Five9’s leave management journey: how the CCaaS provider eliminated hours of administrative work

Five9 is a leading provider of cloud contact center software. Founded in 2001, Five9 has spent more than 20 years helping companies of all sizes in all industries create deeper, more meaningful customer bonds. Along with their core cloud products, Five9 offers AI and automation features, employee engagement tools, and customer engagement solutions.

Over 3,000 enterprise, mid-size, and small business customers around the world rely on Five9 to streamline their contact center operations and deliver seamless customer experiences. The company was recently named a leader in Gartner’s 2025 Magic Quadrant for Contact Center as a Service—for the eighth time.

The engine fueling Five9’s perpetual pioneering? The company’s employees. Five9 has built a team of nearly 3,000 innovative, passionate employees around the world. When the company needed a more effective way to manage leave for their growing employee population, they turned to Sparrow.

Prioritizing employee experience in every program

As a customer-oriented organization, Five9 holds their employees to a high standard. “We expect a lot, but we give a lot in return,” said Devanshi Dave, Director of Global Benefits & Well-being at Five9.

Dave said Five9 is committed to providing both competitive and personalized benefits. “We always strive for flexibility in our benefits, and make sure to offer tools that empower employees to make more informed decisions around their benefits,” she explained.

The company’s benefit package includes comprehensive medical, dental, and vision coverage; flexible spending accounts; a 401(k); company equity; mental health support through Spring Health; commuter discounts; paid time off; employee assistance programs; and substantial employee leave.

However, simply offering a range of thoughtful employee benefits isn’t enough—Dave also wants to help employees engage with their resources. “Employee experience is our number one priority,” she said.

“Giving employees a positive experience is the whole point—that’s why we create these programs.”

When Dave recognized a gap in Five9’s employee experience during leaves, it was the motivation she needed to explore external employee leave management solutions.

“We’ve always prided ourselves on giving our employees white glove service—and Sparrow's help has made it possible.”

The challenge: Managing a high volume of employee leaves with limited resources

For years, Five9 managed employee leave in-house. “The process was extremely manual, handled through spreadsheets and Outlook and emails,” Dave explained.

At the time, Five9’s internal Leave of Absence (LOA) Specialist handled every step of the process, from initiating employee leaves and filling out paperwork to following up with employees and calculating payroll. With employees working from multiple states and countries, leave compliance was complex and constantly changing.

Because the benefits team had limited resources, Five9 employees—especially those in states like California, where filing for state benefits is notoriously tedious—spent hours upon hours navigating state websites and forms on their own.

“We didn’t have a designated place for employees to check the status of their leave or ask a question,” explained Dave.

As Five9’s employee leave cases surged, the administrative load became too heavy for a team of one, and the employee leave experience suffered as a result. Five9 needed a solution that would solve both problems.

“Our two biggest drivers for change were automation on the administrative side and a better employee experience,” Dave said.

They found both with Sparrow.

“We can manage our leave cases in a much more efficient and organized way now.”

The solution: Partner with Sparrow for end-to-end employee leave management

For years, Five9 managed employee leave in-house. “The process was extremely manual, handled through spreadsheets and Outlook and emails,” Dave explained.

Sparrow took over every leave-related task for Five9, including tracking leaves, completing paperwork on Five9’s behalf, staying up to date on the nuances of different state leave laws, calculating payroll, and coordinating with employees taking leave.

“Our internal LOA Specialist works with the Sparrow team, and Sparrow does all the heavy lifting with calculating payroll and gathering data,” said Dave. Along with setting up automatic payroll calculations for Five9 employees on leave, Sparrow also generates custom payroll reports.

Dave and her team can reference the Sparrow dashboard any time to see Five9’s employee leaves at a glance, or dig into a specific employee’s leave dates or pay breakdowns.

“Our people partners often get questions from our employees, so we appreciate Sparrow’s HR Business Partner dashboard,” Dave explained. “The dashboard helps our people partners see which of their employees are on leave and where they’re at in the process, so they can answer questions and better support employees.”

“I always think, ‘How did we do this without Sparrow?’ I don’t know how we survived. Thank goodness we have Sparrow.”

Compliance is another to-do Sparrow has taken off of Five9’s list. “It’s so reassuring that compliance is embedded into the Sparrow leave management process,” said Dave.

Before working with Sparrow, Five9’s LOA Specialist had to scramble to understand new leave laws and figure out which forms to download from different state government sites. “Now, we just trust that Sparrow is compliant,” Dave said. “It gives us a lot of peace of mind to not even have to think about it.”

Dave also appreciates Sparrow’s proactive communication about legislative changes that affect Five9 employees. “The Sparrow team is great with knowledge sharing,” she explained, “letting us know what new leave laws mean for our policies and people, and working with us to make a plan for adapting.”

As Five9’s employee leave volume grows steadily, Dave is even more grateful for Sparrow’s hands-on support. “I always think, ‘How did we do this without Sparrow?’ I don’t know how we survived. Thank goodness we have them.”

Now, instead of spending multiple hours deep in the leave management weeds, Dave can zoom out and pay more attention to the big picture in her role. “Having Sparrow has allowed me to focus on Five9’s broader benefits strategy,” she explained, “and how we can evolve our offerings as we grow.”

“The Sparrow dashboard easily outlines where an employee’s pay is coming from and when to expect it.”

Upgrading the employee leave experience

Automation and time-savings isn’t the only advantage Five9 has gained with Sparrow; they’ve also leveled up their employee leave experience. “We’ve always prided ourselves on giving our employees white glove service—and Sparrow’s help has made it possible,” said Dave.

Sparrow Leave Specialists work directly with Five9 employees at every step of the leave process. The experience kicks off with a one-on-one introductory phone call, where a Sparrow Leave Specialist explains which benefits an employee is entitled to and how their specific state’s filing process works.

“One thing our employees were looking for that we couldn’t offer before Sparrow was a leave consultation,” Dave said. “Now, they can meet with a Sparrow Leave Specialist, who does the intake, gathers all the information, gets the employee organized, and gives them instructions.”

After that initial call, Sparrow completes and submits benefits paperwork on behalf of Five9 employees, and Sparrow Leave Specialists follow up with employees’ health insurance providers and state agency representatives to gather additional documents and check their application status.

Once Five9 employees are out on leave, they can check the Sparrow dashboard to find out how much their next paycheck will be and when it’s coming. “We used to get so many questions from employees about their pay,” said Dave.

“The Sparrow dashboard easily outlines where an employee’s pay is coming from and when to expect it. That level of visibility has been really helpful for employees.”

“Compliance is embedded into the Sparrow leave management process."

The future: Intentional evolution

Sparrow’s full-service leave management solution has reduced Five9’s administrative workload while elevating the company’s employee leave experience. From the time they implemented Sparrow, Dave has been impressed by Sparrow’s consistent communication and proactive help.

Along with weekly check-ins and brainstorming sessions about how Five9 can continue to iterate, Sparrow provides benchmarking reports and strategic consulting for the company. “The reports add a lot of value in terms of figuring out new practices and bouncing around ideas about how to improve leave overall,” said Dave.

Sparrow’s collaborative attitude and problem-solving approach, she added, are invaluable. “I love that the Sparrow team welcomes feedback. The world is constantly evolving, and having vendors that are open to growing with you is such a relief,” she explained.

Sparrow takes the time and stress out of employee leave management. Explore our services or book a demo today.