Latest / Beyond the Paycheck / The Future Is Personalized Benefits: Keri Seppala on Pay Transparency, Manager Training, and Why Biometric Screenings Need Flexibility to Work
Transcript
- Kelsey Willock (00:42) Welcome, Keri Seppala Executive in Total Rewards, HRIS and payroll. We are beyond excited to have you on this beautiful February afternoon. To kick us off, I'd love for you to share with our audience a little bit about your career and your background, where you're calling in from today in your current role. Kerry Seppala (00:43) Thank Hi Kelsey, thank you for having me. I'm very excited. It's my first time being a guest on your podcast. And I have been working in the total rewards, HRIS payroll space for many years, like over 25 years, all kinds of different companies. So publicly traded companies, private companies, and government as well. So I have a passion for compensation and HRIS specifically. and just really love my jobs that I've had and my experiences. Kelsey Willock (01:32) Well, I'm really excited to dive deeper because I just know that you're going to be a breadth of knowledge. But before we dive into really digging into HR, I want to get to know you more, a bit more personally. So if you'll indulge me, I'd love for you to share with our audience your first memory of money. Kerry Seppala (01:49) Yes, and you know, that's a hard one, but I think my first memory might be when I received my Donald Duck piggy bank from my grandparents at a very young age after they returned from Disney. And I was so excited to fill it with money. I was trying to find money around my house to put in there. So that's my very first memory of money. Kelsey Willock (02:12) How do you think that memory shaped how you think about security, freedom, or even responsibility? Kerry Seppala (02:20) Yeah, well, I think also being that my parents were married quite young and they didn't have a lot of money when I was little. So I was really taught to save, save, save, save. So I think that's carried on throughout my lifetime and also with how I try to manage my company's resources very carefully as well. Kelsey Willock (02:39) I'm sure they'll love hearing that. It's a beautiful memory, but such an important one because so many of us aren't taught to save at a young age. What was your first job and what did you do with your first paycheck? Kerry Seppala (02:41) Yes. ⁓ True. Yes, well, I guess I can say my first job was really babysitting in the neighborhood. I have one of three daughters, so two older sisters who actually were much better at babysitting than I was. ⁓ But when neighbors were in a bind, they would accept my services. And I do remember receiving like a quarter an hour or something like that for babysitting in cash, you know, at the end of the evening or afternoon. and I was probably about nine, so I was probably only toddler sitting, not babysitting. But I would say I spent that money right away because it was cash, but my first real paycheck was my paper route that I had with my sister shortly thereafter. And there, every single paycheck went right in the bank. I'd ride my bike down to the bank in downtown and just deposit it because that's what my parents told me to do. I certainly probably wanted to spend it on candy at the local store, but I didn't. Kelsey Willock (03:58) I think that it's like such a great memory to have though, because when I asked this question, it is typically that I spent it on comic books or candy or things like that. So it sounds like your parents really instilled really important values that have stayed true with you today. How do you think your relationship with money, whether it's that first piggy bank or your first paper route, influence how you think about paying benefits on behalf of your employees? Kerry Seppala (04:26) Yeah, so most of my work life has been in manufacturing companies where we do have a lot of hourly blue collar production workers, whatever you want to call it, depending on which country you're in. And so I think I really can kind of relate and understand what it's like to not have a lot of resources. So again, I think I'm really thinking of the employee when we're, you know, really looking at benefit costs and base pay and know how important it is to really have a living wage. So that's very important to me. Kelsey Willock (05:05) I think this is a really great segue into the kind of next part of our conversation that I want to dig into, which is really talking a bit more about today's challenges. Where do you think compensation and benefits break down most often today? Kerry Seppala (05:20) Right, so in I guess speaking more related to employees, so I think from the employee perspective, a lot of employees really don't understand what their benefits are. Maybe when they have a life event, like an unfortunate, huge medical issue, they're very thankful to have the benefits that they've been. partially paying for, at least at the companies I've worked at, and they really appreciate that much more when they have a major medical issue. I think also it breaks down with not explaining compensation, and maybe managers and HR partners not understanding the comp programs out there, and maybe also employees not even understanding their paychecks. So having more education and communication around all of those items is really important, and I know where I've been guilty, companies I've worked for have been guilty, we've done a great job in some companies and then a not so great job in others. So I think that education and communication is really important. Kelsey Willock (06:25) What do you think really leads to the difference in the companies that communicate really well versus the ones that don't? And are there any things that you've done recently where you've seen really strong engagement or higher levels of understanding of compensation and benefits as a result of a change that you are a part of? Kerry Seppala (06:45) Yes, I think the ones that have more resources obviously can do a better job of communicating and maybe those resources are systems that can help people who have to explain get that information out there. So I've worked really, really for many years now in Workday and I really think that it's great when you build it correctly so that everything's there and that employees are able to go in and see and trained and managers are trained. I think I've seen that work well in my last two companies so that's helpful. As far as, yeah I really think it's about training. So recently in Illinois and I know in other states at my last company we were more transparent because we had to be in the state of Illinois for job postings and so we did train managers. on pay ranges and to have those conversations with their employees. So I think that was helpful because managers really, we think in HR that it's super easy and everyone understands like a comp ratio or a grade range and that, you know, not everyone's going to be at the top of the range and it's just a recommendation that typically managers I've seen unless they've worked in another company. you know, where they've been trained before, a lot of times don't know and they might not want to ask. So it's just great to have that training available for managers and it's helpful. Kelsey Willock (08:14) So I want to dig deeper into that because this is a theme that keeps coming up over and over again is, you know, how do we actually not just get to the end individual, but those that need to communicate to said individual. What mindset shifts do you need to instill into these leaders and managers? So they're more effective in communicating pay and also care to keep pay fair and empowering. Kerry Seppala (08:40) Right. Well, I think it's not just about the budget. So they have to remember that and that they do have to when they're bringing new people in consider compression. So where are their current employees? And then also consider when they're making decisions, which is usually around the review or the performance management kind of timeline. They should really be very careful to avoid biases, you know, and make sure that they're really bringing a very kind of rigorous review. So they are looking at the individual and the skills and the experience and performance, you know, over that past year, whatever the timeline is. Kelsey Willock (09:22) I think that makes a lot of sense. So it's a wonderful theme of it's not just important to have great tools like workday and different total reward statements and whatnot, but it's also how do you bring compassion to these conversations, recognizing folks are coming from different locations, different perspectives and whatnot. So I want to talk a little bit about pay benefits specifically and different changes that you've seen enacted at companies that you've worked for. In terms of things that you've introduced or been a part of where you've seen help move from attracting talent to really transforming the lives of people. And the specific one I'm really interested in your perspective on is how have you seen those benefits particularly affect workforces in the blue collar space effectively? Kerry Seppala (10:09) Right, well for, know, one thing that I've noticed is for Blue Cowers, they have to be on site, right, for our workers anyway, for the most part where I've worked. So again, having, you know, it's not just pay, but having some flexibility for those workers has been helpful. allowing them, like for instance, for one of the companies I've worked at, we had a biometric kind of screening that ⁓ we required employees to do to save on their benefits, which is very interesting. ⁓ And so we let them, we would pay them to go do this biometric testing so that they wouldn't, and we'd allow them to have the flexibility so they could go off the line or go away from their work site to do this. So I think that was helpful. That showed from our perspective, you know, how important we think their health is and that we can help them to. have more affordable benefits by participating in this wellness program that we had, which included a biometric screening. So I think that's one way that employees felt valued, even at that blue collar, kind of hourly workforce level. Kelsey Willock (11:18) I love that because I think that we so often see that the more traditional corporate office employee is the one that's rewarded with so many of these cool and unique tools and benefits. So it's so important to make sure that it's impacting the broader workforce. And those folks can't just go in and click an email, right? They need the flexibility that you all offered. So that's what's going to really lead it to happening. When introducing programs like this, what's the kind of impact you're seeking to make? it enhancing retention? Are you looking for equity? Are looking for higher levels of engagement, employee satisfaction? What is the end goal for you? Kerry Seppala (11:56) Yeah, I really think that we need to build a culture of trust and integrity. And part of that is offering the most that we can do for our employees with our benefits and pay programs. And really just being competitive with the market, but also hearing our audience. Like, what is it in the engagement survey that we heard from you? And how can we first communicate? Because sometimes we hear that we should have a certain program and we do have that program. So we know we aren't communicating well enough to everyone. So ⁓ that's interesting, but I think it's just being aware of what our population needs. So I think that's helpful. And, you know, in the future, I haven't done this yet, but I know that there are individual benefit programs out there and that might be kind of the wave of the future from what I'm hearing. So, and it's more where you give give like an allocated amount to employees for their benefits and they can individualize what they prefer. And I'm really excited to... Kerry Seppala (13:07) just U.S. employees would benefit from this and U.S. companies, but with healthcare expenses being just so high right now and increasing every year, something has to give. So I think looking into those individualized health programs is going to be a big part of our future as benefit professionals. Kelsey Willock (13:27) I was interviewing someone yesterday who was talking a little bit about the importance of seeing employees, you know, also as customers. And what you're describing is really similar to that in the sense of, the customer knows what's right. The employee knows what's right for them and they can choose and giving them this customized access to the benefits that can benefit them might actually create so much more value. And then also make sure that you're not paying for what's not used. Kerry Seppala (13:54) Exactly. Yes, I'm really excited about looking into those kind of programs for my companies. Kelsey Willock (14:01) So you talked a little bit about the importance of really hearing and building a culture of trust. Are there tools or systems that you've put in place that have allowed you to succeed in terms of better understanding what employees need, whether it's qualitative or quantitative information gathering? I'm just really curious the tools and data sets you're using. Kerry Seppala (14:19) Yeah. Right, so usually it's maybe once or twice a year with engagement surveys. Something that we did, one of my colleagues kind of had more of, she was in communications but sat in HR, and she had more kind of ways to measure through the internet site that she was managing. So there were a lot of town halls where people would respond afterwards and she was really kind of, it was more manual, so it wasn't constant feedback, but at least after the town halls each time, depending on where they were, she did get a lot of feedback and then would answer a lot of those questions either in the next town hall or even just personally to the employee on behalf of. you know, the executive team or whatever team it was. And I would help her when it came to like the benefit questions, you know, that came up. So I can't remember exactly what they were, but I do know that that was really positive and that our scores from our town halls were increasing. So she was measuring like what people thought of the town halls. And so that was really great at my last company. Kelsey Willock (15:34) I really like that idea of sometimes just digging in and allowing people a more conversational approach rather than, fill out this five question survey. It just really pulls out the honesty quicker. I know for me, when I attend a workshop or whatnot, the easiest gauge of if I enjoyed it is, you know, I'll ping in the chat. This was a great session. And so much of that can get lost. So I love the intentionality that she brought, particularly, like, let's listen, because there's probably a lot to hear here. What compensation and benefits trends do you think are going to shape the employee experience most over the next year? Kerry Seppala (16:11) Right, so the employee experience. I do think that the EU directive, because we're a global, well, I've worked at global companies and we're really a global society. So what's happening in one country ends up happening, I think, everywhere eventually. But it's really forcing ⁓ employers to be obviously more open and to report back to employees on the total rewards, so all rewards. you know, and track all of that. So I think we will see that employees are more savvy and they're going to ask for more. And so it's not going to be just about gender gaps. It's going to be about what the employee wants and thinks that they should have. And so I think there is going to be a lot more education required around comp and Ben and total rewards. I think systems are going to have to drastically improve no matter where you sit in the world. And I know a lot of people are not ready for it. But I think that's one thing that's going to change is that employees will just be more consumers. So I think it kind of goes along with the personalized or individual benefits as well. That is definitely going to be our future, I think. So yeah, guess managers will have to also be more trained, even more than we already talked about, to answer questions because there's no way that in really large companies, the comp team or the HR team will be able to meet all of those questions. So I think companies are going to have to have really good talking points on all of these issues and train managers again. So managers are going to have to be very savvy. So I think we have a lot of work ahead of us. Kelsey Willock (17:53) So. It's really challenging not to ask the following question I'm going to ask you. So apologies if you've already been asked it many times. But when I hear things like, know, we're going to see an influx of questions, my mind immediately goes to, you know, how might tools like AI resources help solve for that, that influx in questions or, or whatnot. How do you think AI is going to also shape the employee experience over the next year? And are you seeing, you know, opportunities for there to be filling of those gaps? Or is it making things more complicated? Kerry Seppala (18:29) No, I think if you don't have a system that has AI already built in and doing something for you already, I'm sorry. So the last company I was at, we'd already turned on a bot that would help us with basic questions. And again, I felt like we were a little behind after I talked to counterparts at other companies who already have their HR operations team set up, where the first line is really the... you know, I can't remember the names like Claude or whoever, you know, and I think that is definitely just like at Wendy's or some of the other fast food places. think that first line HR questions are going to be right there, business questions as well. So ⁓ I think that is definitely the wave of the future. And I think that'll be great, which is, I would love for some of the bigger companies like Workday or SAP to really be building more. So that we don't have to keep purchasing bolt-on systems because there's so many out there. It's really hard to evaluate which one is going to be the one that is long lasting for employers to use. So I feel like my former company was a little behind on that, but because we had workday, we already had things built and I think they were doing a good job with it for certain things. So I think I hear about really large employees who hire a lot of people who are already using all kinds of bots for their recruiting, which totally makes sense. And they've been shifting. They've already moved from maybe one or two or three bots. So I would love to be able to wait and find the best one. But I think that it's going to happen, and we need to do it right away, no matter which company you sit at. You need to have those first line of questions from an HR and business perspective and whatever else. Maybe it's finance questions, too, depending on how you're set up. Kelsey Willock (20:20) There's certainly going to be so much consolidation that happens, but it's important reminder that, you know, the acceleration of technology is happening so quickly that we want to learn as we go, but the big players like the workdays of the world are probably going to swallow up or create some of the best technologies. But yeah, it's overwhelming right now, even, you know, our small business. every different person at the company uses different tools, whether it is Claude or ChatGPT or, know, XYZ, you name it, new tool that we've never heard of. So we're finding culturally too, people are starting to find where they gravitate to, but the themes haven't quite emerged perfectly yet. My last question for you is one of my favorites to ask. What's a 30 day experiment listeners could try to boost their financial well-being? Kerry Seppala (21:13) Eww. That's a really, so they're financial, what could they try personally is what you're, I think it would be kind of recording all of their spend, know, like just basically recording it and then looking at it. You know, if they're really savvy and they want to use a tool, I know most retirement plans, if they are working for an employer who offers one, already will have one built in, something like quick in, you know, or something like that. I think it's so fun to see like, you know, where you're at personally. I'm lucky to have that really organized for my personal expenses and I can see like what I have saved for retirement and all my different accounts. And so that's really great. So, and I can see where I spend and it's categorized and it's just, it's really lovely. And I know I have to like stop going to Starbucks every day or whatever, even though it's just a black coffee. Yes. So. Kelsey Willock (22:07) going to start. Kerry Seppala (22:11) But yeah, I think that would be a great 30-day trial to see where are you spending your money and then where can you cut back or spend more if that's your goal. Kelsey Willock (22:22) thank you so, much, Carrie. I've learned so much from you in this conversation. As a quick recap and some of the tidbits that I pulled out, I really loved how you had mentioned, you know, we're in this world where employees are introduced to so many different things. And what's super important is that we better understand how to educate them and provide them the tools to understand what those benefits and the value of them are. And you had mentioned a great tool like Workday, which has been phenomenally helpful in terms of the companies you've worked with in helping employees better understand those benefits. I also loved how you had mentioned the importance of flexibility. Regardless of your workforce, giving people the ability to have access to flexibility can allow you to achieve higher engagement on different tools and resources you might provide them, such as biometric screening. Lastly, I loved how you had mentioned the culture of trust is of the utmost importance at your organizations. While employees are becoming more more savvy and they ask for new and unique things, still at the core of it is making sure that they trust you. so open lines of communication and listening to them is integral. So as we sign off, I'd love for you to share with our listeners where they can connect with you beyond this conversation. Kerry Seppala (23:37) I'm on LinkedIn and so it's Sepulah, S-E-P-P-A-L-A, I'm on LinkedIn and I'd love to hear ⁓ about my passion and your passion, pay, compensation, benefits, anything HRIS. ⁓ So please reach out. Kelsey Willock (23:54) Thank you so much, Carrie. I hope you have a wonderful rest of your afternoon. Kerry Seppala (23:57) Thank you, Kelsey.