How Our Team Handles Technology Stipends for Remote Workers

Managing a group of remote workers can be tough. From setting proper communication expectations to facilitating the kind of watercooler talk that strengthens team bonding, happiness, and ultimately productivity, one must be more deliberate with a distributed team.

A fun perk we’ve been offering is technology stipends for remote workers. Part of successfully working remotely is utilizing the right technology to stay in touch with the team; rather than place that cost on each of our remote team members, we like to cover the cost. Doing so makes it very clear to our team that they should invest in high-quality tech.

Here’s how we offer technology stipends for remote workers:

New team members get a $3,000 technology stipend that’s put on a PEX prepaid business card. This stipend for remote workers allows them to buy things like a computer, monitor, wireless headset, keyboard, scanner, printer, or other technology.

Each year, our team members get an additional $2,000 toward technology expenses. Their PEX card is funded on a monthly basis ($166.67 per month), and team members have complete discretion as to how the money is used. They can buy a chair, a more comfortable back seat, a better keyboard, a new mouse, a second monitor, or other tech. With this stipend, they’re also completely responsible for upgrading their equipment if it breaks.

When a team member quits, any unused balance on the PEX card returns to the company. If the employee has been working for more than 6 months, that employee will be asked to buy back their equipment from Summit CPA Group for $1 (to avoid having this equipment being treated as part of their salary). If the employee leaves within 6 months, we simply send out a service to their place of work to retrieve whatever technology they purchased.

There are many ways to offer technology stipends for remote workers. We’ve found this way to work for us and thought it’d be helpful to share with you!

Jody Grunden is a CPA, Virtual CFO, Founder and Managing Partner at Summit CPA Group, a virtual accounting firm that helps rapidly growing companies scale their financial health. Jody lives in Fort Wayne, Indiana with his wife April and enjoys playing hockey and golf with his kids.