Stride Launches First-Ever Independent Worker Contributions Program for Portable Benefits

By PR Newswire On Apr 4, 2024

The program enables companies with independent workers to make contributions into an individual’s portable benefits savings account, which the worker can then apply to health or other insurance coverage as well as financial benefits like emergency savings, time-off, sick leave, or long-term savings.

Stride, the pioneer in portable benefits technology, announced the launch of its Stride Contributions program alongside the program’s first client DoorDash. The first-of-its-kind program enables companies with independent workers to make contributions into an individual’s portable benefits savings account, which the worker can then apply to health or other insurance coverage as well as financial benefits like emergency savings, time-off, sick leave, or long-term savings. Stride’s platform now solves for the top three benefit needs of independent workers: health coverage, tax support and savings — with the added support of contributions from companies.

“DoorDash’s new pilot program for Pennsylvania Dashers is a positive step forward, as it can give Pennsylvania workers greater access to benefits,” said Governor Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania. “My Administration looks forward to seeing the results of this program, and we will continue working to protect and expand the rights of all workers in Pennsylvania.”

The new Stride Contributions program is designed to help companies provide tailored benefits programs to independent contractors in a variety of regulatory environments, while putting the power in the hands of individual workers to allocate those funds towards their own unique set of benefits. DoorDash is the first company to use Stride Contributions, and the program is built to serve the needs of workers who also work on multiple platforms.

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Stride also introduced Stride Save*, available exclusively through workforce partners, expanding Stride’s benefits suite to now include savings-related benefits, in addition to supporting this burgeoning workforce’s most complex insurance and tax needs. Stride Save acts as an individual benefits account that any company or individual can contribute to, offering personalized financial guidance to help workers allocate those contributions across savings and insurance benefits.

“Along with our long-term partner DoorDash and Pennsylvania Governor Shapiro, we’ve delivered a breakthrough moment for independent workers,” said Noah Lang, CEO and co-founder of Stride. “We’re in an era where over 64 million Americans work independently. It’s time for our benefits system to catch up to the way Americans work today, so we created a solution that makes accessing and paying for individual benefits easy, serving the needs of workers while enabling the companies to more easily help them.”

Key features of the Stride Contributions program include:

Flexible Eligibility Design: Program criteria are customizable, enabling companies to design their own rewards criteria, incentives and tiered eligibility levels.
Fully Managed Benefits Program: Full toolkit, service & support to manage direct financial contributions to individual benefits accounts.
Comprehensive Benefit Platform: A single platform where companies can deliver rewards and workers can make smart decisions across a complete set of health & financial benefits.
Personalized Guidance: Stride’s experience is designed to help them pick the right health plan, set financial goals, allocate contributions towards them, and add personal funds.

“We believe that everyone deserves access, choice, and security when it comes to how they want to work,” said Tony Xu, DoorDash CEO and co-founder. “We’re proud that dashing has helped millions of people achieve greater financial security, but we know that outdated rules have meant there are trade-offs for those who dash more consistently and may be missing out on important benefits. Instead of settling for the way it has always been done, we can continue to try new things and expand the safety net in ways that provide both flexibility and security.”

This launch marks a significant advancement in modernizing the ability for all workers to access financial safety nets, regardless of employment status. Independent workers want to retain the flexibility and autonomy they enjoy from independent work, but crave the security of benefits like access to healthcare, retirement funding, paid time off, sick leave and more. By opening up access and contributing to benefits, the Stride Contributions program and Stride Save product provide a new way for companies to invest in their workers’ financial stability, providing a critical tool to enhance worker engagement and retention.

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