Cocoon’s leave management system vs. the single-rep model
How a SaaS approach to leave management compares with the increasingly outdated “white-glove” model.
August 23, 2023
Nikki Henderson
Writer
Customers sometimes tell us they feel hesitant leaving something as personal and emotional as leave “up to software.” But the reality is that even if you’re paying for a rep-based “white glove” service, that doesn’t mean your employees are getting the attention and service you might think. Even if they are, it’s undeniable that software can automate compliance monitoring, reconcile eligibility requirements, and tackle payroll calculations and do so quickly with less room for error.
Here’s a side by side comparison of what to expect with Cocoon’s leave management software versus the traditional leave provider experience.
For employees taking leave:
Planning and announcing your leave
Talking to your HR team to request your leave is nerve-wracking enough, especially if you don’t understand the company policies, state laws, and general options for your leave. From there, dialing up a stranger who will become your new leave of absence manager on a 1-800 line, to begin to piece together your leave sounds unthinkable. Pre-planning in Cocoon means you can start seeing timelines and options before you tell anyone and go into that conversation with confidence.
“Employees love that there’s automation and interactive forms in the app so they can just plug stuff in and start planning. But they also feel that Cocoon gives the right amount of hand-holding when you need it.” — Melanie Wagner, Senior Manager of People Operations at Hatch
Determining your eligibility
When it comes to leave compliance, you don’t want to be at the mercy of how knowledgeable a rep happens to be about federal and state leave laws, and then hope that they can reconcile them with your company’s policies perfectly on schedule. This can lead to noncompliance or miscommunications — both with serious potential legal and/or economic impacts. Knowing they’re baked in with Cocoon helps you start off compliant and stay there — and if anything falls out of place, you’ll get notified immediately.
“It's just not feasible to have a person on site to manage the number of leaves, then beyond that, someone who understands every state's differing compliance regulations. We’re grateful for partners like Cocoon thinking about the employee experience whether it’s their first or second time." — Payroll Team Lead, Cocoon customer
Filing state and disability claims
Without Cocoon, filing claims either means passing power of attorney and intimate details to your leave rep or simply going it alone. Either way, nobody takes you through the process in real time nor shows you what’s next. Cocoon lights your path, walking you through the claim filing process with education and automation to save time and reduce the risk of errors causing endless follow-ups, while keeping you in the know about what’s due, when, and how to submit it.
"Cocoon puts a leave taker in the driver's seat — making a process that can often feel ambiguous and tedious more streamlined and simplistic!" — People Team Lead, Cocoon customer
Understanding leave pay
Knowing when, how much, and from where you’re getting paid is often one of the most stressful parts of leave — not only because you might not know how you’re going to pay bills, but also because you’re likely wrapped up in whatever prompted the leave in the first place. Being in the hospital or at home with a new baby is not the appropriate time to call someone wondering where your latest paycheck is. Cocoon wants you to know before, during, and after you get paid so you can plan accordingly.
“While I was on leave with a new baby the joke was, “Choose two: eat, sleep, or shower,” and I was instead building spreadsheets to show what I was owed.” — New parent before using Cocoon
Getting support along the way
The “one-on-one” experience you think you’re getting with a service rep isn’t for emotional support, it’s likely about logistics that would be automated for you already in Cocoon. We see that software taking care of the logistically sticky parts of leave management tends to resolve a lot of the issues that prompt you to need additional support in the first place. If not, we’re still only an email or phone call away with a team of specialized experts. The experiences of our Support team go on to constantly improve our product and education — something that doesn’t get codified at a rep-based company.
“I just wanted to take a minute to say how thrilled I’ve been with Cocoon. I’ve talked to so many other parents navigating the parental leave process right now and they’ve all had such a difficult time, but you’ve made it absolutely seamless." — Customer feedback survey response
For employers and People teams:
Reporting capabilities
Information that gets cobbled together manually and relies on you requesting it is prone to inaccuracies and delays. With Cocoon’s Admin Dashboard data at hand, you can actually measure the ROI not just of Cocoon software, but of your leave program in general: how many benefits were recovered, policy utilization metrics, average leave length, etc. — ultimately giving you an advantage in strategic planning, measuring company savings, and demonstrating the efficacy of your leave program.
“It was really helpful when we went through renewal to make the case for finance… to [say] ‘we’ve actually saved this much money that we would have had to pay in salary.’” — HR Admin at a 2,000-person software company.
Calculating payments for questions and compliance
Leave-takers rightfully get quite stressed and confused about their pay situation while on leave — with lots of questions that People teams need to be able to answer quickly and correctly. You also need to understand how your policy overlaps with other legal obligations and statutory benefits to ensure compliance and for proper accounting of them. If you’re operating in multiple states, this only gets more complicated and crucial. With Pay Insights, you get a breakdown of all payments made or to be made to anyone on leave across several categories so you can answer questions, stay compliant, and forecast future leaves, without having to calculate it yourself.
