How to start and setup a wellness program with Ramp

Companies increasingly recognize wellness stipends as essential benefits, but managing these programs traditionally creates considerable overhead for finance teams.

Here’s how we built a wellness benefit that works—without the headaches.

A finance leader's step-by-step implementation guide

David Wieseneck, Ramp’s Finance Expert in Residence, recently shared his exact process for how he configured & distributed Ramp's wellness program. Here's how he broke it down:

First off, Spend programs are one of the most underrated features of Ramp. They let you set up card controls and issue cards to employees at scale, making it easy to onboard new employees & manage spend like wellness benefits, travel per diems, WFH stipends, etc.

How much?

• $300 per employee, on an every 4 months frequency (it breaks down to $75/month)
• This setup encourages employees to invest in their wellness consistently throughout the year, as opposed to a lump sum at the end of the year.

How is it issued?

• Funds are auto-issued to every employee during onboarding—no need to request them.
• Employees can:
  
  • Spend directly with their Ramp card.
  • Use virtual cards for online purchases.
  • Reimburse against these funds if they use personal cards or cash.

Any restrictions?

• Yep! These funds have Merchant and Category restrictions to block inappropriate spending. (Yes, someone did try to classify their Netflix subscription as “wellness.” Come on!)
• Employees also have access to an internal doc with clear examples of what’s in-policy and what’s not. This keeps things transparent and reduces any confusion.

Automate accounting fields?

• Every transaction is automatically booked to a specific Employee Fringe Benefit GL account in NetSuite.
• Transactions are marked “Ready to sync” for faster month-end close.

What’s needed after spend?

• No receipts, no memos, no approvals needed—these transactions are auto-approved.
• For internal audit purposes, we run a report on a quarterly basis to review transactions, flag out-of-policy purchases, and request repayment directly in Ramp, if necessary.

What about taxes?

Because this is a Fringe Benefit, we report the amount utilized by each employee to payroll for tax withholding each quarter:

1. Filter the Spend Program (“Wellness Benefit”) in Ramp Insights or the Card Transactions table.
2. Export the last quarter’s transactions to a CSV.
3. Pivot by employee
4. Import or enter the amounts into payroll system as a fringe benefit

Tell the world

Finally, don’t forget to promote this benefit on your careers page to entice any prospective employees.

The future of benefits administration

Ramp's approach to wellness benefits represents a shift in how finance teams can manage employee programs. By embedding intelligent automation throughout the process – from issuance to accounting to compliance – it transforms what was once a significant administrative burden into a seamless operation.

For finance leaders looking to modernize their benefits administration while maintaining robust financial controls, Ramp's automated wellness benefit system offers a sophisticated solution that scales with your organization.

Want to learn more about automating your company's wellness benefits? Contact our team to see how Ramp can streamline your program.