How Anduril unlocked state leave benefits and improved its employee leave experience without increasing its administrative load

Anduril Industries is a defense technology company with a mission to transform U.S. and allied military capabilities with advanced technology. The company uses a software-first approach to develop a variety of defense products.

Anduril is less than a decade old, but has already grown to over 6,000 employees around the world, the majority of whom work from the company’s headquarters in Costa Mesa, California. Beyond headquarters, Anduril has offices across the U.S. and around the world.

A couple of years ago when Anduril entered a particularly fast growth period, the company decided to invest in employee leave management support.

Encouraging employees to live a balanced life

Anduril takes pride in hiring the brightest problem-solvers and innovators. Anduril employees work hard, tackling some of the toughest national security challenges. To help employees maintain fulfilling work lives and personal lives, Anduril prioritizes employee well-being across the board.

“Our culture is founded on generosity. We provide a robust benefits package designed to support our employees and their families,” said Anushe Shoro, Senior Benefits Specialist at Anduril.

Anduril’s employee benefits include full family health coverage; family planning resources, including fertility, adoption, and surrogacy support; flexible paid time off; mental health resources, including therapy sessions through Lyra; free One Medical memberships; and an annual professional development stipend.

“All of our employees are also eligible for 16 weeks of 100% paid parental leave,” said Shoro. “And we offer resources like doula support, Snoo rentals, and lactation specialists to help employees transition to parenthood.”

When Anduril’s People team realized they needed more backend and employee-facing support during leaves, they turned to Sparrow.

The challenge: Applying for state benefits without enough resources or time

Before Anduril partnered with Sparrow, the company managed employee leaves internally. “It was a pretty manual process; we used an Excel doc and added people’s leave dates in there,” explained Shoro.

Anduril’s whirlwind internal growth — from roughly 350 employees in December 2020 to over 6,000 employees in 2025 — meant the People team didn’t have the bandwidth to apply for state benefits, let alone guide employees through the process.

Anduril covered 100% of employee pay during leave, whether or not employees were eligible for state benefits. “It was very generous of the company,” Shoro added, “but we weren’t accessing state funds.”

As a result, Anduril was leaving a lot of money on the table in wage replacement.

The administrative work of leave management also took a toll. “We were operating as a small but mighty Benefits team and didn’t have the resources to support a growing number of LOAs.

"Our employee leave experience is much better under Sparrow."

Not only did Shoro need a more efficient system for tracking leave and adjusting payroll, she also wanted to improve the leave experience for Anduril employees. “I knew employees would benefit from having a designated point of contact—other than me—for questions and updates when they went on leave,” she explained.

“We wanted to make sure our employees felt supported the entire time they were gone, and that we had help with payroll and taking advantage of state pay as well.”

With more employee leaves on the horizon and no sign of slowing down, Anduril’s Benefits team decided it was time to pursue leave providers. After considering a handful of different vendors, they ultimately felt most impressed by Sparrow’s capabilities.

“Sparrow’s approach—combining backend support with employee help—really stood out,” she explained.

"Sparrow’s approach—combining backend support with employee help—really stood out."

The solution: Teaming up with Sparrow for full-service leave management

Anduril needed an employee leave management solution that would streamline payroll and leave tracking, give employees one-on-one support, and help the company tap into state wage replacement. Sparrow checked all those boxes.

“Our leave tracking is much more accurate thanks to Sparrow,” said Shoro. All Anduril’s employee leave information lives on the Sparrow dashboard. Shoro and her team can see a high-level overview of upcoming leaves, as well as granular details like leave types and start and return-to-work dates.

Shoro especially loves Sparrow’s HRBP dashboard. “Providing the People partners a view of who’s on leave has been really helpful,” she explained.

The visibility into leave information, combined with Sparrow’s automated email notifications, saves Shoro and her team significant time.

"Our leave tracking is much more accurate thanks to Sparrow."

“If there are any leave changes, it’s not just me receiving email updates—now our People partners are also in the loop,” she explained. “Giving them the tools to log in and quickly see someone’s return to work date versus contacting the benefits team is super helpful.”

Payroll under Sparrow’s system, Shoro said, is also much easier and more efficient. In addition to setting up automatic payroll calculations for Anduril employees on leave, Sparrow also generates regular payroll reports for the team.

Sparrow also created a custom payroll file that Anduril’s payroll professionals could upload to their HRIS. “That accommodation alone has saved our payroll team a lot of time, being able to upload a file versus manually making changes to each employee’s pay,” Shoro explained.

Applying for state benefits with Sparrow

A key component of Sparrow’s services has been applying for state benefits on Anduril’s behalf, as well as employees’ behalf. Sparrow navigates the benefits filing process across states to ensure compliance, and completes and submits paperwork for Anduril and employees.

That means Anduril employees get to take full advantage of state benefits, while the company recoups millions in wage replacement costs with Sparrow’s support. Plus, Anduril employees have less stress preparing for and taking leave with Sparrow.

“Our employee leave experience is much better under Sparrow,” said Shoro. Sparrow Leave Specialists schedule one-on-one intake calls with Anduril employees preparing for leave, where they can answer questions and explain which company and state benefits employees are entitled to.

“It’s been amazing to have a point of contact to address employees’ questions about leave, coordinate all their leave paperwork, and keep it organized and centralized within the Sparrow portal,” Shoro explained.

After the initial call, Sparrow files for state benefits for employees, then Sparrow Leave Specialists coordinate with state agency representatives and insurance providers as needed.

"Everyone at Sparrow has been so attentive to Anduril's unique needs, understanding our challenges and proactively filling in gaps that we've identified together."

“Before, I was sending each employee to DocuSign to sign our leave of absence acknowledgement form, which was a choppy process,” Shoro added. “Now it’s all streamlined and centrally located in the dashboard.”

Sparrow’s combined technology and customer service has also positively impacted internal communications. “Sparrow has improved the communication between our employees, managers, and HR, creating a more seamless experience for everyone,” said Shoro.

Her favorite part about working with Sparrow is the collaborative nature of the partnership. “Everyone at Sparrow has been so attentive to Anduril’s unique needs, understanding our challenges and proactively filling in gaps that we’ve identified together,” she explained.

Recently, the Sparrow team sped up Anduril’s HRBP dashboard rollout when Shoro expressed an urgent need for it. “Sparrow listens to our feedback, then delivers,” she said.

"I appreciate their care and time, and how Sparrow pays attention to our needs as we evolve."

Expanding with Sparrow by their side

Partnering with Sparrow has improved Anduril’s employee leave management system on every level, from operations to employee experience.

Not only has the company been able to save millions of dollars they were previously paying employees completely out of pocket, they’ve also been able to offer employees more personalized support during leave, and streamline admin tasks.

Anduril is currently in the process of developing a production facility in Columbus, Ohio. “Thinking about how this expansion will shape our culture and internal systems is both exciting and challenging,” said Shoro.

Fortunately, Anduril has Sparrow’s help along the way. “I love working with the Sparrow team,” Shoro added. “I appreciate their care and time, and how they pay attention to our needs as we evolve.”

Sparrow takes the management out of employee leave management, freeing up People teams and guiding employees through major life changes. See what we offer or book a demo to get started today.