The question of whether the meal allowance could be integrated had a lot of weight in the decision, because it allowed us to combine multiple suppliers into a single one, which, in what comes to bureaucracy, greatly facilitates the process.
Open, with a mindset that’s focused on innovation, and an environment of freedom for people to try new things, be proactive and responsible. Describing the culture of Kelvin in a nutshell, this is how Miguel Madeira, Head of People Operations of the company, distinguishes it. It is these factors that maintain cohesion when it comes to the team of 55 people spread across three continents.
Founded in 2013, headquartered in the United States and with a culture of international diversity, Kelvin’s team has employees spread across several locations in their country of origin, some of them in Australia and half of them in Portugal, specifically in Braga. “The company came to Portugal with very few people: we started with one, then three and, while Kelvin was trying to figure out which way to go in regards to software, the product’s development was solidifying the team here”, says Miguel Madeira.
In what comes to recruitment, Kelvin does not hire many junior employees as having a reduced team also means little ability for mentorship. The tech company thus creates an environment of experienced people, who bring new things to the table, activity and a lot of independence.
Due to having a small team, the benefits’ topic was carefully handled, as was talent recruitment. “We had different benefits in different countries, managed by the company. In the case of Portugal, we already covered gym, insurance, mobile phone and things like massages, which, all together, made an interesting cake in terms of benefits, but they were managed by the company, and locally”, explains the Head of People Operations.
Therefore, when Miguel started to search for flexible compensation solutions, the idea was to move the most bureaucratic part of benefits’ management - protocols, invoices - on the one hand and, on the other, bet on giving more freedom to employees to choose what best suited their needs. This search process was something the company did globally to then adopt local solutions in the respective markets. “In the United States we chose a partner and, through a common contact, Coverflex came to light for Portugal, which fit more accurately with what we were looking for in terms of benefits, flexibility, even administrative management. (...) The question of whether the meal allowance could be integrated had a lot of weight in the decision, because it allowed us to combine multiple suppliers into a single one, which, in what comes to bureaucracy, greatly facilitates the process ”, he recalls.
“In an international company, with several offices, we always end up having micro cultures. There are things that vary from one location to another - things like jokes, narratives, the way people relate with each other and interact”, points out Miguel. Adapted to the needs, Coverflex turned out to be the solution that was missing to embrace diversity as a driving force.
From the simplicity of the onboarding process on the platform to the use of the app, Coverflex is described as “user friendly” by Miguel. “The use of the card has become natural and fluid on a daily basis, and the app has streamlined the reimbursement processes. The separation between meals and benefits is interesting and allows for a better control of the expenses by category. The consultation of the expenses history is simple and concise”, points out Ricardo Vieira, Software Engineer at Kelvin.
For Sara Araújo, Test Engineer at Kelvin, Coverflex was a “complete novelty”. “In addition to having already heard about the 'meal cards', I was very interested in having the Coverflex card because the idea of having those benefits and being able to spend them in different fields such as technology, health and well-being, gyms, among others, was very attractive”, she says. At the top of the preferences is the flexible benefits’ feature. Sara Araújo explains this better: “being able to use the benefit that the company offers in different fields such as health in pharmacies, gym, and technology is what I like most about the card”.
This story was first published on the Coverflex blog in July 2021.