Latest / Beyond the Paycheck / Serena Filson, VP, Human Resources & Total Rewards at Certara
Transcript
- Kelsey Willock (00:42) Welcome Serena Filson, VP of HR Resources and Total Rewards at Sertara. We are so beyond excited to have you. To kick us off, I'd love for you to introduce yourself to our audience and particularly share a little bit about your career and background, where you're calling in from and your current role today. Serena Filson (00:59) Okay, well it's great to be here and I appreciate the invite. ⁓ Looking forward to connecting with your listeners and viewers. My background has been very cool and diverse. So I started out a number of years actually in HR, growing up in Johnson & Johnson. Had a really... a number of great mentors over the years and really kind of progressed throughout my career and fundamentally starting out in compensation and the HR technology space and then certainly branching out over the years into the generalist realm, HR business partner work, ⁓ technology, then kind of broader and broader as I've moved on. A number of years ago, I did also some independent consulting when I was a stay at home mom, which kind of balanced that part of my life so we can certainly dive into that if we need to, which was really a great opportunity for me to build ⁓ the muscles to really learn how to kind go into an organization, assess things quickly. and also have high levels of responsibility, which translated into me taking on my current role ⁓ at Sertara, where I oversee, yeah, so right now I oversee HR operations, total rewards, HR technology, and talent acquisition. So it's been a great ride so far. I am located in Doylestown, Pennsylvania, so right outside the Philly suburbs, and I have a daughter who is soon to be 16. So that's a little bit about me. Kelsey Willock (02:23) So it sounds like you share and have many, many hats that you're wearing right now, whether it has to do with parenthood or your career today. So I'm really excited to dive deeper into all the amazing work you're doing. But before we get into that, I want to talk a little bit more about your personal story and particularly your money story. So can you tell our audience your earliest money memory? Serena Filson (02:45) You know, it's funny, when I saw the prompt, I really had to think. I would be lying if I said, I think that the earliest memory I have is one where I think my parents were actually fighting over money, ⁓ which certainly would lend itself to having a scarcity mindset. I remember it just being very, very kind of heavy and a lot of discussions around, can we afford this? Can we not? And hearing that level of dialogue probably very early in childhood, probably early elementary school, I would think. So it certainly has. Kelsey Willock (02:58) Mmm. Serena Filson (03:20) I can say it certainly has played a role in my personal view of how I handle my own finances, but certainly what I bring to my role given the fact that I do obviously having been and had a technical background in compensation primarily, I do love the concept of money and money. So it is fun to see how it's applied in real life. Kelsey Willock (03:40) I think that so many of us don't even know this stat, that our money stories are really developed by the age of seven. So that experience you had in your household, although may have felt small at the time, it has probably been something you've experienced through the rest of your life. ⁓ Serena Filson (03:56) It is, it is. think it was interesting because I think it primarily, again, there's kind of like the scarcity mindset and then there's the, hey, it's a free, it's going to come, you the non-scarcity mindset. And I think for me, I think it kind of it always kind of had a connotation of, you know, money brought with it. high levels of obligation, but also high levels of responsibility. How that has grown and evolved for me, certainly it's taken a different flavor since I have a very different. subscription than my parents did. ⁓ So I've learned how to channel that into being super smart about it, but also having a lot of fun and just making sure that you put it where it makes sense and you invest kind of strategically, whether that's in a financial kind of angle or just in your personal kind of satisfaction. Kelsey Willock (04:44) I want to dig a little bit deeper into that scarcity comment because not everyone is familiar. Can you tell us, you know, what does scarcity really mean to you and how do you think you worked through that learning? Serena Filson (04:54) I mean, scarcity for me as it relates to money is the concept that you... are always worried that you're carrying like a mental or sometimes it manifests itself physically or individually. not saying I do this now. But where there's a constant thought and an emotional baggage that is basically weighing on you at all times because you're worried about perhaps where your next paycheck is coming from or you're worried that what you are making is just not enough or you're worried that the decisions that you're making are not the right ones and is something you know, something bad going to happen and I'm not going to be able to figure out if an emergency occurs. So for me it just has a connotation of, you know, not enough and or there's going to be something. It's almost like waiting for the shoe to drop. Kelsey Willock (05:45) Right. Serena Filson (05:45) And I have a few colleagues and some of my good friends as well who do. And I'd be remiss to not say that in the current economic environment, there are a lot of people who live paycheck to paycheck. So I get that there's always a personal situation really kind of shapes how your view might be at any given time. I just think for me, know, the goal has been to be kind of respectful of that, ⁓ but being smart about it, meaning I don't think it does anybody a service, you know, to constantly have that burden emotionally over like over a long period of time. Kelsey Willock (06:10) Mm. Right, can be so challenging to make good financial decisions from a place of fear. Although it was so developed to protect us evolutionarily, we've come a long way since when hearing a rustle in the bushes meant something was going to harm you. However, there's still so much that'll show up today that having those sentiments around money. So thank you for sharing that with me. Can you tell me about your first job and how you spent your first paycheck? Serena Filson (06:25) Yeah, yeah, yeah, absolutely. Ha ha ha! Yeah, absolutely. actually do remember this vividly. my first job was, my parents were very adamant that my primary job was actually to get good grades in school. So they were somewhat restrictive around the job and the hours that I was allowed to work. So the first job that I could actually find within the parameters that I was allowed was working in a wedding hall catering wedding receptions. I was, so I primarily worked on Friday, Friday nights, Saturday nights and Sundays. And basically we would, you know, Kelsey Willock (07:09) Cool. Serena Filson (07:16) serve food, clean up, and basically be kind of the hostesses and whatnot at people's wedding receptions. So it was always fun. We always had great music. And when I got my first paycheck, I remembered I worked with a bunch of friends, which was always fun. There were like five of us. So we had just a grand time when we were like, I don't know, 15 or 16. And I immediately drove with one of my friends because I didn't have my license. And we went to the local mall. And I went to a particular store that was like a surf shop that I love the style. And I spent all the money on like hats and surf style clothes, which was the which was on trend at the time. Kelsey Willock (07:52) I imagine there was some Roxy, some O'Neill. Serena Filson (07:55) There were and yes, Quicksilver Quicksilver was in there. Maybe a billabong for sure. Kelsey Willock (08:01) I love that. And can you also tell me, this is my favorite question to ask, can you tell me about a recent embarrassing purchase that you've Serena Filson (08:08) You know, I had to think about this because I actually am probably on the more, I'm probably more of a saver than a spender. So I do, I'm pretty particular in terms of what my purchases are. I would say that I'm embarrassed to. Kelsey Willock (08:21) Mm-hmm. Serena Filson (08:25) I'm embarrassed to admit the amount of money that I've spent, my daughter rides horses as her ⁓ primary hobby. So while some of that is me supporting her hobby, we spent way more money than I ever would anticipate on horse pads and a saddle. ⁓ So while it was necessary, I would say that recently that was probably the most embarrassing because when we walked out of the store, I could not wrap my head around how much I just spent for those products. ⁓ Kelsey Willock (08:29) Mm. Serena Filson (08:52) Yeah Kelsey Willock (08:53) No, thank you for sharing that. I have a pet, although not as large as a horse, but for some reason animals can, just the way they look at you, you want to spend an endless amount on them and it feels so right. And oftentimes it is if it brings you the joy, but I imagine it does bring your daughter. Right, right. So. Serena Filson (09:05) Thank you. They do become your babies and we do take care of them, indeed. Kelsey Willock (09:13) I want to start to kind of transition our conversation into your role today. Can you share a little bit about how you feel your money story has influenced how you think about pay and benefits for your employees? Serena Filson (09:25) You know, that's, I love that question. think, you know, for me, I always try to challenge myself and try to surround myself and make sure that we ask. the right people, the right questions. So my personal views, they may or may not matter in the grand scheme of things, whenever we're looking at whether it's a program or new benefit offerings, you wanna make sure that you'll also, you have something for everyone. So your personal assumptions, you have to, and I find for myself, really challenge yourself to say like, I can't just assume because I don't live paycheck to paycheck that somebody else might, or, whatever assumptions that you make around your workforce demographics, you have to really, I think, challenge those assumptions and make sure that you, like I said, are getting diverse experiences, diverse populations, diverse views, so you can make sure that you're not unintentionally bringing something to fruition that would, one, not be of interest to the population at large, and or are there unintended consequences or groups that it might not be relevant for, based on certain assumptions. So I think it's important to really step back and make sure that you're thinking about how people's personal situations or the feasibility. You never know that you're asking those types of questions when you're looking at the programs that you're bringing into the organization. Kelsey Willock (10:52) I love that answer because what I'm really hearing from you is you recognize you have your own unique money story and not everyone has the same lived and shared experience. Maybe folks had more conversations with their parents growing up, but that doesn't mean they didn't experience other things that affect how they show up. Serena Filson (11:08) Absolutely. Yeah. And I think the level of understanding as well, you know, in my role, ⁓ you know, I've made it a point both professionally, but also personally to be very well versed in that area because I love it. And I recognize like for me, it brings me joy. It brings me comfort. And I just I just love being educated on on multitude of financial wellness and benefits. And, you know, I'm just, you know, I'm a naturally curious person. And I recognize that, you know, some people might not be, which is Kelsey Willock (11:13) Right. Mm. Serena Filson (11:37) again, totally fine. But for me, it's also been very enlightening at various points in my career. And honestly, they're always, I'm always getting enlightened by employees and people that I talk to around the level of education. Like sometimes you might assume, how could you, you how could one perhaps not be, you know, you make assumptions around why somebody is or is not making a decision around a particular benefit. And then, you know, the more you probe or the more questions you ask them, you realize it's not You know, they're not making a rash or a decision that's rooted in as deep of an education as you get. They're just, they're making unlimited information. So a lot of times I've found that it's people just don't know. And, or in today's age where you're just, it's, ⁓ overwhelming the amount of information that's available to people that people really don't have a lot of opportunity to just kind of slow down and really filter out the, you know, the relevant information that they need to know. to make an effective decision. Kelsey Willock (12:39) think that you almost are getting ahead of my next question, which is, no, no, no, don't apologize at all. think it leads to such an easy conversation, which is, where do you see pay and compensation breaking down most often today? I'm hearing better understanding your total rewards is one of them, but are there other things affecting it like pay equity, transparency? Like what do you think is most breaking down often today? Serena Filson (12:42) Okay, sorry. say probably my mind goes to two things. do think one is education. And that's on both sides. think maybe education communication. I do think, like I'd said, Kelsey Willock (13:12) Mm. Serena Filson (13:18) A lunch and learn is good for certain topics, but if it's a heavy topic or a complicated topic, one lunch and learn is probably not going to enlighten someone where they're fundamentally going to make life altering financial decisions. It's a series of constant, kind of constant educations. And I think from a, so I think on the consumer end, being able to figure out what is the information that's most helpful at any given time and what would be most effective for me to change. or really influence my decision making process, I think is one. And then I think the second component to that issue is companies as well. I think we do an okay job. I think most of us can probably do better around really trying to articulate the value of some of the programs that we bring. Now, perceived value may vary based on if I'm very early in my career with no kids versus later in my career with grown kids or whatnot. where you are in your life might influence what you value at that time. But I don't think a lot of companies articulate holistically what the total value proposition is and or kind of what the company spends on the employee base. So a lot of times employees will or potentially assume that the company is just, ⁓ passing all the costs to the employees. And usually those assumptions are not rooted in, they're not really grounded or accurate. in it, but we don't do a good job of communicating that either. Kelsey Willock (14:48) Has there been an example where you're seeing your company or in your experience, education and communication be done really well or experiments that you've tried to improve that? Serena Filson (15:00) You know, I think, I think it depends. mean, I've definitely had opportunities in my current role, my current company and prior. It depends on what the role, you what we're rolling out, I would say. You know, I think when we communicate, there have been in my past when we've changed, you know, a bonus structure, if you will, you know, we've that's it's been a concerted contained project. There was a high level of awareness. You know, we were basically kind of realigning to the market and going to be changing people's kind of bonus and equity targets, which, you know, some Kelsey Willock (15:10) Right. Serena Filson (15:32) sometimes you're never a popular person when you're doing that. So it was really important that the communication plan itself was one kind of set from a leadership perspective, setting the business context, helping employees to understand why we were embarking upon this effort to begin with. Some of the impact was positive, some of the impact was negative. it really had a broad, it landed quite broadly depending on kind of what role you were in. And at the end of the day, I would say that you know, you have to define success differently. Success, especially as it relates to compensation, is, you know, I never use the yardstick of keeping everybody happy because it's money and it's sensitive and rarely will you keep everybody happy. But I think a good yardstick is, you know, was there level of visibility? Did you help people to understand the true motivations behind what you were doing? Were you transparent in, you know, what happened, what the impact was, and what the company was Kelsey Willock (16:13) Great. Serena Filson (16:27) doing to address it. And then if you could answer yes and pass the red face test to that, then I think reasonably that's how I kind of define success from like a programmatic, like a rollout perspective. Kelsey Willock (16:40) Right, and I love that comment around, you cannot serve everyone 100%, right? You have to think about what would be best for the majority. And I also love how your company, and particularly you, is thinking about, it's not just about educating people on what happens in regards to the change, it's why the change went through and how they're thinking about it. I think not every company lets employees in on the decision making, in on the whys, and I imagine that eases lot of concerns that they Serena Filson (16:47) Right. Mm-hmm. Kelsey Willock (17:09) have. Serena Filson (17:10) Yeah. And I think you treat people with respect and with, you know, when you're in an organization, my opinion is, you know, we're all adults and we should be able to, let's say, handle, I'm not saying that you would share, you don't share confidential information, things like that. You know, the whys or around like, Hey, you know, this is the current business environment. You know, we're doing really well in X or perhaps we're not doing really well in Y. I think you need to trust employees with that information. They might not like it. They may handle it differently. ⁓ But if you don't tell them, you'll never know what that influence in the outcome would be. So personally, I always say, trust people with the information and you'll be surprised with how they respond. Kelsey Willock (17:52) Right, and especially if they are adults, they will respond well to it. So, it's a phenomenal answer. Can you share a little bit about how you're thinking about moving from attracting talent to transforming lives of your employees? Serena Filson (17:56) Right. That is a really hard question. You know, I think it's gonna probably be found in the small moments. And sometimes you might not, they might not be highly visible. think transforming lives, we were, I mean, one, the company, we do support a number of clients who do transform lives with their drugs and their products on the market. So I love that we do support that and we're connected to patients at the end of the day. But when you think about, like, when I think about benefit programs, what might be life changing is gonna be very different for every individual. So, you know, for I guess my personal opinion is, you you want to have packages that, yes, attract people, meaning get them in the door, but then, you you kind of, you you live with them, right? I'm not a big fan of saying companies are families because I respect those dynamics are always very interesting. So that's not always an analogy that people want to draw. But you're spending a good deal of time under the roof of your employment and you want it to be a favorable employee experience. So I kind of go back to again making sure that you reasonably have something for everyone meaning you you've looked at your populations, the generations, where people are in their you know when their career journeys and making sure that you have programs that one provide for the core I call that kind of core health and welfare meaning you don't want employees having that emotional burden worried about the basics like if my child gets sick do I really need to worry or do I have care. So really looking at the closing the major gaps and then taking it up another level and it'll keep going as you transform lives, right? You know, gap coverage. Do you have catastrophic care? Do you have something to support retirement? Do you have pet benefits because you know not everybody likes to have kids? You know, do you have digital ID protection because everybody you know cyber attackers are everywhere. So we try to really look at that to make sure that we have all of those all of those shops kind of addressed and or whatever might be relevant in the countries. Like some countries have very unique benefits based on the culture. Like, ⁓ you know, we have rice allowances in the Philippines. So making sure that you know the populations, that you have something that's culturally relevant, that covers the full gamut. And then I think transforming lives is really, you know, it's the stuff that you really don't hear about. So I think it's communicating and highlighting those examples where the coverage that you do have really made a difference in someone's life, but it might not be super public. And an example, and actually a recent example is, you know, we have this one particular, like I think it's critical, you know, critical illness or critical accident insurance that you would hope honestly would never need to be invoked. And ⁓ I don't hear much about it. You know, I don't know that the volume uptake is super high, but I got a note from one of our employees that was like, hey, you know, I just wanted to pass a along some positive feedback, because you probably don't get it often, right? Usually here when something's not going well. And she was like, I had to invoke this critical, you know, this critical accident insurance, something had happened with my, I my son. And I just wanted to let you know, like I was at the hospital, here was the process that I followed. And I wanted to let you know that it just went so swimmingly. And I didn't have to worry about the coverage. I knew it was going to be taken care of. And I could fully focus on my son and be present. And he is, you know, He's well, we're all good, and I literally did not have a care in the world. So I wanted to let you know that that just meant the world to me at the time that I could focus on my son and his safety and not worry that this was going to basically, you know, be a catastrophic financial event that was going to then snowball and cause further issues in her life. So I think for me, you know, I'm just a big fan of those types of moments. think as long as you have, like I said, if you if you get that feedback and then kind of accentuate that or really highlight I think that's how you transform. I think that's how you kind of transform lives. ⁓ Kelsey Willock (22:13) And also it's a good reminder that it's not just about the quantitative data, the qualitative subject matter matters so, much. Serena Filson (22:22) Absolutely, because the numbers will get you. So the numbers will get you. They will definitely be indicative of, know, obviously I love numbers. So you do see them where they're trending. But you know, if there's something that you're on the fence about, you know, perhaps it's not, it's a benefit on paper that you would just say, you we don't really perhaps need to offer it. No one's uptaking it. But then you get something like that and you say, no, like it's worth leaving in a place because obviously when needed, it's going to make a difference. Kelsey Willock (22:49) So I want to double click on the being a members person. Have you seen measurable impact by these changes, whether it has to do with higher levels of engagement at the company, enhanced retention, equity? And what do you specifically look for when thinking about that kind of ROI? Serena Filson (23:07) gosh, I think I'm pausing because it's a load, you know, it's kind of like a loaded question. Especially with AI right now, I'd be remiss to say that that game is kind of changing what you're able to, let's say, even try to focus on, like what you can even measure, what can we get at? Some systems are at least more sophisticated than others. I mean, think generally you're going to want to look at, I mean, for me, you look at, we'll just take the US health care market, which is one of the obviously most expensive ones, but also somewhat complicated these days with like formulary. and insurers and whatnot. It's a precarious thing when you're renewing your US ⁓ benefits packages, right? And you obviously look at kind of costs and utilization and all those typical of typical numbers. And I think what we're trying to do is, you look at the, I'll say return on investment of the program itself, but for my perspective, I wanna get us, we're not there yet. I wanna get us to a place where we can start connecting we do a lot of work in the health and wellness space. We do a lot of like, make sure you're getting your preventative medicine. We incentivize the flu shots and getting your annual mammograms. Like we do believe that the preventative care that sometimes people don't feel like going to the doctors to get, down the road is going to ultimately be more effective for the company and for the employees. They're healthier and we're not paying for care, we're paying for prevention. ⁓ Kelsey Willock (24:11) Mm. Great. Serena Filson (24:35) So I really would like to get us, so we're trying really hard to start looking for those indicators of how can I measure and connect the interventions that we're doing from a wellness perspective to the claims. Like, is there a direct correlation and or what would be those other indicators along the way? I'm kind of rambling for this answer because I think right now we're probably using more traditional, meaning kind of the costs, the claims, the utilization, because there's not many, I've not seen, I've not heard of companies yet that are doing it super well. I try to stay connected to lot of forums where you're really looking at, we started offering financial wellness seminars in Q4 and we see that 55 % of people have increased. Kelsey Willock (25:01) Right. Serena Filson (25:23) their savings over those next 12 months after the financial wellness seminars. we run a lot of fitness challenges from a global perspective. Our company is very competitive, so we have global challenges, and you have to move and take steps and go running and do all this stuff. And we do those multiple times a year. I'm still looking for where are we seeing the fruits of our labor in that come through from, is there a reduction in some sort of pharmacy claim is how can we measure if the population is getting healthier. So those are the indicators we're looking for. I don't think we've totally figured it out just yet. Kelsey Willock (25:55) Right. But I think the common trend and theme, especially with all the conversations I've been having with leaders like yourself, is that ROI needs to be more clear. And how is bottom line impact being affected? And, right. Serena Filson (26:17) Oh, 100%, yeah, because I think the wellness, I mean, there's the straight costs, meaning if your costs continue to go, like the cost per employee, right? I would like to get us to, you know, the cost per benefit per employee, but like look at the intervention that if you, you know, if you do offer preventative services, you know, those costs, you know, drop 15%. And then if you do want those costs would be more and your ROI is like the net difference. So yeah, I totally am very interested in how that goes. Kelsey Willock (26:41) Right. Serena Filson (26:47) But it's interesting, actually had launched, we actually launched an AI tool embedded in our open enrollment for the US, I think last year was the first year, we brought him back for this year. And we've gotten really positive feedback, but also, we can measure the level of interaction with said tool and start to see different correlations with people that are utilizing AI tools in order to better understand benefits, how that influences Kelsey Willock (27:08) Thank Serena Filson (27:15) perhaps them changing their offerings. And then on the back end, that's when I also wanna start connecting, okay, what does that mean from a company perspective in terms of even the use of AI tools, the better education, does that at the end of the day, influence people to make healthier decisions in the plans that they're selecting and then ultimately, save money for both the employee and the company. Kelsey Willock (27:39) I love that because it's not just about the value of the tool initially, it's the long-term value of the tool and how they're going to be released. Yeah. Yeah. We're very close to it. And I'm not also surprised the focus, especially how much healthcare costs are rising. Now, if therefore we're going to introduce new benefits, how do those benefits really help draw down that cost? And so it makes a ton of sense. Serena Filson (27:44) Yeah, no, I know. There's got to be a way. all, going to this. We're going to do this. Kelsey Willock (28:05) What compensation and benefits trends do you think are going to shape the employee experience most in the next year? Serena Filson (28:11) in the next year? You know, that's cool. That's a good question, especially given the current, I would say current, current environment. That's going to be, that's probably interesting. I would say. I think for the most part, I think cash is king right now. That's my personal opinion. I think when you're going through kind of socioeconomic times that have a lot of perceived instability across the globe, people are not banking on things that are gonna come to fruition three, five years from now. Like they just want to, with food prices rising and whatnot, they need to make sure they put their food on the table. is, it always kind of has been in my opinion, but I think it's definitely more prevalent right now, especially for the next 12 months, I would think. And then I also think that with the rise of the gig economy, fractional work, kind of part-time consulting work. A lot of people are moving away from potentially the traditional nine to five or kind of redefining what that hybrid flexible work life looks like for them. While we don't have it and it might not be relevant for all industries, I do think the on-demand pay is one that would be highly valued for the roles of the companies who can use it because you're not delaying the pay for the employee base. and you get them the money kind of right after they work. And my daughter just got her actually first job. She started about two weeks ago. And it was funny because I had assumed that she would be paid, I don't know, like every two weeks or like every once a month or something like that. And she said, ⁓ no, they run our checks every basically Thursday after every week. So every Friday I can pick up my paycheck, which for the net hours that they're working, Kelsey Willock (29:57) Really? Serena Filson (30:01) every week I'm going that must take more time to run it weekly than it is to give it. But they really want to, they know it's important. They have a number of kids, young kids working who want access to the money sooner than some of us might. So that made me think, I was like, I think on demand or kind of pay closer than once a month is definitely probably gonna be hot for the next 12 months. Kelsey Willock (30:28) I sincerely appreciate everything that you've shared with us, especially around the transparency in your earliest money memory. know sometimes those conversations aren't easy to open. And so I very much appreciate you sharing it with our audience. Some of the things I really took away from learning from you is how well you think about diverse perspectives at your company. It's all about understanding. We each come from different backgrounds and we understand that different experience means different things and different needs for folks. So it's become very, very clear to me that the level of detail you have for understanding individuals' needs and how to communicate with them is so clear. Another thing that I took away from this conversation was really that specific breakdown around education and communication and that there's a time and space for things like lunch and learns and then there's also more intimate environments to communicate other more life altering, specifically financial decisions. So I appreciate you sharing that with us and also looking ahead at what the next year holds, whether it has to do with better understanding tools and services like AI. specifically around understanding your rewards and benefits and even coming back to original things like cash being so important. So thank you so, so much, Serena, for this incredible conversation. I want to leave you with one last opportunity to share with our listeners where they can connect with you. Serena Filson (31:43) Thank ⁓ if you want to connect, you can find me on LinkedIn primarily. And then I think I actually do have my WhatsApp link on there as well. So anybody figure out a way to connect with me and then I'll you know, I'll certainly be in touch. Kelsey Willock (32:05) Wonderful. I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving and thank you again for this conversation. We appreciate it. Serena Filson (32:10) Thanks, Kelsey. Kelsey, you too. I appreciate it.