What's the Work-Life Balance Like at Basis?

How has Basis Technologies adapted its compensation and benefits to meet the ever-changing priorities of workers? What unique offerings set you apart?

At Basis, we understand that employee needs are continually evolving. What mattered to our Beeps before the pandemic has changed significantly. As our workforce ages and as we adapt to a new work environment, we’ve transitioned from traditional office perks like beer pong and happy hours to more relevant support systems such as a Working Parent ERG and retirement planning.

Our shift to a fully remote work environment with flexible arrangements reflects our commitment to enhancing work-life balance. We’ve also updated our compensation strategies to align with major metropolitan areas where our employees are based, rather than the locations of our old offices.

To support a healthy work-life blend, we’ve introduced a range of benefits designed to meet our employees’ needs. These include virtual urgent care, virtual primary care, virtual meditation and virtual therapy services. Additionally, we’ve replaced our gym reimbursement program with a lifestyle spending account, offering greater flexibility and a broader range of options for our Beeps.

How does your compensation strategy support work-life balance and career advancement? 

At Basis, our compensation strategy is thoughtfully designed to enhance both work-life balance and career advancement, ensuring a well-rounded and motivated workforce. To support work-life balance, we offer flexible work arrangements, including the option to work remotely with a four and a half-day work week and flexible hours. Our unlimited paid time off policy includes a three-week sabbatical every four years, one day annually for community service, mental health days to combat burnout, jury duty leave, bereavement leave, Election Day off to facilitate voting and traditional vacation time. For those in need of parental support, we provide 16 weeks of paid leave for child-bearing parents and eight weeks for non-child-bearing parents.

In terms of career advancement, Basis is dedicated to employee growth through various professional development opportunities. We offer equity grants to all new hires and provide additional grants at key career milestones, ensuring that our employees have a stake in the company’s success. Additionally, our lifestyle spending account supports a wide range of needs — from fitness and mental health to education and personal development — allowing employees to tailor their benefits to their individual circumstances. By integrating these comprehensive programs, Basis fosters an environment where employees can thrive both personally and professionally.

Share your principle for sustainable pace — and the signal that proves it works for your team?

At Basis, sustainable pace comes down to two ideas we hold together: “Breathe” and “Work Ethic Wins.” We hire smart, capable adults, and we’re clear about what we need them to accomplish. From there, we trust them to determine how and when the work gets done, because we genuinely believe results matter more than where someone is sitting or what hours they’re keeping. That belief shows up in how we operate, from not having a “clock-in, clock-out” culture, to “Flex Fridays,” to “Ferris Bueller Days” for when life happens, to generous FTO and sabbaticals. 

When it comes to knowing whether it’s working, we look closely at our internal engagement scores and pulse surveys throughout the year, because they tell us how our people are actually experiencing flexibility, autonomy and trust. The external recognition has been just as meaningful. We’ve been named a Best Place to Work by Ad Age three years in a row, one of Purpose Jobs’ Best Remote Companies for 2026, and Most Committed to Work-Life Balance by Digiday two years running. We don’t do this for the awards, but when others confirm the culture we’re building, that means a great deal to us.

Which policy or norm makes flexible working arrangements succeed — and how do you measure its impact?

The most important thing for us is that we’re a remote-first company built on the belief that flexibility has to work in both directions, where we flex with our people and trust that they’ll flex with us when the business needs it. I couldn’t point to one single policy because it’s really about how we operate together, setting clear expectations, coaching managers to coordinate closely with their teams and making sure work is always covered no matter who is out. Our FTO is the clearest example because it’s genuinely generous and rooted in trust, but it’s not unlimited, and every request goes through a manager we’ve coached to balance their people’s needs with the business. For impact, I look at a few things together. Our engagement data tells us how people feel about flexibility, manager trust and their own productivity, and it consistently shows flexibility helps rather than hurts.

Which wellness resource do people actually use — and what improvement have you seen on your team?

The two resources I’d call out are our sabbatical and “Flex Funds” programs, both of which get used because they give our employees real ownership over what taking care of themselves looks like. Our sabbatical gives people three full weeks to unplug, and while we ask people to plan ahead so their teams are covered, the time itself is genuinely theirs to rest, travel, or step away and return with a clearer head. On my team, when one of my leaders took her sabbatical, someone else stepped into a stretch project and ran with it. When she came back, she was rested and creative, and we also had a teammate who’d proven she was ready for more.

Flex Funds get used so widely because it’s a flexible lifestyle spending account our employees can put toward whatever well-being means in their own life, from a gym membership to professional development to fitness classes. We try hard not to dictate what wellness has to look like. An honorable mention goes to Headspace, which is free for every employee and combines meditation, sleep support and on-demand coaching in one app, making it one of the perks our employees enjoy the most!