2023 Request for Start-ups (RFS)

HR Tech

Workplace connectivity and digital employee experience (DEX) will be a major focus for organizations in the coming year, as many incorporate learnings from experiments with remote/hybrid budgets and policies since the beginning of the pandemic.

Verticalized intranet

• 57% of employees see no purpose in their company intranet. Company intranets developed in the ‘90s, mainly to broadcast company-wide information and display employee data. While these platforms have evolved to include knowledge bases, different industries utilize various communication tools to surface company insights to the right people. A vertical-specific approach to this problem that embeds into existing knowledge-sharing workflows can drive greater employee collaboration.

Workplace scenario analysis

• 44% of U.S. employees prefer a hybrid work model, compared to 51% of employers, but there’s no one size fits all approach. Many tools help companies with office management, remote collaboration, and hybrid work, but it’s still difficult to identify the implications of each model. A platform that connects to productivity tools and layers on assumptions like a financial model can offer scenarios for leadership to evaluate as their workplace structure evolves.

Employee resource group enablement

• About 90% of Fortune 500 companies support employee resource groups (ERGs) in their organization. However, there’s no unified way to help ERGs get set up and scale within organizations. A solution that offers both creation and management of these groups can accelerate a stronger sense of belonging and inclusiveness within a company.

Fintech

2022 was a historical year for fintech, as the U.S. Fed raised interest rates by 2.36% over just a 6-month span. As we dive into 2023, many businesses are still adjusting to rapidly changing financial conditions, and looking to find savings where possible across major expense categories.

Payroll financing

• $9.7T of payroll is run every year in the U.S., representing one of the largest expenses for a business. Many businesses benefitted from the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) during the height of the pandemic, but there are few lenders that offer unique financing options focused on paying employees. A platform that offers a revolver for payroll could allow people-intensive businesses to match their payments with receivables and reduce working capital gaps.

Billing seats management

• The average business has around 110 SaaS tools, many of which use a seat model. Over time, it’s difficult to track how many seats you have allocated to various tools and who they’re assigned to. Creating a centralized platform to increase visibility in SaaS seat allocations, and even manage payments, can unlock long-term cost efficiencies for scaling organizations.

Local tax credits

• While businesses redeem billions of federal tax credits every year from the IRS, the 89,000 municipalities and counties in the United States often have SMB tax incentives that local companies can benefit from. However, identifying and applying for these credits can take up a lot of an SMB’s time and, frequently, their accountants aren’t even aware the opportunities exist. Utilizing data from various business systems, a next-generation local tax credit platform could unlock millions of dollars for SMBs while building a deeper relationship with their local governments.

Benefits

Employees take into account ancillary benefits as part of their decision to join or stay at a company. Depending on the key characteristics of a workforce, expanding offerings beyond traditional retirement and health benefits can go a long way.

Childcare benefits

• More than half of U.S. parents spend more than 20% of their income on childcare. These benefits are available at some large companies, but they have yet to proliferate amongst smaller organizations that better align with the needs of employees who are parents. Building a comprehensive childcare benefits product could allow companies to reduce the stress that comes with parenting, which can translate to better employee happiness and productivity.

Pet insurance benefits

• 85M (about 67%) of households in the U.S. own pets, and insurance can cost anywhere between $15 to $50+ per month. For many, pets are an extension of their family, and their health is top of mind. Full pet lifecycle coverage, subsidized by employers, can dramatically reduce the stress of vet visits and emergency procedures for employees.

Career development benefits

• Learning and development is an expanding budget item as more organizations look to uplevel their employees with new training programs. Consolidating coaching, skill-building programs, and internal training into a connected platform can allow company leadership to understand where investments in their people are yielding the greatest results.

Register for a test account now to see how Finch can help you integrate with more than 180 tools across HR tech, fintech and benefits, so your startup can focus on building product, rather than be bogged down by messy integrations.