“I was calling on behalf of (employees). I would get transferred. I would spend my whole day on the phone with (the carrier) and end up with no answer.” That was a typical day for Jill Mendoza, People Operations Specialist at Cro Metrics, before partnering with Nava.

Cro Metrics is a remote-first professional services company. With employees across the U.S. and a lean HR team, they needed benefits support that could scale with them. In 2023, they launched group benefits through their payroll provider. It quickly turned into what Jill described as “absolutely horrible.”

Before Nava, benefits at Cro Metrics were a mess.

“There were countless administrative drop balls, customer service blips, failure to submit. It was just like literally one thing after another,” said Jill Mendoza, People Operations Specialist. “It was just like learning by fire. Constantly trying to figure out problems.”

Jill wasn’t the only one feeling the pressure. The chaos was affecting the entire team. “Not to be dramatic, but if we have a vendor who could take care of these headaches for us, I would personally pay money for it.” Then Nava came in at no extra cost to her team. 

Nava Was the Turning Point

That desperation kicked off a search for a new partner. “We did a weighting exercise. We set out success criteria and people weighed in on what actually mattered.”

For Cro Metrics, the standout needs were streamlining admin, reducing compliance risk, and having tech-enabled support that matched their remote culture. Nava stood out from the start. “We knew this was going to be a partnership that would simplify the experience for employees and definitely on the admin side.”

One small but telling detail clinched it for Jill: “One of my unofficial metrics of working with a vendor is if they can connect with us in Slack. I know right away things are going to be a lot better.”

Hours Saved. Stress Eliminated. 

Jill saw the difference right away. “Being able to leverage both the expertise and the relationships that the Nava team has has been really a huge time saver for us. Huge.”

Nava’s team helped Cro Metrics transition to a new benefits administration platform. “Vanessa on the team was really instrumental on working with us through that transition. She ran the audits for us. Demographic and benefit audits. Making sure all the information fed over correctly.”

Even small tasks add up. “This week she was reaching out to one of our carriers about some new employee’s information. It’s something I didn’t have to do because she did it.”

Senior Manager of People and Culture, Taylor Miller, echoed that impact. “I really appreciated how quickly we can get answers. I don’t know what the answer is, and Nick says, ‘I’ll get back to you in X amount of days.’ That has been something I really appreciated.” 

Time Back Where It Counts

Jill’s time savings have added up to something bigger. “I’ve been able to remain part-time and not have to become full time to manage our benefits. So there’s that.” This is something that Jill wanted. 

Taylor added, “If you can get somebody to take that administrative piece and you can show impact elsewhere, whether it's in talent planning, performance management, talent acquisition, those are things that the organization are going to see as more impactful day to day.”

Jill no longer dreads open enrollment. “We just did our mid-year review. Jason modeled out different plan scenarios for us. When we switched carriers at the end of 2024, effective January 2025, he helped us avoid a 10 percent rate hike by finding another option that only raised costs by 3 percent. That was huge for us.”

That support extends to employees too. “They’ve been accessible to our team within Slack. Jason has worked personally with our employees on claim situations and gone to bat for them. That’s a huge thing.”

The results are visible across the organization. “I don't think I've had a call with a carrier since. Maybe for little things. But nothing like it was before.”

As Taylor put it, “Benefits never come up. If people are unhappy, we’d know. That speaks a lot to how great you guys have been.”