Help Scout

Health Insurance

Help Scout covers 100% of the monthly premiums for the employee portion of medical insurance and describes the plan as top-tier for employees and their dependents. Coverage applies to US and Canadian teammates only; teammates elsewhere work as independent contractors whose rates include an uplift for self-managed healthcare.

Dental Insurance

Dental coverage is offered to US and Canadian teammates, with Help Scout paying 100% of the monthly premium for the employee portion.

Vision Insurance

Vision coverage sits alongside medical and dental for US and Canadian teammates, with the employee-portion premium fully paid by Help Scout.

Disability Insurance

Help Scout pays for both long-term and short-term disability insurance for eligible teammates.

Life Insurance

Help Scout pays for a basic life insurance policy equal to 1x the employee's salary.

Flexible Spending Account (FSA)

Help Scout offers a Flexible Spending Plan alongside its medical, vision, and dental coverage.

401(k) / Retirement Plan

Help Scout offers retirement savings to its US and Canadian teammates. Contractors outside those two countries receive a pay uplift intended to cover their own retirement planning.

401(k) Match

Help Scout matches 1% of salary into retirement savings for US and Canadian teammates.

Stock Options

Every Help Scout employee can become a shareholder, and the company publishes an internal formula that determines option grant size.

Pay Transparency

Every open role carries a posted salary band, and pay follows a formula that is public to employees, built on IC levels 1-5 and management levels 6-8 with A-E bands, benchmarked to the 75th percentile of each local market.

Unlimited PTO

Help Scout runs a flexible vacation policy with no fixed day allocation.

Paid Holidays

Help Scout offers paid company holidays alongside its flexible vacation policy.

Company Shutdown Days

Help Scout closes company-wide for two full weeks each year, on top of each person's individual time off.

Sabbatical

Teammates earn a paid sabbatical after four years of service.

Flexible Schedule

Teammates overlap with their team during core hours and set their own schedule outside them, with outcomes rather than hours as the measure. Weekly team meetings and regular 1:1s keep some fixed structure in place.

Company Offsites / Retreats

Help Scout brings the whole company together for an annual retreat in a different city each year, including Rome in 2025 and earlier gatherings in Portugal, Mexico, Ireland, and the US. Quarterly leadership off-sites and periodic in-person team meetups run alongside it.

Coworking Allowance

Help Scout funds coworking space at up to $300 per month.

Home Office Stipend

Help Scout helps fund each teammate's home office setup on top of providing a laptop.

Company Equipment

A laptop and core work equipment are issued by Help Scout before any home office funding is applied.

Parental Leave

New parents receive twelve weeks of fully paid leave, with no distinction drawn between primary and secondary caregivers.

Adoption Leave

Adoptive and foster parents receive the same twelve weeks of fully paid leave as birth parents.

Learning & Development Budget

Teammates get an $1,800 annual professional development stipend, plus the Learn Something stipend that has run since 2015 and becomes available after six months for courses, seminars, books, coaching, or study time.

Conference Attendance

The Learn Something stipend explicitly covers conference attendance including travel, once a teammate has been with Help Scout six months.

Defined Career Pathways

Help Scout runs parallel individual-contributor and management tracks, with a career framework in Lattice for every team. Performance reviews run twice a year with company-wide calibration.

Employee Recognition Awards

Help Scout awards spot bonuses in three tiers, sized by the significance of the contribution being recognized.

Volunteer Time Off

Help Scout gives teammates time off to volunteer.

Employee Resource Groups

Help Scout funds two employee resource groups — #WhoRuntheWorld for women and #HuesofHelpScout for BIPOC teammates — each with a leader stipend and an events budget.

Paid Trial

Help Scout's hiring process includes a take-home project capped at six hours, and everyone who completes one is paid for their time.

Team Events & Social Budget

Ongoing social programming includes Fika, 15-to-30-minute informal coffee chats, and Luna Park casual gaming sessions.