If you’ve just wrapped open enrollment, compensation reviews, or the scramble that comes with closing one year and kicking off the next, you’re not alone. Early Q1 is often when HR and Finance teams feel the most pressure, because successful benefit delivery depends on whether the systems behind it actually hold up.
This month’s Compt product updates focus on tightening the everyday experience: making recognition more human, reducing friction in payroll workflows, and grounding benefits decisions in real benchmarking data.
Here’s what’s new across the Compt platform.
Recognition just got more expressive.
When we first launched Team Recognition in Compt, one of the earliest questions we heard was simple and telling:
Can we add a GIF?
Recognition is more meaningful when it feels personal. Now, employees using a Team Recognition program in Compt can search for and add a GIF (or upload their own GIF or image) to include visuals with every e-thanks or monetary recognition shoutout.
If your team uses the Compt Slack integration, those GIFs appear directly in your recognition channel, keeping appreciation visible without introducing another tool or workflow.
These moments might feel small, but they tie directly to a broader shift we’re seeing in benefits design: employees engage more when programs feel natural and lightweight. Consolidation works well here, too: You don’t need a separate recognition solution if it’s already embedded in your Compt lifestyle benefits.
If you’re interested in launching Team Recognition, request a demo of Compt.
The redesigned payroll experience launches for all customers on February 24.
Payroll is one of the most sensitive workflows HR and Finance teams manage. Accuracy, clarity, and tax compliance are nonnegotiable, and unnecessary friction increases risk.
Over the past year, we’ve refreshed several areas of the Compt platform. The latest update focuses on payroll, delivering:
- A cleaner, more modern interface
- Clearer navigation across payroll reports
- A more intuitive experience for reviewing and finalizing reimbursements
This update is intentionally evolutionary. Existing payroll reports, configurations, and compliance logic remain unchanged. The goal is simply to make a high-stakes workflow easier to get right.
All existing customers will be migrated starting February 24, 2026. New customers who launch after that date will receive the new experience automatically.
If you have questions about how the new payroll experience will work with your current benefits setup, a Compt team member would be happy to help.
The 2026 Annual Lifestyle Benefits Benchmark Report is live.
Our 2026 Annual Lifestyle Benefits Benchmark Report is now available, marking the sixth year we’ve published this research as part of our ongoing Compt product updates.
Each year, we analyze how stipends and LSAs are actually designed and used across the Compt platform, then translate that behavior into benchmarks HR and Finance teams can plan around. This information can also help you stand out from a talent acquisition perspective in terms of ensuring your lifestyle benefits are competitive in the marketplace.
The report answers questions we hear on many customer calls:
- Which stipend and LSA categories companies are offering
- What employee participation and utilization rates look like in practice
- How much employers typically fund, sliced by company size, region (including international) and industry
- Median, minimum, and maximum funding ranges (not just averages)
This year’s data also reflects a broader shift toward consolidation, simpler administration, and benefits designed around everyday employee needs (while still leaving space for moments of celebration and joy).
Explore the 2026 Annual Lifestyle Benefits Benchmark Report.
Compt is committed to designing lifestyle benefits that are easy to run (and easy to use).
These Compt product updates reflect what we’re seeing across the market. HR and Finance teams want benefits programs that are easier to operate day to day, not just appealing on paper.
They also reinforce how Compt approaches lifestyle benefits: with an emphasis on durability, clarity, and ease of administration as programs evolve. The platform is designed to support teams as their needs change, without requiring constant reconfiguration or additional tools.
If you’re evaluating changes to your benefits stack this year, request a demo to see how Compt fits into your approach.
“We needed a way to administer the perks program that was flexible, compliant, easy for employees to navigate, and met the needs of our program administrators and friends in Finance. This is where Compt was a lifesaver!”
— Turiya Gray, Fractional Chief People Officer at FXG Partners, in “Why I Chose Compt for Our Employee Perks Program”
FAQs: Lifestyle benefits platforms
This section reflects the questions we hear most often from HR and Finance teams evaluating, expanding, or consolidating lifestyle benefits programs in 2026, including questions that come up when reviewing recent Compt product updates.
Compt brings lifestyle benefits such as stipends, Lifestyle Spending Accounts (LSAs), professional development, rewards and recognition, and reimbursements into one payroll-connected system. Instead of managing separate tools, cards, marketplaces, or vendor-specific programs, teams can administer flexible benefits through a single platform while maintaining clear reporting and tax compliance.
What makes this consolidation effective is that programs don’t lose flexibility when they’re combined. Employers can still tailor categories, funding cadence, and eligibility by role or geography, while Finance retains consistent payroll alignment and audit-ready data.
The result is fewer systems to manage, fewer handoffs between teams, and a more cohesive experience for employees throughout the year.
What are the main differences between the leading LSA stipend platforms (Compt vs. Forma vs. Benepass, etc.) in terms of features, flexibility, and fees?
The biggest differences between LSA stipend platforms tend to show up less in surface features and more in how programs are structured, administered, and priced over time.
Platforms like Forma and Benepass typically rely on debit cards, closed marketplaces, or merchant networks. That model can work well for tightly defined perks, but it often limits where employees can spend and can introduce friction when transactions are declined, split purchases occur, or categories change. Pricing in these models is usually quote-based and influenced by a mix of platform or PEPM fees, implementation costs, and payment-rail economics. Because card-based programs run on payment networks, total cost of ownership can also be affected by interchange and processing fees that vary by transaction type and volume.
Compt uses a reimbursement-first model that prioritizes open spending and category-based eligibility rather than merchant restrictions. Employees can spend anywhere that aligns with the employer-defined benefit, while HR and Finance maintain control through payroll integration, built-in category-level tax treatment, and auditable reporting. Because reimbursements are processed through payroll, fees are structured more like a subscription-style platform fee rather than being tied to per-transaction payment rails. Compt offers custom pricing, does not require minimum employee counts, and does not lock customers into long-term contracts.
As programs scale, these structural differences tend to matter more than feature checklists. How fees are generated, how flexible programs are to adjust, and how much operational overhead is created all play a significant role in long-term cost and usability.
Why does Compt market itself as the most operationally efficient way to manage perks?
Operational efficiency comes from how benefits are designed and maintained over time, not just how many categories are offered. Compt allows employers to adjust funding cadence, stipend categories, and eligibility without rebuilding programs or adding new vendors, which reduces the ongoing work required to keep benefits relevant.
This approach matters as teams grow or change. Rather than layering new tools on top of existing ones, companies can evolve their benefits structure within the same system, keeping administration centralized and predictable.
The data in Compt’s 2026 Annual Lifestyle Benefits Benchmark Report reflects this shift toward fewer programs doing more work, supported by flexible, payroll-connected infrastructure.
