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Why Your Benefits Strategy Is Failing Employees (And How to Fix It) · Beyond the Paycheck

• Kelsey Willock (00:00) Welcome Dr. Charm Patton, CHRO at Hillsborough County Public Schools. We are so excited to have you this evening. To kick us off, I'd love for you to share with our audience a little bit about yourself, your current role, and where you're calling in from today. Dr. Charm Patton (00:15) Thank you so much for inviting me. Dr. Charmion Patten, I'm an HR professional. I've been in HR Human Resources for about 25 years. You would call me a generalist. I know all areas of HR. So I know just about everything there is to know about it and enjoy working in that field. I'm calling in from Tampa, Florida. Kelsey Willock (00:36) excited to get to know you a little bit better and all the amazing things that you do, specifically in your current role. But before we get there, I'd love to get to know you a little bit more personally. So if you will indulge me, I'd love for you to share with us your earliest memory of money. Dr. Charm Patton (00:54) ⁓ Certainly. My earliest memory is, you know, growing up, I had three older brothers and I was the youngest girl. And, ⁓ you know, I always would make gifts for them for their birthdays. And, you know, ⁓ my birthday would come and, you know, having brothers, especially when you're young, they don't necessarily remember. And, you know, I realized, I guess when I was about, you know, five or six, something like that, pretty young, like, ⁓ you know, I'm making all these gifts for them, these little homemade certificates and things with bows on them and I'm not getting anything so I started to save a dollar a day. And I said, if I save a dollar a day, then at the end of the year, I'll have $365 that I can spend on myself. No matter what, I can always make sure I have a great birthday. And whatever I don't spend, then I can always put that in the bank and save that. So I didn't even realize it. wasn't that I did it consciously. It was just, again, a practice that I was doing. But as time went on, I realized, oh my gosh, I've saved money without really thinking about it in a difficult way. but in a rewarding way, which is usually most people say, I've got to save for this or I've got to save for that. But for me, was a, there's going to be reward at the end. So it made it easy for me to, know, and I didn't have a bank account. So I just would put it in my little jar and, you know, not bother it. But at the end of every year, I would love to take myself out and say, I'm going to go have something good to eat or go buy something, you know, that I like. my whenever I would do that, I'd always say, if you spend $10, have to leave with five. So if you go in with ten, always come back with half of whatever you went in with. So then again, didn't know it consciously but was developing some more attitudes towards spending and actually a behavior around it. Kelsey Willock (02:46) I love that you turned it into almost a game. You made it fun, and so you were more willing to stick with it rather than, ugh, I wish I had $365 at a point, moment, and time. That compounding effect is so powerful. Dr. Charm Patton (02:58) Yeah, yes. and it gave me something to look forward to. And I think the thing I liked about it is that Kelsey Willock (03:05) Hmm. Dr. Charm Patton (03:08) I didn't put pressure on other people to make me happy and give me what I thought I deserved, which oftentimes, you know, when it comes to birthdays or gifts or someone giving you something, you know, you may have an expectation and they can't meet it. So then you're met with disappointment. In this instance here, I put the pressure on myself and said, I'm not looking for anyone to give me something to reward me. Let me reward myself. And so I guess that's always been my attitude towards money. Kelsey Willock (03:36) in charge of your own destiny. Dr. Charm Patton (03:38) Yes. Kelsey Willock (03:40) What was your first job and do you recall what you did with your first paycheck? Dr. Charm Patton (03:44) ⁓ Yes, I do. ⁓ My first job was working in the summer with my uncle in Philadelphia. And with my first paycheck, it was for school. went there in the summer and we worked at his church and it was to buy clothes for school, right? I was a teenager and you you want to be able to buy your own. pants and shirt and think you're looking cool in your own style. So I was able to buy my favorite colors green and so I bought this really now that I realized it a very ugly green shirt that I thought was the most amazing thing there ever was because number one I bought it with my own money and number two it was green. So that was the first and I I believe I wore it until it literally fell off of me and because I was so proud of it you know and I'd say look look at my green shirt and they'd say ⁓ look at that green shirt. So I was able to really, again, feel proud of myself and the fact that I worked towards what I wanted as my reward and was able to show it to people and be proud of the fact that I did it myself. Kelsey Willock (04:31) Thank Yeah, being gifted something versus you being able to gift it to yourself are two very different feelings because you really feel you earned it. I imagine your shirt was cuter than you think. I bet it was nice. Dr. Charm Patton (04:58) Thanks It might have been, but like I said, it was, I definitely remember it was green, like a green checkered or something like that. Kelsey Willock (05:06) Hello. Dr. Charm Patton (05:07) ⁓ You know it had one of those collars that was like the I've never had one of those cool collars and I thought this is you know my own decision to go and purchase this item with my my check right because I was used to saving money you know a dollar here dollar you get for your birthday for your tooth fairy all those things but it's different when you get an actual check because that means that you've earned it and there's recognition for it and also it goes towards social security and all those things. Kelsey Willock (05:35) That's very true. It's always a sticker shock when you're also giving your first paycheck and realizing, it's not as much as I thought I had earned. Some of that has to go to the government. Dr. Charm Patton (05:43) Yes, yes, that's always a Kelsey Willock (05:46) How do you think your money story has impacted how you think about paying benefits for your employees? Dr. Charm Patton (05:52) ⁓ It's made me conscious of the fact that a lot of people have to live within a certain budget. particularly when you work in human resources, employees often think that the person over HR or the benefits team and compensation team are focused only on the organization and how do we save them money and how things benefit for them. But I've always looked at it from the premise of what if they don't have, and they don't, again, have that knowledge of how to use their money to help them become conscious of it. So I've always thought of how can I provide that same knowledge and learning to staff or individuals that may not have had access to something like that. So they can start to have a good financial relationship early in their careers if they're just starting. But if they've been in their career for a long time, let them know it's okay if you're starting late. There's never too late to start and every penny counts. Kelsey Willock (06:46) I'm really curious your perspective and I know I didn't give you a heads up on this question. I'll give you some time to think about it. But when I think about financial education and how it plays into how we save, spend and invest our paychecks, a lot of us don't learn in school early on, know, how to manage a budget or how to have a healthy relationship with money. How do you specifically think about supporting folks within your organizations coming from an education system? Dr. Charm Patton (07:18) So that's a great question. Thank you for asking that. I think financial wellness is one of the most important things that you can share with an employee from the very beginning. Because as you said, someone's either entering the work stream with their first job or someone may be coming in as a second, third, fourth job, new career, or retiree coming back to work. And so being able to educate them is so important. So one of the things that I always try to do is say, do we have a financial wellness access for those employees? Of course it's voluntary, but allow for them to have access to where they can learn how to manage their money effectively, not just retirement, right? Because not everybody has a concept of retirement and most people today are living for today. They're not living for five. 10 years from now. And so how can we help them manage their finances now, so they can have quality of life that they're expecting to have and provide one for their family or if it's just an individual or if it's a fur baby, right, parent, that they'll be able to have a quality of life and also have quality of life as they go through their careers. So I think with financial wellness, providing them the options to have access to that, providing them with ability to work with institutions such as banking institutions, credit unions that can help them with that journey in small bit of time. If you have Christmas clubs, things like that where they can save up little bits of money for a specific time, that's really important. And as an employer, those are things that we need to be thinking of as we're creating financial wellness for the employees. Kelsey Willock (08:56) I particularly love how you mention it's so much more than just retirement. It's this holistic approach to thinking about today, tomorrow, and also beyond. It's not just once you've left the company and retired. Where do you see compensation and benefits breaking down most often today? Dr. Charm Patton (09:15) ⁓ I think where the breakdown is that when you're looking at those types of things you have to take into consideration where that person is in their life. Oftentimes the employer has to say how much money do I have in the coffers in order for us to spend on this benefit but there's usually a portion of it that the employee has to pay and it comes out of their compensation. And so whatever you compensate them with, whatever you give them, whether it's a million dollars or one dollar, they have to figure out how to also pay their benefits or take care of their benefits through that, whether it be paying the benefits, whether it be medications, whether it be that they need to, again, have insurances, supplemental insurances such as pet insurance. They have to figure out how to do that in their compensation. So I think sometimes the breakdown can be that the employer is not thinking whatever I give to them, they to figure out how to dole that out for the balance of whether they're paid monthly, bi-weekly, higher or often. They have to figure that out and at the same time come to work and be able to focus on work where they may have said, you know, I had to buy medication, therefore I don't have extra money to do something I also needed to do, which is put gas in my car. So I think as an employer, you have to keep that top of mind. So when you're preparing for those kinds of things, you really are keeping the employee's needs at the forefront, as well as the organization. but really focusing on the employee as a way to retain them and make sure that they want to stay with your company so they don't just leave because I need more money. Kelsey Willock (10:48) Right, and know, benefits can be so complicated and so oftentimes people will only use one when they absolutely need them and when they absolutely need them they can be stressful moments and so making the right decision can be even more challenging. So I would say that the breakdown you're describing is one of the most common that we're hearing right now, which is understanding, utilizing, understanding also that we're talking about just the dollar amount that you receive from your employer. It is this little package. Dr. Charm Patton (11:21) Some of the things the employer can do that are helpful though is to, for example, access to, I'm just going use an example, a clinic or a relationship with the provider that they can go to and perhaps if they go there instead of going to the ER, they can save money. So then that way they still get access to care, but they're not having to come out of their pocket to get access to care because it's included as part of the free benefit that they get. That's just some ways that employers can say, how can we manage this where we're still given the service, but it's not costing the money and we're paying a nominal fee for it. Kelsey Willock (11:57) Yeah, you know, it goes back to it's so challenging to get people to do these types of things coactively, but making them accessible, making them known can prevent, you know, waiting until, you know, the last minute to go to the ER. But those checkups and your employer will often pay for them is paying for them. So take advantage of those services before it's absolutely in dire need. Dr. Charm Patton (12:12) Yes. Yes. Kelsey Willock (12:23) What's a change that you have introduced in benefits that you've seen from help move from attracting talent to transforming lives? Dr. Charm Patton (12:33) you One of them is a company that's able to provide, you know, surgeries at a discounted rate. And so employees, if they use this particular organization or company, they're able to get their surgeries done in a full bundled service, meaning that they can get everything from the blood work to the PT to everything included in that surgery. For example, if you have carpal tunnel surgery, often you'd have to go here to get this done and here to get that done. It's a one stop shop they get it all done and if they utilize this particular organization they get theirs it's free. And so I think that's transformed people in their attitude towards the surgery. Number one, not avoiding it because they say, can't pay whatever's left over my portion, ensuring that they do have follow up when they have surgery so that they have a full recovery. And then also just giving them access to care by saying, here's a service that is making it convenient for you. I think that's transformative in allowing the employee to have that level of freedom for something that often can be very challenging. scary which is having surgery. Kelsey Willock (13:43) I love that example. I actually haven't heard of a service like that. So I think it's a brilliant idea that folks can take away from this conversation, especially those that might be seeing high usage of ER visits and thinking about how do you counteract that cost? Because you're completely also right that a lot of people fear, you know, preventative or, you know, proactive and necessary surgeries because of cost. And then they end up, you know, having to get emergency care down the line. So I think that's a brilliant example. Dr. Charm Patton (14:15) Yes, thank you. Kelsey Willock (14:18) When you think about communicating the measurable impact that a program like that introduced to the company, what are you seeking? It sounds probably obviously so the reduction in healthcare costs. Is there anything else you're looking for or is that not the only one? Dr. Charm Patton (14:35) Well, I, you know... I think that's one of the benefits of it. The goal is to ensure that employees have access to care that's manageable. That's the ultimate goal. Let's have access to care, then they'll take advantage of it. And then your cost on your claims go down automatically because they're saying, I'm going to go and get my preventative care done. Therefore, now I'm finding out in advance before I get to the point where something is going to be challenging for me. And preventative care often is of charge so you can get that done without having to like mammograms you know eye exams those kinds of things ⁓ and I think it's holistically looking at the employee and saying let's consider what you need for you to have a quality of life schedule those appointments without thinking about it how much am I gonna have to pay for it it's preventative it's no cost to you so it's important for the employee to be able to have that freedom and it lets them know the organization cares about them holistically. That they again have thought about their well-being, not just come in, work, we'll give you a paycheck and just figure out your life. But when they do, and if they do reach the end of their careers, they now really do have a quality of life. Because I don't know about you, but a lot I remember when I was younger, I remember most of the elder people in my life, they would say, oh I'm retired, got a doctor's appointment for this and for this and for this and for that. And I was like, oh my gosh, all the is that all do is go to the doctor and because a lot of them did not do that preventative care when they were younger they will spend those older years going to doctors. So if you educate, provide access and say take care of yourself now because I tell the teachers and principals and everyone ⁓ go to the bathroom it's okay to go pee because if you don't do it now as your body gets older you will end up having to go to the doctor because you're going to be causing all kinds of things down the line. So it's okay to say, excuse me, I gotta go to the bathroom. Kelsey Willock (16:40) It sounds such a small thing, but I imagine it's so important in education because you feel this responsibility to be in front of the children all day and you don't take a moment to pause. Okay, I've got to put my own mask on. I've got to, you know, take care of myself too so I can keep showing up properly and for a long time for them. So I love that you shared that reminder with them. Dr. Charm Patton (16:59) Right. And you would expect to... Yes. It's again, only because... Yes. When I joined, I noticed that there would be meetings and nobody would, you know, say, bio break. And so I thought... Kelsey Willock (17:03) I think it's such an important human reminder. Dr. Charm Patton (17:17) are they doing this? Right? I mean this is unusual for me. So I really did it out of self-preservation because I said excuse me I need to take a bio break and they were like we do too that's great thank you. So you know it made me realize that just one person saying that hey make sure you and in order if you do take a bio break make sure you're hydrated too. So you know again the employer doesn't always have to do things that are going to cost money to help someone have good care. Kelsey Willock (17:44) You can introduce brilliant programs like you recommended, or just showing small bits of kindness, like a mentioning on a Zoom meeting. So I think that both are incredibly important well-being approaches that clearly are carried forward in the culture of the company. What benefits trends do you think are going to shape the employee experience most over the next year? Dr. Charm Patton (18:07) I really appreciate you asking that question. I don't know if you can recall, but it's only been maybe the last five years that on television you're always seeing all these things that you could potentially have. It didn't used to be that way. You'd watch television and you might know about aspirin, you might know about cold medicine, but you never knew about automata, beta, whatever it is, right? And go ask your doctor about it. And so I think in order for organizations to get ahead of it, that they need to be aware, what are these things that people are thinking that they have and not actually going and saying, I think I have it, but saying, I've already self diagnosed that I have this and I want that medication. I think that's going to be one. The awareness of the public being able to come in and advocate for what they think they want to have. That's something that's going to be happening. I think the other trend is the GLPs. They're extremely expensive and you know the conversation between should it be for weight loss or should it be for diabetes or should it be for cardiac health being able to wrap their arms around what do they want to do as an organization do you want to give it to individuals for weight loss do you want to give it to them for diabetes or cardio health or do you want to give it to them for all things because now where before people used to have to struggle with weight loss they can simply say I want to get the shot and but the shot costs quite a bit for the employer to pay for. So I think those are going to be some challenges that are going to come to the forefront is advocacy from the employee on which medications they want to take as well as the new things that are coming out that are miracle medications that you'll have more people wanting that which means the higher costs will be coming to the organization. Kelsey Willock (19:58) I certainly think something I'm deeply interested in is are the costs that are associated with these types of medications offsetting other costs that are felt further down the lines employers? Will there be a balance or will there need to be ultimate change? And maybe it's a combination of a few, but I think that we're a bit too early to tell where things are going to land. Dr. Charm Patton (20:22) What you can do though, and we've done that, is you can look at the claims and see have they gotten better, right? Is there a trend of people being healthier? With the GLPs and weight loss, that may mean you have fewer people that are diabetic and have cardio problems or obesity problems. And so, you know, over time you can say we've got this many people on it and we've saved this much money because now those individuals are not going to the doctor having to use care because they've lost the Kelsey Willock (20:30) Mm. Dr. Charm Patton (20:52) So you can look at it under some metrics and data and pull that information over time to see if it's relevant. Kelsey Willock (21:00) What is the conversation you're seeing amongst other CHROs? Are folks in conversation saying they're seeing that net effect happen or are they saying things like we're waiting for a few more years to see what the effect has been? Dr. Charm Patton (21:15) It's more waiting a few more years, specifically with the GLPs, just because everyone knows what that is. I think that right now it looks like it's the revolutionary thing, but there's really been no study on the side effects. And once you start on it, it's for life, for the most part. Kelsey Willock (21:28) Mm. Dr. Charm Patton (21:31) And so I don't think there's enough research out there to say that it can sustain a person who may start on at the age of 20. And by the time they're 40, where will they be? There's not really a lot of data on that. it is conversations that CHROs are having around. What is the holistic impact of being able to have access to this medication? Will it change things for the better or will it potentially change things for the worst? It's really too soon to tell just because, you now that the pill is out. Kelsey Willock (22:01) right? Dr. Charm Patton (22:02) What's the impact of that, right? Now you're taking it differently in your body, so what's gonna happen? I just think that the research is still not there. There's not enough information to know for sure what the side effects are in the long term. Kelsey Willock (22:17) Maybe we'll have an interview in two years time from now and it'll be ⁓ part two of this conversation. We'll know a lot more. Dr. Charm Patton (22:24) Yes. Kelsey Willock (22:26) Last question for you, and it kind of ties back to our original part of our conversation around financial well-being. What is a 30-day experiment that you'd recommend our listeners try to improve their own personal financial well-being? Dr. Charm Patton (22:41) ⁓ I'm setting a goal like I did when I was a little young tank and saying I aspire to get something or have something and set it aside. mean, be mindful of it. Be mindful of a budget. I every year say, what is it I want to do? So I plan for the year and how am I finances going to do that? My goal is to save $12,000 at the end of the year. That means I have to save $1,000 a month. Can I do that? If not, $10 is good because what's important is reaching the goal. So just start small. Don't put pressure or be defeated if you go crack open the jar and spend the money. Start again. Let others know what you're doing so they can support you. Oh, that's great. Here, let me give you a couple of bucks, right? Let me help. Yes. Kelsey Willock (23:36) accountability. I love it. Dr. Charm Patton (23:39) And you know, again, whether you make the goal or don't make the goal, just start somewhere. Kelsey Willock (23:46) I love that. Dr. Charm, it's been an absolute pleasure speaking with you. I deeply appreciate your time on this evening. I learned so much from our conversation and I think there is just a lot tangibly that our listeners can take away from this conversation. So thank you for being so open and honest. Where can our listeners connect with you beyond this conversation? Dr. Charm Patton (24:08) Well, if they have additional questions or thoughts or want to share feedback on it, always can hit me up on LinkedIn. I think that's the perfect place because in that way I can connect with them and find out where they are. If it's someone that doesn't have LinkedIn, because there are people that don't have LinkedIn accounts, they can always reach out to me. I'm at Hillsborough County, so they can send me an email there. But if they want to have something a little bit more personal, because people might say, I don't know if I want to do that. I do have an email address, so if they reach out on LinkedIn, then we can connect and I can provide them further information. a little bit more coaching on that. I've got a goal but I'm not sure how to get there. I'd certainly be glad to help them with that. Kelsey Willock (24:52) Well, thank you so much. Please do reach out to Dr. Charm. I'll make sure to tag her contact information as well as LinkedIn on this post. And thank you so much and have a wonderful evening. Dr. Charm Patton (25:05) Thank you, it's been my pleasure. You have won as well.