Latest / Beyond the Paycheck / Building Total Rewards From the Ground Up
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- Beyond the Paycheck - Zena Stephens Joy === INTRO: [00:00:00] Hi everyone, and welcome to Beyond the Paycheck, where we bring you candid conversations with CHROs and people leaders who are rethinking how compensation and benefits impact far more than just employee bank accounts. From the first paycheck to financial wellness programs, we explore how money shapes identity, equity, purpose, and power at work, and how forward-thinking companies are using pay and perks to transform lives. This podcast is presented by Aura Finance, a psychology-based financial wellness employee benefit that combines coaching and financial management. Now, let's get started and jump in with our next guest Kelsey Willock Jones: Welcome Zena Stephens Joy, Associate Director of Total Rewards at Fortra. We're so excited to have you this summer afternoon. To kick us off, I'd love for you to share a little bit about yourself, your career and background, where you're calling in from today, and your current role Zena Stephens Joy: Yeah. First, thank you for having me. It [00:01:00] is truly an honor to just be able to connect with you today and chat and share a little bit about myself and the work that I do and I'm passionate about. I'm originally from Miami, Florida. I currently sit today in Atlanta, Georgia, and I've moved quite a bit. And that ties into my evolution and, my professional journey. So I got my start in total rewards immediately following business school, and I worked for Emerson on their wage and salary team, and so I learned everything comp. I got real in deep training around comp. I'm very grateful for my time there. And I had relocated to Louisville, Kentucky, where for my now husband, once we became engaged, I relocated and I worked for Waystar in Louisville. That's where I got my peek into the other side of total rewards, I'd say. So that's when I started to learn about benefits and learning what a broker even was and, how do we determine these [00:02:00] other offerings provided to us. So really started to, of course, continue the comp work and job architecture work, but then get open to this whole new world of total rewards. And following that, I was recruited to launch the total rewards function within Fortra, which is where I am today. And so my team an amazing team, I like to say I have three pillars, and so I have the benefits and wellbeing under me global benefits and wellbeing. I have compensation and equity, and then I also have commissions today. So that's a bit different than some total rewards roles out there with the commissions fees. But nevertheless I have a pretty dynamic team that's been able to, continue to grow and evolve, so I'm grateful for them. Kelsey Willock Jones: Quite a large gamut of responsibilities you have. So I'm really excited to learn more about all of those pillars a-and dig deeper, specifically also into wellbeing because it's a topic I'm fascinated by [00:03:00] right now. Can you also tell me a little bit about Fortra? How many folks work at the company, the breakdown of the population? Zena Stephens Joy: Yeah. So we are roughly 2,500 people today. We are a cybersecurity company and that's a pretty hot market right now. We are in, I would say, solidly around 15 countries and with the largest headcount being in the US followed by Canada, and the UK, and Spain. But then we also have employees in India, in Mexico Colombia, all over. Kelsey Willock Jones: And you're right, cybersecurity is a really hot space right now given, technology has been expanding at such a rapid rate. We wanna make sure people are safe and secure. But before we dive deeper into, Fortra and all the amazing work that you're doing there, I wanna learn a little bit more about your first job. So what was your first job, and do you remember what you spent your first paycheck on? Zena Stephens Joy: Yes. So [00:04:00] my first job was actually at Breakthrough Miami. Breakthrough is a very impactful organization that helps prepare middle school students for more advanced classes. so my first job was teaching seventh grade math at Breakthrough this summer, and at the time I was 16. I did not share with my students how old I was because we were only a handful of years apart. But it taught me a lot and I have a lot of respect for teachers. In terms of what I spent my first paycheck on, I was 16, and so my paycheck went to preparing for school. So of course, getting school supplies, but then also getting my wardrobe together and all of the fun little super girly things around you, makeup, et cetera for school. So that's what came to mind, In terms of my first job Kelsey Willock Jones: Such a cool first job too. For the amount of times I ask this question, it's out there scooping ice cream [00:05:00] or delivering mail, all really important first jobs. How cool to have such a important role at such a young age. How do you think that experience and your money story overall influences how you think about paying benefits and showing up for the people that you serve? Zena Stephens Joy: Yeah. Personally, I used my money towards things that were necessities. And so if I'm being very honest, the way I approach my job and looking at the total rewards packaging that we prepare is looking at, hey, how are we meeting people's, their needs, their necessities? And then taking it one step further from there. But fully understanding that if people's basic needs aren't met or if they aren't comfortable or if they feel that it's possible that they aren't going to be met, that affects their work, that affects how they show up. And so that's probably the biggest correlation between that first job and what I do today Kelsey Willock Jones: I think it's [00:06:00] an amazing segue into digging a bit deeper into health and wellbeing. And as you had mentioned you lead that part, that pillar of the company. Companies are doing a lot right now to support holistic wellbeing and even broadening their definition of it, whether it's supporting mental health, physical health, financial health, you name it. Can you talk a little bit about some of the initiatives that you've introduced at Fortra and what you're most excited about? Zena Stephens Joy: Yeah. So one, you've hit the nail on the head with, in terms of looking holistically. Yes, we have to look at it from a physical, from a financial, from a social, right? From a emotional, just all around the, the board. And so with that, one of the things that has stuck out to me and what I've been able to bring within Fortra of course, we're looking at benefits every year we're looking at how we can enhance and where we can improve the support for our employees. But also really [00:07:00] building out our wellbeing has been a really strong initiative since I've joined the organization, doing very specific and intentional initiatives when it comes to Mental Health Awareness Month in May when it comes to Emotional Wellness Month in October. And even though those months may not be formally celebrated globally, still taking the opportunity to leverage where, the US or the Canadian or the UK celebration of those to provide webinars and other supporting resources to our employees, and we've really been able to see the impacts of that in a positive way. We've been able to see where our employees, we can see the utilization of benefits in a positive way, right? We're able to see how we have stigmas that are being broken down. We have opportunities where employees are able to more vulnerably share honest pieces and [00:08:00] stories. It's really been a beautiful transition to watch unfold as we've continued to put more thoughtfulness around mental awareness. Kelsey Willock Jones: And how do you know if a program that you've introduced is really working? Zena Stephens Joy: We look at that in multiple ways. So of course, it comes from the people perspective, but it also comes from the business perspective. So I'll say starting from people, we look at things working with talent acquisition, how quickly are we able to attract and close on roles? We look at our leave metrics. We also get the feedback from that, our engagement feedback from employee post surveys. From the financial standpoint, we're also looking at different utilization of benefits. We're also looking at cost implications as well and different levers there that we can continually improve and re-review and improve, I should say Kelsey Willock Jones: Really helpful. And I think that you connect the dots in a meaningful way, which is, not only is it working from an employee [00:09:00] perspective it's how is it impacting the business? And so statistics such as, attracting talent or, great data in terms of leave policies, I think are incredibly important to measure in terms of, the health of understanding how these programs are working. So I kinda wanna dig a little bit deeper into that. When you think about measuring engagement, not all mental health or physical health programs are as one-to-one in terms of ROI predictions. So how do you think about supporting programs when the spreadsheet might not so obviously support it? Zena Stephens Joy: Yeah. We've come from a place of listening to our employees, and so again, when we're talking about leave surveys and also really our engagement surveys, and we have a culture culture that allows employees to be comfortable enough to say, "Hey, this is something really cool," or, "Hey, have we thought about that?" And sometimes they bring things and we're like, [00:10:00] "Hey, yeah, we should dig more into that." But when it comes to necessarily where the ROI isn't necessarily as obvious, I think an example that always is top of mind for me is when we change our EAP or our employee assistance programs, because They're not always as highly visible, I'd say it that way, but the employees that utilize them truly get a lot from it. And so when we look at things like how do we expand our therapy or life coaching sessions that are covered, or even looking at the types of doctors that we're willing to have included versus not there's not necessarily an ROI on that, but from a financial perspective, directly, at least not immediate. However, it is something that our employees really appreciate and will begin to leverage and [00:11:00] utilize more. I also think something else there where it's not always as obvious that we've done is in the US giving more webinars around financial wellness with our 401(k) broker. So What are very strategic ways that you can use your 401? How are you preparing for retirement? Or even how can you support today your life and how you're living? So those are different things that there's not necessarily an ROI tied to it. Nevertheless, it's very impactful and beneficial to our employees Kelsey Willock Jones: It's employee satisfaction we know is so deeply important, and it might not be as easy as, spend $2 on, a 401(k) webinar to save three. But satisfied employees, we do know perform better. And so it's great to hear that the company doesn't have that barrier in which it needs to be this, $1 to $1 savings type [00:12:00] investment. It's a bit more nuanced than that. You bring up a really important subject, which is financial health, and it's a category I'm personally deeply interested in. Why do you think financial wellbeing is important to the company beyond the obvious? Zena Stephens Joy: Yeah. I think that there's a direct correlation between financial wellbeing, we're saying someone to feel financially comfortable and stable, And there is a direct correlation between that and how an employee shows up, and how an employee produces, and how the quality of an employee's work. Because without that, when things aren't stable, when there is discomfort, an employee is distracted. They have other things that they're trying to figure out, and honestly, the focus is not always on work, or at least it's not getting as much focus and attention as it should. And when I think of how that financial state directly [00:13:00] impacts an employee, we wanna make sure that we're providing an environment for them to be able to produce well, right? And I say it that way. It's not, may not be the prettiest, but when you're talking and you're trying to get different approvals and get different buy-ins you have to put it in a business sense. And the business sense is we want high-quality work, and that requires us to create an environment for employees to be high quality means Kelsey Willock Jones: And be able to perform to the best of their abilities. How do you think about in, especially in terms of financial wellbeing programs you talked a little bit about, you know, working with your 401(k) provider on wellbeing webinars. What's the difference to you between a program that moves the needle and then one that, more so sits idle? Zena Stephens Joy: Yeah, I definitely think there's a difference between a program that you're just having to check, put a check next to it, or to add it to a list of things that [00:14:00] you offer. And so when I think about moving the needle, you're able to see that typically with a change in behavior or so-some kind of uptick or reduction in behavior from your employees. So thinking about things in metrics, right? Like 401, for example. Yeah, that are more people putting more money into 401? Are you seeing that there are people deciding to have more, be more involved with how their 401(k) is vested or where are things that they're invested in? You also see things as a like a uptick in your EAP usage, for example. So normally, when you see things that are actually moving the needle, you're able to tie that to metrics and s- and able to do a comparison of today versus previous. So let that-- If that's six months, if that's a year, however you wanna track it. We do a lot of tracking, if I'm being honest, between quarterly and every six months. But it [00:15:00] varies per organization. That's what we see in order to keep a pulse on things. Kelsey Willock Jones: Really helpful. curious, as you clearly are a data-driven organization that runs lots of experiments, can you tell me about an experiment in your benefits strategy that didn't go the way you expected and what you learned from it? Zena Stephens Joy: Honestly it would be the introduction of a new benefit, and it didn't go the way that we expected it to because we did not communicate it well. So I've also had to learn the importance of communication to employees, what we communicate, when we communicate it, and also the resources that we provide in order to enable them and empower them to utilize the benefit. So that would be the largest we thought this was gonna be great and to be so well received. Why wasn't it?" Normally, it's because employees didn't know about it, they didn't know how to access it, they didn't know how to use it, and I bring that back on myself to say, "Hey, [00:16:00] as a leader of my team, I didn't ensure that we communicated this in the best way for it to actually be leveraged well within our organization." Kelsey Willock Jones: I think people forget that working in, HR oftentimes it's such a communications heavy and marketing role. And right now in today's day and age where folks are so inundated it's everything in terms of communications and touch points, Frequent communication and communication that is digestible is so key right now. Zena Stephens Joy: Absolutely Kelsey Willock Jones: When you think about staying current, right now there is so much new innovation happening in this space. How are you staying on top of all of that new innovation? Are there conferences, peer networks, and ecosystems that you have found to be helpful? Zena Stephens Joy: It's a combination of ex- what exactly what you said. I really want to get into going to more conferences, get back into that groove that I once was in. But the other thing honestly has to do with keeping a pulse within my network. And so a lot of times it's [00:17:00] either things I'm prescribed, my goodness, subscribe to that come through and so I'm doing a catch up of, oh my goodness, these things have changed, these laws have passed or it's something that I'm seeing that I hadn't heard about before and I'm like, it sparks me to do more research and to do a deep dive into it. And so those have been my main two, I would say currently to date. Again, the midst between my network and what's being discussed there, but also the things that I am intentionally subscribed to, not just junk mail that make spark question and push me to do more research and to dig into things that's going on. And honestly, the other part would be, and when I say network, internally and externally. So of course, outside of work, connecting with peers in the space. But also internally there are things that come up that maybe my regional partners bring up to me or my talent acquisition partners bring up to me. I'm like, "Oh, that's really cool." And digging more and making sure that we're comfortable with what that means, where things are going, [00:18:00] and just keeping a pulse Kelsey Willock Jones: And my last question for you, and this is actually about the pulse of the space. What is a change or shift happening in total rewards, compensation, benefits, you name it, that most HR leaders are not ready for? Zena Stephens Joy: Pay transparency Kelsey Willock Jones: Good one. Zena Stephens Joy: We're hearing a lot about it. We're hearing laws being passed. What that means for organizations directly, one, that's number one make sure that your org is prepared for how, of course, your posting ranges externally, but also what that can mean internally with employees now asking more questions. They're seeing more information than they may have before. So that's one thing. The other part of that is getting leaders to understand compensation, and I've learned that's probably one of the toughest things, is a lot of leaders do not understand the factors that go into compensation fully. And so It's educating your leaders so that they're at least able to have a good [00:19:00] baseline. But it's also preparing your leaders to have difficult conversations sometimes. And because you're... if you have an employee who's making less or even at the top of a range that they may see, that can be a potentially difficult conversation. And so those are the two main pieces tied again to that pay transparency piece that's becoming a lot more prevalent globally. It's... we're moving in that direction. It's happening. It's coming. Just make sure that your leaders have a understanding baseline of your compensation approach as an organization, and then start equipping them to be comfortable to have difficult conversations as well. Kelsey Willock Jones: Such an important topic. We could certainly spend probably a whole another 30 minutes just talking about pay transparency. But I will give you your time back, and thank you so much for spending this half hour with me. All of your insight and wisdom, I've learned so much from you. Zena, where can our listeners connect with you beyond this conversation?[00:20:00] Zena Stephens Joy: You can connect with me on LinkedIn. And I'm here share my information, Zena Stephens Joy on LinkedIn. I'm happy to connect and continue to grow the network, my network Kelsey Willock Jones: Fabulous. Thank you so much again. It was a joy speaking with you, and I hope you have a great rest of your week Zena Stephens Joy: Thank you so much. You have an amazing week. Thanks, Kelsey