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, stu­dent loan pay-off 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, stu­dent loan repay­ment, 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?

Fund­ing
Uti­liza­tion
Engage­ment
$0-$24/mo
62%
86%
$25-$49/mo
64%

91%

$50-$99/mo
78%
95%
$100+/mo
88%
96%

Uti­liza­tion = Employ­ees who have spent their points

Engage­ment = Employ­ees who have logged in but haven’t spent their points yet. Typ­i­cal­ly, because they’re sav­ing them for a big­ger purchase.

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. Excep­tions include tax-pro­tect­ed ben­e­fit options, includ­ing stu­dent loan repay­ment and char­i­ta­ble contributions.

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!

Can’t find an answer to your question?

Talk to Sales.

Get tech­ni­cal support.

Ques­tions about ven­dors on the platform?