Benefits at Zest AI

At Zest AI, we continue to take wellness very seriously, for our team members, our communities and the environment. We care about our customers and the business we are in to make credit fair and transparent for all which exemplifies our focus on financial wellness. With employees located across the country, we provide each new hire with a quarterly wellness stipend for personal use of fitness memberships, wellness activities, health supplements, or whatever they choose for personal wellness and self care. We provide all new hires with a premium Calm membership and allow employees to include up to 5 dependents. This past year, we have hosted group discussions on world events with the utmost respect for all opinions and positions. We have held breathwork and hypnotherapy sound bath classes, provided in-house massage therapy, and have a state-of-the-art onsite gym for local employees and take our meetings outdoors when we can for walks or nearby hiking locations! We also hosted a group bootcamp at a local fitness center. We continue to offer mani/pedis for anyone in office. At Zest, daily lunch is provided to employees where we patronize local minority-owned businesses which allows the opportunity to celebrate cultural awareness months with food! This year we hosted a multicultural potluck with great success and employees shared their favorite ethnic foods! This past year we expanded our Monday morning “Perk Hour” to connect at the beginning of the workweek to now include Wednesdays. We keep our kitchen stocked with healthful snacks and an array of beverages.

Our health and welfare benefits are robust, including voluntary critical illness and hospital indemnity options to our High Deductible Health Plan, along with our continued offering of PPO, HMO medical and dental, Health Savings Accounts and Flexible Spending Accounts. To cover the furriest members of our families, we offer pet insurance through the ASPCA. Our parental leave policy includes 6 weeks of supplemental pay for pregnancy disability and 6 weeks of supplemental pay for baby bonding. When people are ailing, care packages are consistently provided to employees to let them know Zest cares! We consistently review compensation to ensure competitive, fair and equitable compensation packages for all. We encourage taking time off with unlimited PTO as well as numerous holidays and a generous year-end office closure.

Zest has provided a home office stipend to all current employees and all new members to the team in an effort to help Zestys personally equip their home workspaces. We also provide a monthly home internet and cell phone stipend.

At Zest, we celebrate milestones with different forms of recognition. In addition to birthdays, service anniversaries and promotions, we live and breathe our cultural values and have an ongoing recognition program where employees can be nominated by their peers and then selected for a special award given during town hall meetings. We receive numerous nominees and this means a great deal to our employees. These awards are personally presented by the company CEO, spotlighting our core cultural values of Communication, Collaboration, Bias for Action, Customer Centricity, and Heart. A Golden Zesty Award is given to the employee most deserving who consistently embodies all of our culture values. These awards allow employees the opportunity to be celebrated by the entire company. Gratitude abounds company wide through our own ‘Gratitude Wall” in the office which is flooded with handwritten notes of appreciation from team member to team member, and “shoutouts” in biweekly company meetings (fondly known as “Lunch Bytes”) and our Slack channel.

In addition, we continue to gift the latest in company branded merchandise on a quarterly basis to employees, and celebrate cultural awareness through Lunch & Learns for all employees on a wide variety of topics. This year we expanded to include “Breakfast Bytes” for cultural awareness opportunities as well. We offer a professional development stipend to all employees to further their knowledge and skills and have seen large participation. We created a professional development training series this year that is provided company wide and all are included.

Zest employees are encouraged to join Culture Club, whose mission is to promote a workplace environment focused on unwavering inclusivity, cultural education and employee growth. Culture Club blends passion with creativity when we devise new ways to engage colleagues, encourage wellness and advocate for happiness! This is a group that represents a cross section of all our teams, remote and in office, and is highly engaged in supporting ERGs.

Our multiple ERGs include People of Color and LGBTQ+. This year we included a parenting ERG called CaretakerZ which includes caretakers of all sorts. We continue to host a women's ERG with activities and outside speakers and have established local slack channels for employees located in different parts of the country for more inclusion and opportunities to connect outside the office.

Our Zest AI team members understand they are part of the collective company, and everyone is openly encouraged to grow and share ideas openly. Our leadership team is openly accessible whether remote or local.

Although more than half of employees are fully remote, we encourage team building and connection with visits to the Burbank office and offer relocation stipends for anyone interested in moving to the LA area. This past year our remote employees have gathered with other Zestys in their geographic areas to be of service as well enjoy meals and fun gatherings to bond.

We participated in a number of service opportunities over the past year including food and clothing donations for the underserved. We packed and donated hundreds of hygiene kits for those in need, supported a holiday gift drive for ‘My Friends Place’, a Los Angeles-based service center for teens who are experiencing homelessness. Zest supports a Week of Service in September to coincide with the National Day of Service, where enthusiastic employees participate at food banks, Ronald McDonald House Charities, blood banks, beach cleanups and more. The company supports financial matching for employees donating to international war victims and families, natural disaster resource recovery groups and we continue to support a global organization for underserved children.

This past year, we officially launched ZestCares. We believe that true success is measured not only by our business achievements, but also through our contributions to society. Through its philanthropic initiatives and partnerships, Zest Cares centers around investing in the future of our communities around the country, supporting projects and initiatives that create opportunities, make connections, are a catalyst for economic equality, and validate individual worth and empowerment for all. Zest Cares is not just a program — it is an integral part of who we are.

To guide our efforts, we have established three foundational pillars that define our approach and ensure that our initiatives have a lasting impact through:

Transparency – We share regular updates on our activities. Through transparent communications, we aim to share the stories of the individuals and communities we serve. By showcasing the tangible outcomes of our efforts, we invite our employees and partners to join us in this journey. Our commitment to transparency ensures that everyone can see the difference we are making together.

Collaboration – To maximize our ability to create positive change, we actively seek partnerships with others and organizations across the country. Shared vision allows us to collaborate with others, enhance our resources and insights, and ensure that our initiatives are not only impactful but sustainable. We can then tackle complex challenges and unlock new opportunities for those in need.

Engagement – We recognize that the needs of our communities are ever-evolving. Our commitment is to remain in constant conversation with the individuals and organizations we serve. We listen, learn, and adapt our strategies to address emerging challenges and opportunities. This flexibility allows us to respond effectively, ensuring that our initiatives remain relevant and impactful over time.