self-care and personal well-being. Categories like “treat yourself” saw a 3% increase from 2023, while traditional categories such as health & wellness and family experienced slight declines. This shift highlights the evolving expectations of today’s workforce, where personal wellness is increasingly prioritized.

Download the Full Report: Access the complete study here.

Implications for HR and Business Strategy:

The findings of Compt’s report have far-reaching implications for companies looking to optimize their benefits programs. In particular, the data indicates that personalization, regional customization, and employee well-being will be key drivers in the future of benefits programs. As businesses adapt, they must consider how to offer flexible, inclusive benefits that resonate with a diverse and evolving workforce. Companies that anticipate these shifts and tailor their strategies accordingly will be better positioned to attract and retain top talent in a competitive market. 

People leaders are encouraged to explore the full report and consider how this data can inform their benefits strategies for the second half of 2024 and beyond.

About Compt

Compt is a global lifestyle benefits platform where companies empower employees with benefits and rewards they’ll use and appreciate – whoever and wherever they are in life. Compt’s easy-to-use, tax-compliant platform supports employees in all 50 states and more than 70 countries, offering a broad range of categories from wellness to professional development. For more information, please visit www.compt.io.

Media Contact

Lauren Schneider

Head of Brand and Communications

Compt

lauren@compt.io

267-228-3756

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The post Compt’s 2024 Mid-Year Benchmark Report Unveils 292% Regional Disparity in Employee Stipend Budgets, Highlighting Economic Divide appeared first on COMPT.