Beyond the Paycheck brings you candid conversations with CHROs and top people leaders who are rethinking how compensation and benefits impact 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, not just attract talent.
This podcast is sponsored by Aura Finance, the financial wellness platform designed to help employees feel confident, secure, and in control of their money.
See more at aurafinance.io
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Summary What happens when benefits renewal costs rise 15% to 50% while wages rise 3%? In this episode of Beyond the Paycheck, host Kelsey Willock Jones sits down with Chuck Heaton, Vice President of Human Resources and Chief Compliance Officer at Perma-Pipe, to talk about the "Armageddon year" brokers are warning about and whether it marks the beginning of the end of company-provided benefits. Drawing on more than 30 years in HR across textiles, retail, oil and gas, and manufacturing, Chuck shares why payroll errors are same-day emergencies for people living paycheck to paycheck, why the spouse or partner is often the real benefits decision maker at open enrollment, how a total rewards transparency play won a union over to company benefits, and what fiduciary responsibility really means for employees' retirement money. A candid conversation for HR, benefits, and finance leaders navigating the toughest renewal cycle in decades.
Chapters
00:00 Welcome and Chuck's path through 30 years of HR
03:05 A first paycheck at Shaw Industries and where the money went
05:00 Payroll errors are same day emergencies
06:55 The spouse is often the real benefits decision maker
07:45 Supporting the whole person without wasting benefits spend
09:30 The total rewards play that won over a union
12:05 The benefits Armageddon: renewals up 15 to 50%
15:35 Fully insured, self insured, and the stop loss squeeze
16:55 Financial wellbeing and a company's fiduciary duty
21:10 Staying current with brokers and peer networks
Takeaways
Benefits renewal costs are rising 15% to 50% this year while US wage increases sit around 3 to 3.5%, and the usual fixes of switching carriers and raising deductibles are running out of road.
Payroll errors are same-day emergencies, not next-cycle fixes, because employees living paycheck to paycheck face immediate rent, mortgage, and late-fee consequences.
The spouse or partner is often the real benefits decision maker, so open enrollment communication should reach the household through home mailers and sessions partners can attend.
Total rewards transparency changes behavior: showing employees exactly what the company spends on their benefits won a union over to company coverage.
Companies carry a true fiduciary responsibility for retirement money, from lowering 401(k) fees to educating employees on the real cost of loans and hardship withdrawals.
Aura Finance helps you simplify compensation and benefits planning by bringing everything into one streamlined platform. No more juggling spreadsheets, disconnected tools, or manual calculations—Aura gives you a single place to design, compare, and communicate total rewards packages with confidence.
With AI-powered insights, it takes the guesswork and busywork out of comp decisions, helps you spot pay equity gaps early, and makes it easy to model scenarios that keep your teams engaged and your budgets on track.
What a culture program did that a 10% raise for 100,000 workers couldn't
Episode 81
Thursday, September 3, 2026 • Duration 25:51
Summary
How do you make a case for people programs when the spreadsheet won't back you up? In this episode of Beyond the Paycheck, host Kelsey Willock Jones talks with Kyle Taylor, Head of HR at Revature, about the one word definition of strategy he brings to every compensation conversation, the pendulum effect that quietly teaches employees to stop reading their own bonus plan, and what DHL funded that most companies only talk about. Taylor shares how DHL tied employee survey scores to every people leader's incentive plan, how a culture program did what a 10 percent raise across 100,000 frontline workers could not, and why he plants a flag with a pivot condition instead of asking for an open ended budget. Along the way: the paper route that never paid, the escalation committee for employees with no local advocate, and the AI shift he thinks HR leaders are least prepared for. A conversation for HR and total rewards leaders who have to sell an investment before they can prove it.
Chapters
00:00 Introduction, Revature, and the hire, train, deploy model
02:30 A paper route, a missing paycheck, and a lesson in getting it in writing
03:45 Strategy is tradeoffs, and most comp decisions hide them
05:05 The escalation committee for associates who fall through the cracks
07:15 What DHL got right, employee survey scores in every manager's bonus
09:00 Teaching 100,000 people why the package matters
11:30 Making the case for engagement when the spreadsheet won't
14:25 The bonus pendulum and the seven goal trap
17:55 Financial wellbeing at the individual and population level
20:30 The AI manifesto and the shift HR isn't ready for
Takeaways
-Strategy is just tradeoffs, and the job of HR in a compensation conversation is to make those tradeoffs visible so the decision gets made eyes open rather than by instinct.
The Game Boy rule: how DaBella teaches delayed gratification at work
Episode 80
Tuesday, September 1, 2026 • Duration 20:43
Summary
Jeremy Stick, CHRO at DaBella, joins host Kelsey Willock Jones on Beyond the Paycheck to trace a line from his first paycheck, $2.35 an hour washing dishes in a junior high cafeteria, to the way he builds benefits education and development strategy for twenty six hundred employees across twenty eight states. The conversation covers why he trains people so they can leave and then treats them well enough to stay, how he uses regrettable turnover to make the financial case for people programs when the spreadsheet does not obviously support it, and why the moment someone gets a raise is the single best moment to talk to them about money. Along the way he unpacks how he takes the fear out of high deductible plans and HSAs with a simple Excel breakdown, a wellness program that went sideways, and why he thinks the return to office shift is going to trigger a talent war most HR leaders are underestimating. Built for CHROs, HR leaders, and total rewards teams who want practical language for defending people investments and teaching financial wellness in a workforce focused on right now.
04:11 Stumbling into HR from educational psychology
06:02 Train them so they can leave
07:02 Measuring regrettable turnover
09:14 A wellness program that spiraled
11:10 Taking the fear out of HSAs and 401(k)s
13:56 Lifestyle creep and the raise conversation
16:20 The return to office shift
19:12 My name is Jeremy, not HR
Start With a Smile: Why Saving $2,000 on an Offer Costs You More
Episode 79
Thursday, August 27, 2026 • Duration 20:46
Summary What if the most valuable benefit in your package is the one without a line item? In this episode of Beyond the Paycheck, host Kelsey Willock Jones sits down with Robert Lazenby, Senior Director of Total Rewards at Hays, to explore why flexibility beats richer perks, why financial stress is a business issue disguised as a personal issue, and why the next decade of benefits belongs to healthcare savers rather than healthcare consumers. Bob shares his path from frontline sales to total rewards, the story of a denied healthcare bill stuck to an employee's refrigerator, and how Hays is using HSAs, auto-enrollment, and year-round communication to build real financial security. A candid conversation for HR and total rewards leaders rethinking what support for the whole person actually means.
Chapters
00:00 Welcome and introduction
01:45 From frontline sales to total rewards
03:05 First paycheck and a first lesson in money
04:15 Start them with a smile
06:15 Flexibility as the most valuable benefit
10:15 A wellbeing experiment that backfired
13:10 Financial stress as a business issue
15:50 HSAs and financial education at Hays
17:55 The shift to healthcare savers
20:15 Final thoughts beyond the paycheck
Takeaways
-Flexibility is one of the most valuable benefits an organization can offer because it gives employees more capacity in their lives without adding cost to the business.
-Financial stress is a business issue disguised as a personal issue, affecting engagement, productivity, retention, and wellbeing.
-HSAs are among the most underutilized and least understood financial vehicles, especially for younger workers, and can build long-term wealth when funded early and invested.
When the Best Benefits Can't Be Justified by a Spreadsheet
Episode 78
Tuesday, August 25, 2026 • Duration 28:17
Summary What do you do when the best benefits can't be justified by a spreadsheet? In this episode of Beyond the Paycheck, host Kelsey Willock Jones talks with Ann Meyers Piccirillo, CHRO of JDA TSG, about growing a company from 100 to 13,000 employees and building benefits for a workforce most benefits systems forget. Ann shares her case for strategic ROI alongside quantitative ROI, told through the surprise success of grandparent leave; the concierge healthcare experiment that went unused for two years and what its failure revealed about what employees really want; and the cafeteria-style healthcare plan she's building for seasonal workers, anchored in telehealth. A conversation for HR and benefits leaders who want to design for the people they actually employ.
Chapters
00:00 Introduction and meet Ann Meyers Piccirillo
01:45 A paper route and a first paycheck spent on candy
03:30 Opening doors for a seasonal workforce
06:45 Telehealth and building a cafeteria plan
09:45 Grandparent leave and meeting people where they are
12:00 Strategic ROI vs the spreadsheet
14:45 The benefits experiment nobody used
18:15 Positioning back office teams as revenue drivers
21:45 AI as a coworker, people as the differentiator
25:15 Tap yourself: don't wait for permission
Takeaways
-Strategic ROI belongs alongside quantitative ROI: benefits like grandparent leave cost money and return nothing measurable, yet convert into productivity, loyalty, and referrals over time.
-Fight for the benefits you believe in before the financial return shows up, because strategic return translates into financial return.
-A concierge discount healthcare package went essentially unused for two years because employees didn't want to be their own benefits broker; they wanted a traditional, trusted network model.
The $20 Million Benefits Investment Employees Forgot in a Year
Episode 77
Thursday, August 20, 2026 • Duration 24:50
Summary What do employees actually need from their rewards package? In this episode of Beyond the Paycheck, host Kelsey Willock Jones talks with Eric Gutierrez, VP of Total Rewards at Point B, about why total rewards leaders should stop tinkering with programs and start managing the overall work experience, the $20 million healthcare premium investment whose most lasting return came from leaders rather than employees, and his controversial take on the financial wellness industry: budgeting programs are cute, but what people need is a living wage that keeps up with inflation. Along the way: the war for DNA-role talent that never pauses, return on employee sentiment as a companion to financial ROI, and the psychological shift coming as AI moves from tool to collaborator. A conversation for HR and total rewards leaders who want benefits people actually feel.
Chapters
00:00 Introduction and meet Eric Gutierrez
02:45 Inside Point B and the consulting transformation
04:15 Band camp, a Chevy Camaro, and a first paycheck
05:40 A meritocracy worldview and controlling your destiny
07:30 The war for talent and protecting DNA roles
10:10 Beyond programs: the work environment as the value proposition
12:55 Return on employee sentiment vs the spreadsheet
14:30 The $20 million healthcare premium investment
17:05 The financial wellness hot take: a living wage first
20:35 The AI shift HR isn't ready for
Takeaways
-Once pay passes a threshold, culture, challenging work, and a path for advancement matter as much as comp and benefits, yet in too many companies the work environment happens by accident.
-Return on employee sentiment belongs alongside financial ROI when making the case for people investments the spreadsheet can't obviously support.
The Financial Wellness Pilot That Cut Turnover From 50% to 14%
Episode 76
Tuesday, August 18, 2026 • Duration 20:20
Summary What does it take to keep frontline employees past their first year? In this episode of Beyond the Paycheck, host Kelsey Willock Jones talks with Catherine Johnson, EVP and Chief People Officer at Travis Credit Union, about the financial wellness pilot that helped cut first-year frontline turnover from 50% to 14%, how she won leadership approval by framing HR investments the way the business tests new products, and why the one size fits all benefits catalog is headed for extinction. Along the way: the $5,250 tuition benefit nobody used until bandwidth entered the plan, dependent care that now spans children and aging parents, and the case for letting employees curate benefits to their stage of life. A conversation for HR and total rewards leaders building benefits people actually feel.
Chapters
00:00 Introduction and meet Catherine Johnson
02:00 Inside Travis Credit Union's workforce
03:15 A paper route, a bicycle, and the meaning of a paycheck
05:00 Supporting the whole employee at Travis
08:15 Where companies fall short on benefits
10:15 The financial wellness pilot that contributed to lower turnover from 50% - 14%.
12:30 Pitching HR investments like product tests
13:05 The $5,250 tuition benefit nobody used
15:15 Staying current and listening for unexpected benefits
17:05 The personalized benefits shift HR isn't ready for
Takeaways
A financial wellness pilot built on two hypotheses, that cared-for employees stay and that employees who trust the tool serve members better, helping cut first-year frontline turnover from 50% to 14%.
Framing HR investments the way the business already tests products, pilot in one market and then make a go or no go call, is what finally won leadership approval.
Benefits Are Table Stakes, Education Is the Differentiator
Episode 75
Thursday, August 13, 2026 • Duration 24:09
Summary What happens when AI runs more of HR than people do? In this episode of Beyond the Paycheck, host Kelsey Willock Jones sits down with Kelsey Browning, VP of People Operations at Invisible Technologies, who has spent 12 years practicing full stack HR at tech companies in moments of change. Kelsey explains why benefits are table stakes rather than a differentiator, why most employees don't understand the benefits they already have, and how she maps the employee lifecycle like a customer lifecycle to find the moments that matter. Then she looks ahead to the leaner, AI-powered HR team built around generalists with many specialties, and raises the questions nobody has answered yet: how do you compensate someone doing the job of five people, who's accountable when the AI is wrong, and how will the next generation of specialists ever get built? A sharp, practical conversation for HR, people ops, and total rewards leaders navigating the AI transition.
Chapters
00:00 Welcome to Beyond the Paycheck
00:45 Kelsey's path through full stack HR
02:00 A Best Buy first job and a first paycheck saved in a CD
04:45 Start with the employee value proposition
06:25 Benefits are table stakes
07:30 White glove moments only small companies can deliver
08:40 Mapping the employee lifecycle for moments that matter
10:30 Making the case when the spreadsheet says no
13:30 A benefits rollout that went sideways
19:05 The AI generalist and the accountability question
Takeaways
-Benefits are table stakes, not a differentiator. Most employees are not educated about the benefits they already have, so education often beats expansion.
-Map the employee lifecycle the way you'd map a customer lifecycle, then invest in the moments that matter. Your demographics tell you where those moments will be.
Benefit Personas: Making Rewards Human Across 15,000 Employees
Episode 74
Tuesday, August 11, 2026 • Duration 19:54
Summary What are you actually paying your employees for? In this episode of Beyond the Paycheck, host Kelsey Willock Jones talks with Joshua Lemon, Senior Director of Global Total Rewards at Resideo, about why total reward statements feel like showing your kids the grocery receipt, how his team uses personas to make benefits communication human across a 15,000 person global workforce, and why AI's uneven multiplying effect could end the era of paying for presence. Along the way: making the case for benefits the spreadsheet can't justify, Resideo's above benchmark 7% 401(k) match, and the fiduciary thinking behind saying no to 401(k) loans. A conversation for HR and total rewards leaders rethinking what pay and benefits are really for.
Chapters
00:00 Introduction and meet Joshua Lemon
02:20 Inside Resideo's global workforce
03:10 First jobs, first paychecks, and an economics lens on money
05:20 Supporting the whole person across 30 countries
06:50 Why total reward statements fall short
09:20 The grocery receipt problem and benefit personas
11:15 Making the case when the spreadsheet doesn't support it
14:35 Financial wellness by design at Resideo
17:05 Paying for output and the future of AI in rewards
18:45 The Speed of Your Dependencies and where to find Josh
Takeaways
-Total reward statements keep value abstract; employees experience benefits through real moments like a $25 copay, so messaging has to meet them there.
-Benefit personas, borrowed from product design, let rewards teams communicate in the voice of each employee group and life stage.
-The four pillars of attracting, retaining, motivating, and engaging employees make the case for benefits a business case alone can't justify.
Building Rewards Programs That Serve the Business, Not Just HR
Episode 73
Thursday, August 6, 2026 • Duration 24:47
Summary
What happens when companies raid their benefits budgets to fund AI initiatives? On Beyond the Paycheck, Kelsey Willock Jones talks with Cristabel Lim, Senior Director of Total Rewards and Strategic Programs at Epicor, about why benefit stability creates the psychological safety that performance depends on. Cristabel shares Epicor's philosophy of never overreacting to market volatility, makes the case for trusting your gut on investments like benefit fairs that no spreadsheet can justify, and breaks down the real AI question for benefits teams: build, buy, or don't use at all. From a $400 first paycheck spent on a digital camera to an employee assistance fund where colleagues support each other through hardship, this conversation is built for HR, total rewards, and people leaders navigating volatile markets.
Chapters
00:00 Welcome to Beyond the Paycheck
01:15 Nine years at Epicor from Monterrey to the Bay Area
02:30 A $400 first paycheck and a digital camera
04:15 Growing up in a family that talked about money
05:30 The four pillars of benefits at Epicor
07:15 Why cutting benefits to fund AI backfires
09:00 Benefit stability and psychological safety
10:45 Trusting your gut when the ROI isn't on the spreadsheet
15:15 Build, buy, or don't use: evaluating AI in benefits
20:45 The rising cost of benefits and a final message
Takeaways
-Benefit stability creates psychological safety. Companies that pulled benefit dollars to fund AI initiatives are now seeing dissatisfaction and turnover, while steady offerings tell employees the ground under them is solid.
-Don't overspend when the market is hot and don't take away in a downturn. People are what make the products and services, and they notice when that stops being true.
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-Bonus plans swing on a pendulum, from revenue to gross profit to contribution and back, and from two big KPIs to seven small ones, until the plan stops moving the needle entirely.
-The real cost of an annually shifting bonus plan is not plan design, it is that employees learn to tune out, and compensation feels personal in a way that other policy does not.
-DHL made employee survey scores part of the incentive plan for every leader with direct reports, which turned engagement results from an unread report into something leaders competed over.
-Ask for a bounded bet instead of a belief system: set provable assumptions, plant a flag on what improvement looks like, and commit to pivoting if it does not land.
Aura Finance helps you simplify compensation and benefits planning by bringing everything into one streamlined platform. No more juggling spreadsheets, disconnected tools, or manual calculations—Aura gives you a single place to design, compare, and communicate total rewards packages with confidence.
With AI-powered insights, it takes the guesswork and busywork out of comp decisions, helps you spot pay equity gaps early, and makes it easy to model scenarios that keep your teams engaged and your budgets on track.
-Train and develop people so they could leave, then treat them well enough that they stay, and call it a graduation when the next step genuinely is not available internally.
-Track regrettable turnover as its own line, then price the six month lag of three months to backfill plus three months to ramp, including the load it shifts onto remaining employees.
-Take the emotion out of benefits by showing the math, breaking down premiums, a worst case out of pocket cost, HSA contributions, and tax deferment in a simple spreadsheet.
-Catch employees at the raise, because the highest leverage financial advice is to keep spending where it was rather than scaling it to the new salary.
-A 401(k) is a time horizon problem before it is a knowledge problem, so frame it as the Game Boy later instead of the candy now.
Aura Finance helps you simplify compensation and benefits planning by bringing everything into one streamlined platform. No more juggling spreadsheets, disconnected tools, or manual calculations—Aura gives you a single place to design, compare, and communicate total rewards packages with confidence.
With AI-powered insights, it takes the guesswork and busywork out of comp decisions, helps you spot pay equity gaps early, and makes it easy to model scenarios that keep your teams engaged and your budgets on track.
-The next five to 10 years will bring a shift toward helping employees become healthcare savers rather than just healthcare consumers as traditional plan costs become unsustainable.
-Year-round communication, auto-enrollment, and easy enrollment are what turn benefits from November decisions into tools employees actually use.
Aura Finance helps you simplify compensation and benefits planning by bringing everything into one streamlined platform. No more juggling spreadsheets, disconnected tools, or manual calculations—Aura gives you a single place to design, compare, and communicate total rewards packages with confidence.
With AI-powered insights, it takes the guesswork and busywork out of comp decisions, helps you spot pay equity gaps early, and makes it easy to model scenarios that keep your teams engaged and your budgets on track.
-Negative feedback is the clearest signal you'll get: people speak up loudly about what they don't like, and that clarity is shaping the next iteration of the benefits plan.
-For seasonal and hourly workers locked out of traditional coverage, a cafeteria-style plan anchored in telehealth plus validated point solutions can close the healthcare gap.
Aura Finance helps you simplify compensation and benefits planning by bringing everything into one streamlined platform. No more juggling spreadsheets, disconnected tools, or manual calculations—Aura gives you a single place to design, compare, and communicate total rewards packages with confidence.
With AI-powered insights, it takes the guesswork and busywork out of comp decisions, helps you spot pay equity gaps early, and makes it easy to model scenarios that keep your teams engaged and your budgets on track.
-A $20 million healthcare premium investment at a thin-margin firm was forgotten by employees within a year, but leaders retold the story for years, proving that costly people decisions pay out in lasting lore.
-Financial wellness training is no substitute for a living wage: if grocery bills outpace paychecks, budgeting classes and 401(k) education don't matter.
-Even in an employer-friendly market, the war for a company's DNA roles never pauses; rest on your laurels and you'll be chasing that talent externally even more.
Aura Finance helps you simplify compensation and benefits planning by bringing everything into one streamlined platform. No more juggling spreadsheets, disconnected tools, or manual calculations—Aura gives you a single place to design, compare, and communicate total rewards packages with confidence.
With AI-powered insights, it takes the guesswork and busywork out of comp decisions, helps you spot pay equity gaps early, and makes it easy to model scenarios that keep your teams engaged and your budgets on track.
A benefit without bandwidth is a flop: tuition reimbursement jumped from $250 to $5,250 and usage still fell to zero until Travis started planning learning time into the workday.
The annual one size fits all benefits catalog assumes every benefit holds the same value for every employee; life-stage curation, from elder care to pet bereavement leave, is the next shift.
Listening channels beat headlines: twice-yearly employee benefit surveys and a Northern California credit union rewards network surface needs that never make the news.
Aura Finance helps you simplify compensation and benefits planning by bringing everything into one streamlined platform. No more juggling spreadsheets, disconnected tools, or manual calculations—Aura gives you a single place to design, compare, and communicate total rewards packages with confidence.
With AI-powered insights, it takes the guesswork and busywork out of comp decisions, helps you spot pay equity gaps early, and makes it easy to model scenarios that keep your teams engaged and your budgets on track.
-Smaller companies win on white glove care: handling edge cases directly with the broker instead of routing people through tickets and multi-day waits.
-AI is pushing HR toward lean teams of generalists with many specialties, a profile that is rare, hard to develop, and even harder to compensate fairly.
-Before automating HR work, decide who is accountable when the AI is wrong, and remember that removing entry-level work removes the path the next generation needs to build specialties.
Aura Finance helps you simplify compensation and benefits planning by bringing everything into one streamlined platform. No more juggling spreadsheets, disconnected tools, or manual calculations—Aura gives you a single place to design, compare, and communicate total rewards packages with confidence.
With AI-powered insights, it takes the guesswork and busywork out of comp decisions, helps you spot pay equity gaps early, and makes it easy to model scenarios that keep your teams engaged and your budgets on track.
-Financial wellness can be built into plan design itself, like Resideo's 7% dollar for dollar 401(k) match and its intentional no loan policy.
-AI's uneven multiplying effect, where one person gets 50% more productive and another 10x, will push compensation from rewarding presence toward rewarding output.
Aura Finance helps you simplify compensation and benefits planning by bringing everything into one streamlined platform. No more juggling spreadsheets, disconnected tools, or manual calculations—Aura gives you a single place to design, compare, and communicate total rewards packages with confidence.
With AI-powered insights, it takes the guesswork and busywork out of comp decisions, helps you spot pay equity gaps early, and makes it easy to model scenarios that keep your teams engaged and your budgets on track.
-Some of the highest-impact benefits, like benefit fairs and human connection, never show ROI on a spreadsheet. Trust your gut, start small, and reevaluate frequently.
-The real AI question in benefits is build, buy, or don't use. Who supports the product and who owns data security matter more than what AI can theoretically do.
-Cut through the AI noise with peer conversations. What has actually worked for other practitioners beats what vendors promise.
Aura Finance helps you simplify compensation and benefits planning by bringing everything into one streamlined platform. No more juggling spreadsheets, disconnected tools, or manual calculations—Aura gives you a single place to design, compare, and communicate total rewards packages with confidence.
With AI-powered insights, it takes the guesswork and busywork out of comp decisions, helps you spot pay equity gaps early, and makes it easy to model scenarios that keep your teams engaged and your budgets on track.
