The problem: first-time benefits for a multi-state team
ATWM is a Canadian event management agency. In December 2024, it opened a U.S. subsidiary, ATWM USA, LLC, and started hiring American employees soon after. It had no health benefits in place. The company is fully remote, and every U.S. employee lives in a different state, so a single group plan couldn’t serve them all.
U.S. health insurance was new territory for the team, and so was the idea of an employee health budget. Sam Mack, ATWM’s business operations administrator, compared Thatch with traditional group plans and chose Thatch for two reasons. First, each employee could choose from the plans available in their own state and pick the plan that worked best for them. Second, Thatch connects directly to ADP, the company’s payroll, so deductions wouldn’t be entered by hand.
The result: benefits that give ATWM a hiring advantage
One recent hire shows how it works. She got her offer letter in late December and was able to enroll in time for coverage to start the following month, with no waiting period. She lives in rural New York, where health insurance costs more than it does for her coworkers. She already had a New York plan she liked, and she could keep it and pay for it with her employee health budget.
ATWM now turns that into a hiring advantage: when needed, ATWM can show candidates actual plan options in Thatch before they accept an offer.
Behind the scenes, Thatch calculates each employee’s payroll deduction and sends it to ADP before every pay date. Adding a new hire takes minutes, and employees choose their plans on their own. For Sam, benefits admin is now a quick check that the deductions in ADP look right.