Latest / Beyond the Paycheck / Jeff Bettinger, CHRO and Chief Administrative Officer at Hudson Talent Solutions
Transcript
- Courtney Cardin (00:01) Welcome, Jeff, to the show. Thank you so much for joining us. I would love if you could take a minute to introduce yourself to our listeners and then we will jump right in. Jeff Bettinger (00:09) Awesome. Thank you so much, Courtney. I'm Jeff Bettinger. I'm the Chief Human Resources Officer for a company called Hudson Talent Solutions. We have about 1,000 recruiters around the world that support our client companies all over. This is my third time being a Chief HR Officer for an organization. And interestingly enough, I had my start right out of college as a school teacher and worked my way up after I'd done a little stint in school teaching and then made my way into becoming a recruiter and then eventually all the way up through the HR organization to sit at the top seat. So it's been an exciting career journey to this point. Courtney Cardin (00:45) Wow, what a journey. What grade did you teach? Jeff Bettinger (00:48) I taught high school, so I taught freshmen through senior, and then I also taught a little bit at the community college level. Courtney Cardin (00:56) Amazing. Well, thank you so much for doing what you did and what you do and for being here today. We really appreciate it. I'd love to take you back to even earlier, to maybe your high school days or before. What's one of your earliest money memories that you can share? Jeff Bettinger (01:13) I mean, it's going to date me a little bit, but I remember it was in San Francisco, California. I was saving up for a special toy that I wanted, and my parents bought me this little piggy bank, and it literally was a little piggy bank, kind of almost transparent plastic. And finally, when I had saved enough money to get this little toy that I was after, I remember we went to the store and my dad took this piggy bank with me. And as we got to the counter, It didn't have a way to open it. was something you had to actually break to get open. And my dad did a karate chop on it and it just threw the coins everywhere. But I remember in that moment feeling really powerful because I had saved money and done something for myself. But then my dad had kind of just kind of crushed it literally as that money went flying everywhere. But from that moment on, for some reason, I started to pay attention to what's. money all about. Courtney Cardin (02:12) That's such a great example. mean, it's such a great visual too. can totally see little Jeff being there and watching his dad and sort of the mix of the delight of getting this toy you've been working for and also the horror of seeing your piggy bank shattered everywhere. It sounds like you learned a lot about sort of freedom and responsibility in that moment. I'm curious, go ahead. Jeff Bettinger (02:27) Yeah. Yeah. No, no, yeah. mean, from there, it kind of progressed to, you know, making copies for my dad's office. And, you know, eventually I remember my first real job was mowing lawns in Las Vegas. And I mean, of all the places to mow lawns, why pick Las Vegas? But that's where we lived. And that's what I did. I really learned the value of just hard, hard work and what that can yield. how it can benefit your future. Courtney Cardin (03:06) Okay, now I'm picturing you mowing lawns of like, you know, Mandalay Bay or something. this is just... So since you were in Vegas and lots of people have somewhat challenging stories or embarrassing stories about Vegas, I'm going to go ahead and ask you, what's your most embarrassing purchase? Jeff Bettinger (03:26) Oh, golly, I have made some stupid, stupid purchases. Probably for me, the most, you know, I mean, there are the little dumb things that I can point out, like why in the heck did I get this thing that I hang on my wall that's so stupid? But for me, probably the dumbest purchase I ever made was a pretty big dollar one. I bought a franchise for a business when I was living in Idaho at the time. and decided to kind of open up and run a little bit of a franchise. And so it was rather expensive. And I just didn't realize how much work it was going to be and how quickly that money could just absolutely disappear from, you know, all of my hard work and savings. so while it's not some, you know, trite little trinket or something or, you know, a T-shirt from some stupid vacation or whatever. Courtney Cardin (04:09) Hmm Jeff Bettinger (04:20) The worst money mistake I made was buying that franchise without really doing my homework and understanding what it was going to entail. Courtney Cardin (04:28) Yeah, I'm sure that was like a big life decision and probably became something where you were like, okay, not only is this not something I want to do, but now I need to figure out, you know, different trajectory. How do all of these things add into your money story and influence how you're thinking about sort of pay and benefits and financial well-being for your employees today? Jeff Bettinger (04:33) Mm-hmm. Yeah. I think one of the things that happens, at least in my personal situation, and this might be a little too personal, but I'm gonna share it. I was a school teacher for the first 13 years of my career. And so I was making rather low dollars. mean, at one point I was actually teaching in a school district where the mascot here in Idaho, where I'm sitting today, was actually a potato. They were the Shelley Russets. And we would actually have two weeks off in the fall so that the kids could go work on their family farms to help harvest the potatoes. But as teachers, many of us would work the harvest as well to try and earn the money that we needed for Christmas or other things. And so one of the things that has happened because of the unique upbringing that I've had is it's really influenced me in my thinking about the employees that I'm charged to support in their benefits. Courtney Cardin (05:50) Mm-hmm. Jeff Bettinger (05:51) because I've been paid low dollars. mean, yes, as a chief HR officer, I make more money now than I did, obviously, as an educator. But it really, back in the day, there were several years where my insurance rates went up more than my annual increase went up. And so because of that, it's caused me to be very, very sensitive to what happens with benefits in the world of Courtney Cardin (06:09) Mm-hmm. Jeff Bettinger (06:17) the employees that I'm charged to support and take care of and helping them to take advantage of their benefits in the very best ways. Courtney Cardin (06:25) That's amazing. It sounds like you're bringing such a diverse ⁓ work experience and money story to this role. I'd love to jump a little bit more into your role today and talk about today's pay and people challenges. Where do compensation and benefits most often break down for employees today? Is this pay equity, transparency, total rewards, something else? Jeff Bettinger (06:52) Yeah, I'd say that it's people getting lost in the malaise of all of the options and not developing and planning a strategy for their long-term benefit. I think oftentimes people pick their benefits and go about the, for instance, open enrollment time with a very, very narrow focus on, you know, how much my premium is going to be or instead of looking at long-term, what are the things that I'm doing in my benefits journey? Courtney Cardin (07:02) Mm-hmm. Jeff Bettinger (07:20) to take advantage of everything that the company has to offer. For instance, one company I was at, we actually had the ability to meet twice a year with a financial advisor or planner as part of our benefits package. And that happened at all levels of the company. And I was amazed at how few people actually took advantage of that. And the people who did take advantage of it, ⁓ one in particular that I'm thinking about, he's about to open up a chicken wings like restaurant. Courtney Cardin (07:32) Mm-hmm. Jeff Bettinger (07:48) because he started planning better than 15 years ago using this financial planner opportunity to really think about what his long-term dreams were and how he could leverage his benefits to set himself up down the road in the future. Courtney Cardin (08:04) Well, I hope you gave him some advice about running a franchise. It's fascinating. We see this a lot in our work. ⁓ The difficulty of engaging people in those financial conversations is why we sort of take a more broad psychology-based approach to really help people feel more comfortable speaking about money so that they feel comfortable going into those places because you're right, there's... Jeff Bettinger (08:07) you Courtney Cardin (08:30) There's a very low uptake as far as people who actually sit in and have that financial management planning. And you don't have to wait 15 years to see the fruits of your labor if you actually start having those conversations today. I'd love to talk a little bit more about your leadership in action. What have you or other leaders that you admire in this space changed in pay or benefits to move from? Let's just focus on attracting talent to we're really in the business of transforming the lives of our employees. Jeff Bettinger (09:01) I'd say that one of the things that we're actually going through right now, I mean, here it is just right at the turn of the year when we're recording this, And we've actually decided to try and put the power into our employees' hands. So when we look at the demographic of the employees in my organization, they're largely in their 20s. These are mostly, you know, first or second career type people who are new out of college or maybe were their second employer. and they're doing recruiting for us. And because of that, typically we find that in our benefits packages, they're single, they don't have families on their plans with them. And so we've typically up until this last year run a pretty rich program with very low deductibles and never an HSA program where people have the opportunity to actually save for the long term and invest some of that. money. And so we actually have made a real conscious decision this year to try and put some power into our employees hands because the largest demographic is very young. So they have the power to let compounding interest really help them as they use an HSA plan to build up some personal wealth, if you will, so that eventually down the road as they get to where they may need to use their health. ⁓ Courtney Cardin (10:12) Mm-hmm. Jeff Bettinger (10:24) benefits a little bit more significantly. They have some sort of nest egg that they've been able to build. Up until this time, we had pretty typical deductibles and fairly high rates. And we've been able to keep rates in a year where, you know, most employers and most people who are on various insurance programs are seeing 12 to 20 % increases. We actually were able to keep our rates flat for our employees. Courtney Cardin (10:34) Mm-hmm. Jeff Bettinger (10:52) and put significant contributions for them on behalf of the company to help motivate them to begin saving in an HSA plan that will really have the ability to help compound their wealth as they grow older and older. Courtney Cardin (11:06) Wow, that's a really innovative solution and I love that you're sort of looking at the key demographics in your company and understanding that they might not understand that you get triple tax benefits with an HSA and you're essentially helping them set up a default emergency savings for the future, relying on hopefully they're young and they're healthy now and they won't have to use it. And so you're giving them the gift of time. think that's really amazing. Looking ahead, given that you have been so innovative in this space and sort of taking a really user centered approach, what compensation or benefit trends do you think will continue to shape the employee experience in 2026 and maybe even into 2027? Jeff Bettinger (11:51) Yeah, I mean, we're in such a really interesting time now with the evolution of AI and what's happening in this space. I think that people are more empowered than they used to be having the ability to use AI as a thought partner in their own benefits work. And so one of the things that we're working on and we're very, I'd say. early stages, we're working with some of our providers, as well as with what we offer in a total rewards package to build AI agents that are there to help counsel people on what it is that they do and how they choose their benefits. We actually used that agent this year, just before our open enrollment started to try and help people to work through different challenges as HR budgets shrink, you know, as companies are always focused on more and more profitability, we're actually looking at how can we use the power of AI to help our people make better choices and strategize for their future a little bit better than being able, you know, in my early days, you know, back in the early teaching days, I mean, there would be a benefits person that you could call and they could walk you through your scenarios and everything that you do. And we're trying to put Courtney Cardin (13:09) Totally. Jeff Bettinger (13:11) more power into people's hands by letting them take the more comprehensive view of here's all of our benefits, here's everything that can happen. And it's an evolution. We're very, very early stage right now, but hopefully over the next year or two, that will continue to improve and allow our people to make really wise choices with their benefits. Courtney Cardin (13:31) Absolutely. So what ⁓ mindset shifts or guardrails have you had to adopt and do you think the HR leadership world will have to adopt sort of to take on these AI shifts and really look at the responsibility of helping the employees fully understand their total rewards and also utilize their benefits packages, right? To understand that it's not just the compensation. that you should be comparing when you're looking at two jobs. It's actually what is the company doing for you in healthcare? What are they doing for you in retirement? What are they doing for you in those additional benefits that are supporting your overall mental health and wellbeing? Jeff Bettinger (14:09) I mean, one thing we have to address is that people move more than they used to job wise. And so consequently, our benefits, the more portable they are, the better it is for employees. It creates more of a consistency of their own life experience. I think that the other thing that benefits providers, know, HR departments have really got to look at, especially if we think domestic US is what is the impact of the changing health care landscape? You know, we hear a lot of noise about ACA right now and subsidies and people's rates going up and so forth. So I think being there to partner with people on how to make the best decisions for their families and for themselves is really, really vital. I think that there's just so much noise happening right now in this space about, for instance, health insurance, that it really can create a lot of ambiguity for people. and they'd like it to just be super, super simple. So when I think about why we would or how we would use, for instance, an agent, an AI agent, it would be to try and help create more clarity for folks. I just worry that, you know, it's it's going to move fast and it is moving fast. But can it stay up with all the latest happenings? You know, I have some side businesses and so I have about 50 employees across my side businesses as well. Courtney Cardin (15:25) Mm-hmm. Jeff Bettinger (15:35) And we really work hard with them individually to help them make the most informed choices based on what we know their income levels are and how they can or can't use various subsidized programs or the programs that we offer, all in this attempt to try and put as much knowledge into their hands to help them make the most wise decisions possible. Courtney Cardin (15:44) Mm-hmm. Yeah, that's amazing. ⁓ I'd love to follow up on that. What tools or data or automations are helping you measure and improve financial wellness? ⁓ And this could be within your main role and also sort of within your side businesses. How do you think about sort of measuring and improving financial well-being for all your employees? Jeff Bettinger (16:19) Um, boy, think we do a lot of so in the we do a lot of benchmarking and we do a lot of benchmarking to understand where do we sit. One of the things that I've always liked to do at companies I've been at is to understand at what level are we offering the benefits that our people are taking advantage of compared to others in our industry. I've worked for companies that are sitting like at a 90th or an 85th percentile. as far as the richness of the benefits compared to competitors. And then I've worked in other places where the goal has been to pare that down or to take it maybe from a low end up to a mid-level end. So I think that as leaders, we have to make sure that we understand what is the market presenting from a benchmarking standpoint to make sure that we stay relevant and apply for programs, apply for Courtney Cardin (17:06) Mm-hmm. Jeff Bettinger (17:14) tools that allow our people to make the best choices given the level of benefit funding that we have for the industry or the environment we're in. you know, I've worked in pharmaceuticals where we were very, very rich in benefits and things were really, really very attractive. And then I've worked in other settings where margins are much tighter like retail. And so it's a much more bare bones kind of a product that's offered. And I think that as people especially the younger generations that are coming into the workforce right now are moving employers place to place. One of the things that they need to be considering besides the salary, besides the base dollar is what is that total benefit package that's put in front of me that's going to allow me to fulfill what I need personally? in my own personal enterprises that I have, we have some people who don't have any interest or care for the benefits at all. simply because they're getting them through a spouse or through, you know, parents because, you know, they can have them until they're age 26 through the ACA. understanding their particular position and situation is really, really critical. And I, the more education we can provide, the better. Courtney Cardin (18:15) Mm-hmm. And I'm just going to throw in one last question because you do have this background as an educator. And ⁓ as you know, we were talking earlier and Aura takes a psychology based approach and really tries to help people be prepared to engage in these conversations about money. What's one thing that you recommend when you're talking to your employees or when you were talking to your students to help them get into the mindset of learning? Right. If you can throw statistics and facts at people all day, but if they're not, you know, well fed or their nervous system isn't regulated, it doesn't matter how much information you throw at them if they're not ready to absorb it. So what's one thing that you like to do to help people sort of be ready for those conversations and be ready for learning? Jeff Bettinger (19:14) I think about Maslow's hierarchy quite a bit in how I prepare people for learning. ⁓ Courtney Cardin (19:20) Can you just really quickly explain what Maslow's hierarchy is for anyone who doesn't? Jeff Bettinger (19:23) Yeah, yeah. So in Maslow's hierarchy, it's this triangle where at the very base of the triangle, you have basic needs. And at the very tip of it, you have self-actualization, like, you know, self-fulfillment. And often, their benefits are attached to different levels of that hierarchy. And what I have found is that if a person's worried about their paycheck, if a person's worried about their base pay, it's really difficult for them to think about, for instance, retirement that might be at the top or legal assistance that they may need, which might be towards the middle. And so in an HR function, what I try and do, and sometimes we're really successful and sometimes it can be a bit of a challenge, we try and make sure that the very base level, their salary and benefits, all that is really, really clear, the base benefits. so that they can take advantage of and be open to things. It's a little bit of a hyper-exaggeration, but if a person's belly is hungry, it's going to be difficult for them to engage in a conversation on what deductibles they should be thinking about for their insurance plan. so getting people ready to learn is about making sure that they have those base elements taken care of. One, but two is I find that people's readiness factor increases when you put them in a situation where they are forced to learn. you know, in a very rudimentary, you know, example of that, might be, you know, somebody's having a personal crisis because a family member has been diagnosed with a serious illness. All of sudden, their desire to learn and understand certain things has changed, and it makes them much more open. Courtney Cardin (20:52) Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Jeff Bettinger (21:12) So while I can't manufacture the crisis, I feel like when the crisis comes, if we can be there to really support the individual, that individual's personal knowledge and awareness increases dramatically. Courtney Cardin (21:15) Night. I think that's an incredible insight. ⁓ Jeff, thank you so much for joining us today. This has been a fascinating conversation. Everything that you shared from sort of helping people prepare and have that conversation to sort of the next generation in the way that looking at benefits, increasing the ability to have portable benefits and really just adopting more of a user centered approach to benefits has been incredibly helpful and eye opening. So thank you so much. I want to give you one last chance if there's anything else that we missed that you want to say to our listeners. And otherwise, I just really appreciate you being here on January 2nd. It's great to celebrate 26th with you. Jeff Bettinger (22:03) Thank you, thank you for having me. Nothing else to add. Just if you're out there listening and you're a practitioner, make sure you're doing all you can to as personal as possible, help your individuals address their particular family's needs. Courtney Cardin (22:18) And where can people find you? On LinkedIn or your website? Jeff Bettinger (22:21) Yeah, LinkedIn is the best spot to find me. JeffBettinger.com will take people to my LinkedIn profile and I help people in a variety of ways there. Courtney Cardin (22:30) Great. Thank you so much, Jeff. It has been such a pleasure and we look forward to getting this podcast out there so everyone can hear your brilliant words. Thank you so much. Jeff Bettinger (22:39) Thank you so much for having me. Have a happy day. Courtney Cardin (22:41) You too.