Latest / Beyond the Paycheck / Markus Enzner, VP of Total Rewards Americas at The Adecco Group
Transcript
- Kelsey Willock (00:42) Welcome Markus Enzner VP of Total Rewards at The Adecco Group. We are so beyond excited to have you, particularly in this holiday and busy, busy season. Thank you so much for joining us. To kick us off, yes, thank you. I'd love for you to start by introducing yourself, sharing a bit about your career and background, where you're calling in from today and your current role. Markus Enzner (00:53) Kelsey, thank you for having me. Okay, so as you said, my name is Markus Enzner. I've been in the field of total rewards for around 18 years. I'm an economist by education and I'm calling in from beautiful Boca Raton, Florida today. With regards to my career, as I said, I've been working in total rewards and a couple of other HR capacities for the last 18, 19 years. ⁓ different industries, different companies, different scopes, but my ⁓ current role is that I'm the head of total rewards for The Adecco Group in the Americas. So that means my scope ⁓ covers North America, but our Latin American businesses as well. The Adecco Group has three operational GBUs, and ⁓ my team and I, we cover all of those GBUs across the whole the whole region. We're talking around, you know, ⁓ 10,000, 10,000 people and I think a total business of around $8 billion that we ⁓ are supporting and that we are responsible for. Kelsey Willock (02:23) Sounds like a huge responsibility. So thank you so much for sharing that with me. So before diving in, ⁓ Markus Enzner (02:27) You're very welcome. I just wanted to say it's a good challenge. I'm learning ⁓ every day, I feel. ⁓ But it's been a very interesting ride for the last 18 months since I joined the company. Kelsey Willock (02:49) So before diving into all the amazing work that you're doing at the Adeco group, I hope you'll indulge me because I want to learn a little bit more about you and your personal story. So to kind of kick that off, can you share with me your earliest memory of money? Markus Enzner (03:06) That's a very good question. I have ⁓ a couple of memories about money, but the earliest, and I think that goes back to when I was like four or five years old. Before that, I never had a concept about money, but I remember ⁓ that my parents sent me to a baker shop and ⁓ they handed me back then, a ⁓ German Mark, you know, bill, and they said what to buy with it. And ⁓ I think that was the first time I've ever used money. So I went to that bakery, I was not able to calculate I didn't, you know, I just knew what I what I bought. And I couldn't even count, you know, the, the remainder that I that I got back. So that is kind of my my earliest memory because I remember that was really the first time I bought something with money. I don't know if this is a good earliest memory of money, for me it was because I didn't understand the concept, I didn't know what money was and that's my first memory when I first with my own hands used money. Kelsey Willock (04:24) No, I think it's a brilliant example. And I always love asking this question because each of us have such different earliest memories, but we often don't realize how much it has shaped our lives today. So how do you think that experience really shaped how you see security, freedom, or even responsibility? Markus Enzner (04:43) ⁓ So for me, as I said, that was kind of the first time I was really thinking about money. But I guess from there, I really started to develop an interest in money as well. ⁓ I quite early started understanding as well that money, as you said, provides freedom. And I guess we will get to that, but let me pull that forward. So I had my first job with 14 years and I was delivering the newspaper and I was ⁓ so happy because it kind of gave me the first small step of independence from my parents' My parents have always been, you know, ⁓ gracious and I had everything basically growing up. But for me, that was a very big step, making my first money and having that freedom and independence. I think money is kind of important to me until today. I can tell you one of my biggest hobbies is watching the stock markets, investing my money, taking care that my money grows and just doesn't sit on the bank account or buried in the backyard. So I think all those experiences kind of shape the way I'm thinking about money today. Kelsey Willock (06:15) you want it to work hard for you. Sounds like. Markus Enzner (06:18) ⁓ yeah and it's true right you want to get to a point where you have a little bit more independence and you're maybe not as reliant on your day job as you are when you're younger. Kelsey Willock (06:33) Exactly. Can you remember what you did with your first paycheck that you earned? Markus Enzner (06:39) Honestly, with that first paycheck that I got from my newspaper delivery job, I don't remember what I did with it. I think my parents put it on a savings account, be honest. But I remember that my parents, when the check came ⁓ with the post office, my parents kind of took that check and they kind of celebrated that with me in the evening. So they kind of surprised me handing out the check. Kelsey Willock (06:46) You Markus Enzner (07:04) And that was a very nice experience when they told me, you received your first check. And I think it was like 80 German Marks back then, which is like 50 bucks or so. So not a lot of money. But again, for a 14-year-old, it was a lot of money. I have another memory. And that's where I really know what I did with my paycheck. So I think when I was around 16, 17 years old, I wanted to upgrade my sound system ⁓ at home. you know, so I was hired ⁓ by a company for, you know, like a vacation job. And I was working in a warehouse for like six weeks for all summer to be able to afford that sound system. And ⁓ I can, it was a lot of effort. It took me, you know, an hour to get to the job. Then I was working nine hours, you and then it took me an hour to get back. And really the day I got my paycheck, ⁓ I got my sound system as well. And I was the happiest teenager ever. And I really thought, you know, those six weeks of hustling and stress and traveling and stuff was really worth it. Kelsey Willock (08:26) something about earning it makes that item or that experience just so much more valuable. I have a very similar memory buying my first ⁓ really nice camera and I have that camera today and although the camera doesn't even take that amazing of pictures given the technology we've gotten to it's so meaningful because I remember at the time it just represented Markus Enzner (08:47) It's great that you still have it, you should never give it away. think it's a great memory where you come from and how much you had to hustle to get to that camera. It's amazing. Kelsey Willock (09:01) Exactly. And to me, it's just a signifier of time. There was a lot of time that went into earning it. So I think this is a great segue actually into, can you share a little bit about how you think your money story has influenced how you think about paying benefits for your employees? Markus Enzner (09:19) Of course it does, Of course, you know, if you, everybody's going to work for money, right? It's not that, you know, of course we all kind of have fun with the work that we do, but the primary purpose, I guess why all of us go to work is, you know, that we want to make money, we need to afford our lives. So again, kind of coming back from me, I kind of understood that concept, I think. quite early and through my experiences, ⁓ I kind of started embracing that very quickly as well. And maybe that is the reason why I ended up in total rewards as well. Honestly, ⁓ I think I kind of piece that I'm an economist by education. ⁓ I never thought that I would end up in HR. I never, let's say, really aspired an HR career. But I found the field of total rewards and I thought it's super interesting, right? Because it's kind of dealing with one of the most important topics in people's life. I really liked, I always thought I would end up in finance. Okay, I'm a numbers person, very analytical person. And I always thought that I would end up in finance. But when I found total rewards, ⁓ I really fell in love with it because it kind of combines the The most important thing for people, the analytical side of the house, but then with the employee and personal component as well. Because ⁓ if you have great compensation systems or great benefit systems, you can really support people and you can really help them throughout life as well. Kelsey Willock (11:10) In a way, you really are still in finance. I think we all so often forget that human resources is really the lifeblood of often the largest line item at a company. Like that is managing a very large budget and assets. So I imagine having that economist background is so phenomenally helpful with how you think about your role. Markus Enzner (11:22) It is. Kelsey Willock (11:35) But I also hear from you that you have also so much empathy for people as you understand they're showing up and it is their lifeblood that the money coming in from the company helps them live their version of a rich life. So I imagine that the two sides of the brain that you bring to table leads for a far more effective to rewards the leadership experience. Markus Enzner (11:57) And honestly, I'm so happy and glad that I took that decision because I think, know, ⁓ if I would only be a finance person, right, and all I'm dealing with is numbers, at this point, I would say, this sounds a little bit boring, right? I think, you know, in the profession that I'm in, yes, you're dealing with the numbers, you're dealing with the financials, but you're dealing with how that impacts the person as well. There's a lot of, let's say, psychological elements that ⁓ or thoughts that go into that whole process as well. And I'm really enjoying it. Kelsey Willock (12:35) Thank you for sharing that. So I want to talk a little bit more about today's challenges. Where do you think compensation and benefits break down most often today? Markus Enzner (12:49) Yeah, think there's different aspects to your question, right? The very straight answer, where does it break down? Often it breaks down with affordability, in my opinion, right? ⁓ If money would be abundant in an organization, you could kind of create and design the coolest total rewards programs under the sun. What makes it challenging is that money is not abundant and everybody has their financial restrictions as well. ⁓ But that's, think, the challenge and the beauty of the work that I'm doing at the moment. I think affordability is an important one. And then there's a lot of other topics and buzzwords that are kind of floating around from pay equity. but pay transparency, is getting more and more important. And another thing where I always say total rewards people are struggling with is because we are very technical people, very technical function, subject matter experts. But I think what we're not doing very well is how we communicate pay and how we communicate benefits as well. And I think this is something that a lot of totally what people need to get better at is how can I tell the story? How can I kind of simplify our offering so that the regular person that is not a subject matter expert understands it and then appreciates it better as well? So I can tell you one of the very impactful ⁓ a project that I was a part of was basically ⁓ creating total reward statements for a previous employer that I worked for. And I can tell you at the beginning, I was skeptical about the whole initiative. But when I saw how much impact and how powerful that was ⁓ for the employees and how much positive feedback we received for it, I think it's overall a very powerful tool to put more emphasis in the communication and the explanation of your whole total rewards landscape. And I think that's where it very often breaks down. Kelsey Willock (15:28) I love that you had mentioned the TR statement because my follow up question was, know, obviously you'd mentioned there's room for improvement, but have you seen anything work in a meaningful way? And I think that I've spoken to a lot of leaders lately that have shared these, this movement toward TR statements are so important because so oftentimes employees get stuck in just their salary. where in reality the employer is providing so much additional value that they may or may not understand. And so it's easy for them to look at an offer from another company that might pay them $5,000 more a year, but it's missing the larger picture of so many. Markus Enzner (15:50) Yes. It absolutely does. I think the charm of a total reward statement is, usually you try to really quantify even your benefits in a total reward statement. So it goes beyond, I'm just explaining the benefit to you. You're really trying to quantify it and put a dollar value next to it. And I think that that is a very, very powerful message, as you said, right? Because people, know, typically, Typically people understand, you know, what is my base salary? What am I getting, you know, on a bi-weekly basis? And, you know, most people then understand what their bonus or commission or whatever is as well. But then when it comes to already, let's say, the LTIs for the more senior people or, you know, ⁓ benefits and let's say even benefits that are going outside of the health side or the retirement side, mental health, adoption, know, adoption support. ⁓ you know, mental health support, there's so much that companies do for their employees, but it's very tough to explain that in a very concise way. I can tell you, you know, I'm seeing a lot of benefits guides from my own company and other companies, and they're usually like 70 pages, right? Nobody reads them. So with that total reward statement, of explaining that in a more concise way and a way that you put a dollar value next to it, ⁓ It's super powerful. Kelsey Willock (17:38) Another trend I'm noticing is this kind of shift in HR toward how do we treat our employees like consumers? And you're really exactly describing that as such. We have to understand consumers time is limited. We are not going to read a 70 page document. Therefore, let's simplify. Let's, let's recognize that they might only have two minutes in their day to take a look. So what's a statement in which they can visualize really, really easily and not Make it too complex that they'll gloss over it Markus Enzner (18:11) Yeah, I think to some extent, this is the expectation as well that we have so much technology, that can really, and even in your day to day, outside of your job, there's so much technology around that really simplifies your life. And I think, know, especially when it comes to, you know, compensation or HR, I think the companies are not always doing the best job kind of providing the same experience to the employee as what they're getting everywhere else. So I think some companies or the majority of the companies are lagging in that aspect for a number of years when it comes to simple messages. How can I make it easily digestible? How can I make sure that they take a look at it? So these are all the questions I think that companies need to answer. Kelsey Willock (19:07) You had mentioned a couple different tools and resources, particularly in the mental health space. Can you share one specific change that you've enacted at the company and perhaps even over the past year or a few years that you've seen help move from attracting talent to really transforming the lives of your employees? Markus Enzner (19:25) ⁓ I think that is, transforming lives is a big statement, right? Kelsey Willock (19:34) Mm. Markus Enzner (19:38) have a hard time really saying, how can we, what have I seen that transforms lives? I think some programs can definitely make lives better or can help people through, let's say difficult situations in their life because there's something going on and sometimes it's not even a positive thing that is going on in your life. And I've seen a lot of examples. where your benefits can support people, you know, specifically in difficult life situations. But I want to give you a different example. And that's a very personal, personal example where I was so, so happy, like unbelievably happy, because I was really able to help somebody kind of transform their own life. And that was somebody who was reporting to me. And she was doing very well. And at one point I was able to promote her to a director position, which was first a big jump for her in career. And it was a big jump for her in salary as well. And the lady was in her fifties and she was still struggling with her student loan. And when she got that promotion, it was kind of the first time Kelsey Willock (20:57) Mmm. Markus Enzner (21:03) in her professional life that she got a pretty significant ⁓ bonus at the end of the year. Because you know, just the bump, let's say from like a managerial position to a director position. And ⁓ a day after she received her bonus, she gave me a call and she said, hey, I'm so thankful and I appreciate you so much with that promotion and that bonus that you were able to give me, I was able to ⁓ to pay down my remaining student loan and now I'm debt free. I know this was not necessary where you were heading with your question, but that's a very personal example that I had where I felt like, it's not my money, right? But the organization has done something for her that really helped her and took a lot of her headache away. Kelsey Willock (21:59) your example because so often times we think about how do we create change in terms of quantitatively, know, one small change to affect the masses and your perspective is every individual matters and individual ⁓ changes or bonuses even can impact someone's life so meaningfully so and it also I imagine it impacted your life. because that motivated you in your career seeing, you know, there's really wonderful ways in which you can change people's lives, like get them out of debt. So thank you for sharing. Markus Enzner (22:35) Yeah, was really, so when she called me, ⁓ I was so happy and so thrilled and even that she kind of called me and thanked me for it. As I said, it's not my money. I'm kind of an enabler ⁓ to make her grow her career, but I didn't, I did do that because she was good, right? And she did a great job. So, but yeah, it's still, when I think about that moment, it still touches me today. Kelsey Willock (23:06) The question that I had for you to follow up almost feels wrong, but I'm gonna ask it anyway. What kind of measurable impact are you looking for when you are seeking to change people's lives? I think that so oftentimes we think about impact like engagement, retention, equity, et cetera. ⁓ But what was the impact that that had for you and the organization? Markus Enzner (23:29) Oh, it's a, you know, that's a very good question. What is the... Yeah, I think it's a little bit going in that direction, what you said, right? Very often we take decisions that have an impact on a bigger population, but we kind of ignore the individual. And, you know, if there would be a way to individualize... compensation and to individualize, you know, benefits even a little bit more and I guess with more technology that becomes easier. I think that's the way to go in the future. And that is then where you really, hopefully impact lives. As I said, impacting lives is a big statement. ⁓ And it's a big responsibility as well for an organization, right, to say, hey, I want to change lives. But I think if we get to a point where we can individualize our offerings better and tailor it maybe more to the needs of the people, I think that would go a very long way. And that would really have that impact on the transformation of lives. Another topic that is that is getting more and more popular, think, in the realm of total rewards is the living wage concept. So that's something I see popping up more and more. And I think that's going really in that direction, right? Because paying somebody is one thing. Paying somebody the minimum wage is another thing. But how can I, as an organization and a total rewards department, make sure that I'm Kelsey Willock (25:04) Mm, yeah. Markus Enzner (25:24) that I pay not only a salary, but a salary that people can comfortably live from. I think that is something that is getting more more important going forward. Kelsey Willock (25:38) How is the HEDECO group dealing with that? And are there any tools or data sets that you're using to ensure, for lack of a better word, that kind of pay equity, keeping pace with inflation, et cetera? Markus Enzner (25:50) Yeah, so I think, you know, ⁓ pay equity and, you know, covering inflation is a very traditional concept within total rewards. That living wage concept is something that is a little bit more recent. And, you know, I don't want to spoil it too much. ⁓ But this is something that The Adecco Group is currently ⁓ looking at. It's not doesn't have let's say tangible results yet, but it is something that we have started analyzing basically a couple of. Kelsey Willock (26:31) And when you think about heading into 2026, what do you think are the benefits trends that will shape the employee experience most in the next year or two? Markus Enzner (26:45) I'm giving you the standard answer and this might not be fully, you know, benefits or compensation related. ⁓ But I think, you know, the employee experience as well, the way of working will be very heavily shaped by AI. There will be, you know, there will be new tools coming up. There will be new opportunities coming up even about the topic about communicating rewards. think, you know, there's There's a lot of promising ⁓ ideas currently out there. Is that something that will shape it within the next two years? I guess we will see ⁓ how quickly that can turn around. ⁓ I think one thing that ⁓ organizations need to watch is will inflation come back? And how are we dealing? Kelsey Willock (27:39) Mm. Markus Enzner (27:41) How are we dealing with that? Because I felt like with the last wave of inflation, organizations were not necessarily expecting that. they should have expected it. think all the signs, now that's the economist speaking, I think all the signs kind of showed that inflation will pop up. And I still felt that a lot of organizations were surprised by that. So in my opinion, we will see inflation coming back at one point and I hope that organizations are better prepared to help their employees as well deal with that because inflation is not fun. Kelsey Willock (28:21) Inflation is not fun for anyone, the company nor the employees that work for them. My last question for you as we wrap up, and I'm particularly interested in your perspective, given you're someone that sounds like you're very interested in financial health. What's a 30 day experiment listeners could try to particularly boost their financial well-being? Markus Enzner (28:42) their own financial well-being. Kelsey Willock (28:44) Yes. Markus Enzner (28:46) Start a brokerage account with the bank that you trust and start with a small amount of money that you can afford that you don't miss anywhere else and that you don't need at this point in time or for the next two to five years. Put it into a broad-based ETF like, I don't know, the Dow Jones or Kelsey Willock (28:54) You Markus Enzner (29:17) there's other ETFs out there and just give it a try. See your money grow and enjoy the ride and put more money into it. Kelsey Willock (29:26) baby steps and watch that come on and go. Markus Enzner (29:27) Baby steps. And the other piece ⁓ is really that's related to this. ⁓ Take care of your money yourself. You cannot expect anyone else to pay attention to that. Or you cannot make your employer responsible for that. It's your own responsibility. Go to work. Take home your salary. Put a portion of that. And try to invest it. if it's the stock market or if it's whatever you feel comfortable with, know, precious metals, whatever, but put your money in something where it appreciates in value and doesn't get eaten up by inflation. Kelsey Willock (30:12) Markus, thank you so much for joining us today. I learned so much from our conversation. Just to kind of recap some of the key insights I learned from you, kind of started with how you shared a lot about how breakdowns really have everything to do with affordability and each one of us has different restrictions in our own life. Secondly, how we're really dealing with the challenge in communicating pay and benefits and how total reward statements can really meaningfully change the lives of people as we understand their time is limited and 70 page benefit guides aren't always the right way to address that. And then to kind of round it out, I loved how you shared how organizations really do need to think about affordability and the living wage concept as we head into this world of increased inflation, people are really feeling. pressure in terms of their paychecks and organizations need to think through that more meaningfully. So if you can leave us with one last thing, where can our listeners connect with you beyond this conversation? Markus Enzner (31:12) ⁓ I do have a LinkedIn profile. So if people want to reach out or connect and exchange, I'm more than happy to do that. ⁓ Markus Enzner on LinkedIn. ⁓ Thank you so much, Kelsey. I really appreciate your time and this conversation. I had a lot of fun. Thank you so much. Kelsey Willock (31:37) Thank you so much. Have a good one.