We’ve only got one planet. And Encamp, a fast-growing environmental compliance technology startup, exists to help companies protect it. Founded in 2019, Encamp simplifies enterprise environmental compliance through a combination of smart science and smart code.
A remote-first organization, Encamp hires the best people, no matter where they live. Offering its employees the opportunity to work remotely is a significant hiring incentive, but made managing HR resources difficult—at least until they started using Rippling.
As Samantha Strube, Encamp’s VP of People, notes, “Encamp started off with Justworks, but quickly realized that Rippling offered a superior product. Being a remote community without an in-house HR person, Rippling PEO just made sense. It provides a more complete, personal experience for our employees.”
Strube continues, “We needed a seamless tech solution—we’re a very tech-automation-oriented company. In addition to Rippling PEO automating our tax filings and giving us access to large group health benefits, Rippling’s device management and app provisioning made it much easier to manage a remote workforce.
Transitioning to the next stage of growth
Fast forward to 2021, the height of the pandemic. While many companies were still grappling with remote workforces, Encamp was doubling down (or, more accurately, quadrupling down) on its commitment to remote hires. The startup received a $12M Series B investment in April of that year, helping its engineering team grow from 4 to 20 within months of the investment.
The combination of hiring a VP of HR, the Series B investment, and growing to a point at which they were eligible for large group health plans, meant that Encamp would be better served by transitioning from Rippling PEO to its Workforce Platform. (Unlike other PEOs, Rippling is the only PEO provider that also offers a full-fledged HR workforce platform.)
As to the decision to stick with Rippling, Strube says, “It was always going to be Rippling. My colleagues and I tell each other on a weekly basis how much we love this tool and the things we can do with it.”
Jagoda Kocol, People Partner at Encamp, was initially charged with managing the transition to Rippling’s Workforce Platform. “We had an accelerated timeline to roll off the PEO and get running on the HR platform,” Kocol notes. A seasoned HR professional, Kocol knew that such transitions could be a major undertaking.
“Rippling gave us an implementation manager who was invaluable. A real hands-on person. She guided me through the entire transition,” Kocol recounts. With the Implementation Manager’s help, Kocol and the Encamp team knew exactly what order to prioritize the steps of the process. These efficiencies, both technical and strategic, accelerated the timeline and helped Encamp switch off the PEO faster than the team thought possible.
Ready to take on what’s next
Both Strube and Kocol note that the transition process was as illuminating as it was efficient. The Encamp team leaned on Rippling’s vendor recommendations to help vet potential future integrations. “Knowing that Rippling believed in vendor X or vendor Y was exceptionally helpful. It allowed us to ask actionable questions and make sure that we were really buttoned up,” Strube says.
At the time of writing, Encamp has been using Rippling’s Workforce Platform for three months. Of her experience, Kocol notes, “It is almost surreal. Sometimes I still think, ‘this cannot be it, what am I missing.’ The platform’s been that intuitive. With Rippling, I know we’re good. We can do everything for a new hire in one sitting—onboarding, device management, email setup, and app provisioning. Plus, it only takes 10 minutes to run payroll.” She continues, “And the transition from PEO to the Workforce Platform was seamless on the front end; zero downtime. Seriously, zero.”