“We make a point to design our benefits programs to be dynamic and inclusive,” said Zach Mann, the senior benefits program manager at Zillow. “This allows us to meet the needs of our employees, regardless of where they live or what chapter of life they’re in.”

Of course, this is often easier said than done. Flexible and adaptive programs are made difficult by the pressures of inflation, shrinking budgets, and by old systems that don’t keep up with employee needs.

So, Zillow sought out a new program that can flex with the times. 

Mann shared this story during a From Day One webinar on how employers are using lifestyle savings accounts, or LSAs, to affect business goals. The discussion, which included insights about LSA platform Forma, was moderated by the company’s own senior customer success manager, Kate Deeny.

Mann found a flexible solution in an LSA—a flexible, employer-funded benefit that allocates a specific amount of money employees can use within a defined list of expenses. The employer identifies the amount and the boundaries.

At the time, Mann was hearing about other companies cutting their well-being benefits in half, and Mann knew he would likely face similar pressure at Zillow. 

To get buy-in from leaders for the switch from an old reimbursement system to an LSA for well-being benefits, he would have to make a data-driven case. It was easy to see how the old way was taxing the workforce: “Managers were spending almost 3,000 hours trying to approve or understand our policy to approve those expenses,” he said. “On top of that, our HR operations and benefits teams were trying to answer all those questions.”

So, the company moved from a gym membership and equipment reimbursement to a $1,000 lifestyle spending account. Employees could then use a single Forma card to cover their gym memberships—no more filing monthly reimbursements, no more filling inboxes with process and coverage questions. 

Mann likes the flexibility and the option to change the program as-needed, expanding it to cover things like gym clothes or meal subscriptions. The LSA is now one of Zillow’s most utilized benefits, says Mann. 

“Employers are really getting sophisticated and strategic by thinking of LSAs not just as a perk, but as a strategic benefits infrastructure,” said Danielle Ross, Forma’s head of marketing and the author of the company’s 2026 global lifestyle benefits benchmark report.

Many are dealing with the same obstacles that Mann did at Zillow—stipends that get lost in the payroll shuffle, programs that demand a lot of time and input from managers and benefits leaders, and lack of visibility into how those reimbursements are being used. Benefits teams also struggle to juggle the number of point solutions that comprise their benefits ecosystem.

As an alternative to traditional reimbursement programs, LSAs are “an efficient structure to help direct benefit budgets toward programs that matter for you, with the built-in flexibility that employees are looking for,” Ross said.

LSAs have global capabilities too. Around 50% of employers offering LSAs do so in more than one country, according to Forma’s report. Some employers use them to provide healthcare in countries where they don’t yet have a relationship with carriers, others use it to extend financial support for childcare needs, and in markets with high commuting costs, employers can offer commuter assistance.

It’s a common misconception that LSAs are just a nice-to-have tack-on perk, Ross said. “The magic happens when you’re able to ladder-up toward a C-suite priority.” Funds can even be directed toward upskilling, return-to-office incentives, cost-savings, employee well-being, and more. So when leaders knock on the door asking the benefits team how they’re supporting a specific business priority, Ross says, benefits teams can point to their LSA.

Editor’s note: From Day One thanks our partner, Forma, for sponsoring this webinar. 

Emily McCrary-Ruiz-Esparza is an independent journalist and From Day One contributing editor who writes about business and the world of work. Her work has appeared in the Economist, the BBC, The Washington Post, Inc., and Business Insider, among others. She is the recipient of a Virginia Press Association award for business and financial journalism. She is the host of How to Be Anything, the podcast about people with unusual jobs.

(Photo by Milan Markovic/iStock)