Beyond the Paycheck

Summary
What does an employee working a second job actually tell you about your workplace? Sarah Cornelio, Total Rewards Manager at Urban Engineers, joins host Kelsey Wheelock to make the case that financial stress is a burnout and safety indicator most HR leaders miss. She shares the "never let the first answer be no" vendor philosophy that surfaced a long-term care benefit her team never went looking for, her framework for measuring the non-scale victories engagement surveys can't capture, and why focus groups are one of the most valuable tools in her 20-year HR toolbox. For total rewards, benefits, and HR leaders who want programs that meet employees where they are.

Chapters
00:00 Introduction and welcome
00:45 Sarah's 20 years across HR
01:45 First paychecks and the money story behind a benefits career
03:45 Never letting the first answer be no
05:15 AI tools and keeping pulse on new offerings
07:15 Non-scale victories and measuring what surveys miss
08:45 Focus groups and listening to real struggles
10:15 The sandwich generation and life-stage benefits
12:00 Financial stress, second jobs, and burnout risk
13:45 What keeps programs from sitting idle

Takeaways
- Never let the first answer be no: taking every vendor call surfaced a long-term care insurance benefit Urban Engineers never went looking for, meaningful to employees at both ends of the age spectrum.
- The best benefits intelligence is often already paid for: brokers, retirement carriers, and peer surveys across employee-owned firms reveal what is working before a pitch ever lands.
- Programs create non-scale victories: impact that never shows in survey data. Capture it by ending every employee interaction with "What can we be doing better to support you?"
- Focus groups reach the people who never fill out the survey, turning engagement scores into named, real struggles HR can act on.
- Employees working multiple jobs are a burnout and safety signal, not a policy problem. Remove barriers to second jobs or pay a living wage, and treat sustained financial stress as workplace risk.

Connect with the Guest
Sarah Cornelio LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarah-cornelio-82470672/
Company Website: https://www.urbanengineers.com/

Sponsor
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.

See a demo at https://www.aurafinance.com/

Summary
What does a 400-signup week reveal about your workforce? In this episode of Beyond the Paycheck, host Kelsey talks with Ernie Florkowski, Director of Benefits at Element Materials Technology, about the overwhelming employee response to a free financial coaching benefit, how his team designed an HR help desk AI that routes people to answers instead of generating them, and why he believes Amazon-style personalization is the benefits shift most HR leaders aren't ready for. A conversation for CHROs, benefits leaders, and anyone rethinking what employees need beyond pay.

Chapters
00:00 Introduction
00:45 Meet Ernie Florkowski and Element Materials Technology
02:40 First paychecks and Air Jordans
04:50 Keeping the big three benefits affordable
06:10 Financial coaching and 400 signups in one week
08:20 The wellness program that caught cancer early
12:45 A culture where health and family come first
14:00 AI in HR: tool, not threat
16:15 Staying current through networking
18:25 The next shift: personalized benefits

Takeaways
- Financial stress in the workforce is bigger than it looks: a free financial coaching benefit announced in a single company email drew 400 signups in its first week.
- Affordable core benefits are a strategy, not an accident: Element keeps medical, dental, and vision under $800 a year for employee-only coverage across 27 states.
- Reducing money stress at home shows up at work as focus, attendance, and better performance.
- AI in HR works best when it routes employees to answers instead of generating them, avoiding the liability of confidently wrong responses.
- Benefits are heading toward Amazon-style personalization, with carriers proactively reaching out based on individual health signals.

Connect with the Guest
Ernie Florkowski LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ernieflorkowski/
Company Website: https://www.element.com

Sponsor
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.

See a demo at https://www.aurafinance.com/

Summary
In this episode of Beyond the Paycheck, host Kelsey Willock Jones sits down with Jonathan Taddeo, Director of Total Rewards at Syniverse, the company powering intercarrier text messaging across 24 countries. Jonathan explains why pay is a hygiene factor rather than a motivator, why recognition is the most underused lever in employee engagement, and why the EU Pay Transparency Directive is only the tip of the iceberg for total rewards leaders. Along the way, he shares how a Division I swimming career shaped his money story, how Syniverse wins executive buy in for wellbeing programs by pairing data with the right story, and what it takes to keep pay fair across a global workforce. This conversation is for HR and total rewards leaders, people managers, and anyone who wants to understand what really drives engagement beyond the paycheck.

Chapters
00:00 Introduction
01:15 From talent acquisition to total rewards
01:55 Inside the world's most connected company
03:45 A money story shaped by athletics
05:45 Financial wellbeing at Syniverse
09:15 The recognition gap
10:55 Why pay is a hygiene factor
13:15 Making the case with data
15:35 Fair pay and job architecture
21:35 The pay transparency wave

Takeaways
- Pay is a hygiene factor: it has to be fair and competitive, but money alone doesn't motivate people, and for creative work financial incentives can actually backfire.
- Recognition is the biggest gap in employee engagement, and it doesn't have to be monetary; regular, frequent recognition from leaders and peers is what moves performance.
- The EU Pay Transparency Directive is only the tip of the iceberg; US total rewards leaders should prepare now for right to information requests and expanding state laws.
- Executive buy in comes from pairing data with the right story, like Syniverse's wellness incentive that lowers long term benefits costs by 20 to 30 percent by catching health issues early.
- Fair pay starts with job architecture that matches market benchmarks and internal equity checks, so offers are anchored in data rather than gut feeling.

Connect with the Guest
Jonathan Taddeo LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathan-taddeo/
Company Website: https://www.syniverse.com

Sponsor
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.

See a demo at https://www.aurafinance.com/

Summary
What does it take to rebuild salary planning in eight weeks? In this episode of Beyond the Paycheck, host Kelsey Willcok Jones talks with Nicholas Lassalle, Director of Total Rewards at QinetiQ, about launching an SAP compensation module in two months, why the ROI of people investments shows up in the employee experience rather than the spreadsheet, and why so many employees leave free money on the table by misunderstanding their benefits. Nicholas shares how automating benefits systems, 401(k) administration, and HSA file feeds eliminated the delays and errors that hit employees directly, and makes the case for over-communication, fast response times, and real benefits education. A practical conversation for HR, total rewards, and people leaders who want to invest in employees even when the numbers aren't obvious.

Chapters
00:00 Introduction
00:45 Meet Nicholas Lassalle and his total rewards career
02:30 First job and first paycheck
04:15 Supporting the whole person and the eight week SAP launch
06:45 Why over-communication wins
08:15 Benefits that remove barriers: mental health and Medicare
10:15 Responsiveness as a total rewards benefit
13:15 Making the case when the spreadsheet says no
17:15 Financial wellbeing and money left on the table
20:15 The shift ahead: AI and system integration

Takeaways
- A full compensation module launch can happen in eight weeks when automation replaces spreadsheets and communication is built into the rollout from day one.
- The ROI of people investments is rarely monetary; it shows up as fewer paycheck errors, faster HSA deposits, and 401(k) contributions that post on time.
- Manual HR processes cost employees directly, from lost 401(k) interest to delayed access to money they need.
- Employees leave free money on the table by under-contributing to matched 401(k) plans and underusing the HSA's triple tax advantage.
- Over-communication, multiple touchpoints, and a 24 to 48 hour response policy turn total rewards into a trust-building function, not just an administrative one.

Connect with the Guest
Nicholas Lassalle LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicholas-lassalle/
Company Website: https://www.qinetiq.com

Sponsor
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.

See a demo at https://www.aurafinance.com/

Summary
On this episode of Beyond the Paycheck, host Kelsey Willock sits down with Sarah Gonzales-Wilson, SVP of Total Rewards at Switch, the hyperscaler building the data centers powering today's AI boom. Sarah traces her path from a self described "late bloomer" who fell in love with compensation, the place where the math nerds of HR end up, to a leader scaling total rewards inside a high growth company. Drawing on her own early experience of financial strain as an Army spouse, she makes the case that great total rewards leaders never forget what instability feels like. She challenges the industry habit of stacking benefit programs that reach only a fraction of the workforce, argues for benefits as fluid as the people who use them, and explains how a core value built on karma drives real retention. It's a candid, practical conversation for HR and total rewards leaders, people leaders, and anyone rethinking how companies support the whole person.

Chapters
00:00 Introduction
01:15 Finding the place where the math nerds of HR go
03:35 Scaling total rewards inside a high growth company
04:55 First job at Sbarro's and the truth about that first paycheck
06:55 How a money story shapes the way you lead
09:35 Supporting the whole person without falling into the program trap
12:15 Building benefits as fluid as the people who use them
15:25 Getting back on the ground to listen to frontline workers
17:35 Why support and output are connected, and the karma value
21:35 Financial wellbeing, killing the shame, and the skills based future

Takeaways
- Once your own income is stable, it is easy to forget what financial instability feels like. The best total rewards leaders hold onto that memory and never assume everyone has a six-month safety net.
- Stacking benefit programs creates the illusion of coverage. Fourteen offerings can still reach only 15 to 20% of your people.
- Real personalization is not just person to person. The same employee needs different support at different moments of their own life, so benefits should bend instead of multiply.
- The annual survey is mismatched to reality because lives change far more than once a year. Listening to a frontline workforce often means getting back on the ground in person.
- A value built on karma, what you give is what you get back, turns whole person support into genuine retention, and the workforce of the future will increasingly want a work to live, skills based flexibility.

Connect with the Guest
Sarah Gonzales-Wilson LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarah-gonzales-wilson-ccp-phr-46165b8/
Company Website: https://www.switch.com

Sponsor
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.

See a demo at https://www.aurafinance.com/

Summary
Patrick Lopez, Head of HR at CMIT Solutions, joins host Kelsey on Beyond the Paycheck for a conversation that runs from a teenager's first paycheck to the future of work in the age of AI. Patrick shares how a 10-disc CD changer and an unexpectedly small JCPenney check taught him about taxes at 16, why he still sees new hires learn that same lesson, and how his money story shaped the way he leads. From there the conversation widens: how AI has quietly crowded out the whole-person conversation about wellbeing and benefits, how HR has evolved from an admin function into the company's strategic conscience, and why, even in an uncertain market, clear communication is the benefit that matters most. It's a grounded, hopeful listen for HR leaders, people managers, and anyone thinking about financial wellbeing at work.

Chapters
00:00 Intro
01:15 From radio booth to head of HR
04:45 A first paycheck and a 10 disc CD changer
05:45 Meeting FICA: the tax lesson school skipped
07:45 How your money story shapes the way you lead
10:45 When AI drowns out the whole person conversation
13:45 The Great Resignation and the swing back to people
16:45 How HR became the company's thought leader
18:45 Putting AI to work on the ops side at CMIT
20:45 Money confidence, benefits, and the power of communication

Takeaways
- Financial confidence starts with the basics. Patrick learned about FICA and take-home pay from his first JCPenney check at 16, and he still sees college grads ask the same question. Helping people understand their own pay stub is a small act of leadership that builds lasting trust.
- AI is taking all the oxygen, and the whole-person conversation has gone quiet. The talk about wellbeing, benefits, and work-life balance that dominated the Great Resignation has been steered toward AI. Patrick expects the pendulum to swing back.
- The cloud era is the cautionary tale. Fifteen years ago every leader wanted to "move to the cloud" without knowing how. AI is following the same pattern, so substance has to catch up to the ambition.
- HR has become the company's conscience. The role has shifted from admin to strategic thought leader, and HR leaders are quietly building the case for keeping people at the center as AI matures.
- Communication is the real benefit. Even while expanding benefits, Patrick's top rule with leadership is to communicate every decision clearly and make the team part of the process, because people can handle uncertainty when they don't feel it's being done to them.

Connect with the Guest
Patrick Lopez LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/patrickmlopez/
Company Website: https://cmitsolutions.com

Sponsor
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.

See a demo at https://www.aurafinance.com/

Summary
On this episode of Beyond the Paycheck, host Kelsey sits down with Pam Tavilla, Head of People at Leyton, a global consulting and professional services firm. Drawing on nearly 20 years in HR, Pam makes the case that the line between work and personal life has dissolved, and that supporting employees means supporting their whole day, financial, mental, and physical. She explains why financial wellbeing is a universal need rather than a generational perk, why learning and development only works when it leads to a real career path, and what the coming shift toward personalized benefits will mean for HR leaders. It's a practical, people-first conversation for anyone who builds compensation, benefits, and growth programs.

Chapters
00:45 Welcome to Beyond the Paycheck
01:35 Meet Pam Tavilla and Leyton
02:45 Her first job and first paycheck
03:45 Supporting the whole person
06:35 Why financial wellbeing matters
08:25 Making the case when the spreadsheet won't
10:15 When training needs a destination
12:25 Staying current in HR and benefits
16:25 The coming shift to personalized benefits

Takeaways
- Support has to be active, not stated. Saying you back work-life balance means little unless managers actually let people step away and trust them to return refreshed.
- The whole person comes to work. Financial, mental, and physical health all cross into the workday, so being present and noticing the signs is part of the job.
- Financial wellbeing is universal. It matters across every generation because it shapes how people live and survive, and it benefits the business as much as the employee.
- Training needs a destination. Learning and development only pays off when it connects to a clear career path, or it becomes box-checking.
- Personalization is the next shift. The standard benefits package is fading in favor of equal budget and access for everyone with individual choice in how it's used.

Connect with the Guest
Pam Tavilla LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pam-tavilla/
Company Website: https://leyton.com

Sponsor
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.

See a demo at https://www.aurafinance.com/

Summary
On this episode of Beyond the Paycheck, Kelsey Willock sits down with Ken Wechsler, VP of Total Rewards at Akamai Technologies, to dig into why the most measurable parts of a pay package are often the least differentiating. Ken makes the case that comp is the "sexier side" of rewards but benefits are what build loyalty, that financial stress quietly destroys engagement, and that the best benefits are sometimes the ones almost nobody uses. Along the way he covers pay transparency, AI in compensation, and two financial-wellness experiments anyone can try. It's a practical listen for total rewards leaders, benefits practitioners, and anyone rethinking what actually keeps people.

Chapters
00:00 Meet Ken Wechsler, VP Total Rewards at Akamai
01:30 The coin-collecting kid and his earliest money memory
03:45 First job, first car, and saving with intention
05:10 A $1,212 paycheck and what younger workers need now
07:15 Comp is the sexier side, but benefits build loyalty
10:30 Maslow, remote work, and financial wellness
12:45 When the story beats the dollar
15:00 Pay transparency: the why over the where
18:30 AI in total rewards and the human touch
21:00 The reverse pyramid and the 48-hour rule

Takeaways
- The most visible part of a pay package, cash, is the part competitors can most easily match.
- Financial stress destroys engagement, so financial security is a precondition for it, not a perk beside it.
- A benefit can be worth keeping for the story it tells even when almost no one uses it.
- On pay transparency, employees care more about understanding the why than seeing the where.
- Use AI to do the math in comp work, but keep humans to interpret the data and make the call.

Connect with the Guest
Ken Wechsler LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ken-wechsler-sphr-ccp-a452734/
Company Website: https://www.akamai.com/

Sponsor
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.

See a demo at https://www.aurafinance.com/

Summary
Beyond the Paycheck sits down with Tia Larsen, Director of Benefits at FJ Management, to trace the compensation comprehension gap back to its source: a financial literacy system that never taught employees how to read a pay package. Tia draws on 16 years managing benefits, a portfolio of 16,500 employees across six industries, and her own experience of living paycheck to paycheck to make the case that total rewards statements and open enrollment education are solving for the wrong moment. The episode covers workplace clinics, the pay-yourself-first habit, and why the missing ingredient in every benefits strategy isn't better data — it's the right conversation at the right time.

Chapters
00:00 Tia Larsen and the FJ Management portfolio
04:30 Earliest memories of money and earning
08:30 The pay-yourself-first habit
12:00 Where employees get total compensation wrong
15:00 Why total rewards statements fail
17:30 The open enrollment timing problem
19:00 On-site clinics that changed employees' lives
22:30 The ROI case for workplace clinics
24:30 Pay transparency and flexibility as coming expectations

Takeaways
- Employees who chase base salary without factoring in benefits cost, 401(k) match, and flexibility frequently end up with less take-home pay after switching jobs.
- Total rewards statements fail not because of their design, but because they land months before employees need the information they contain.
- On-site workplace clinics create predictable costs for employers while eliminating the impossible choice some employees face between medication and groceries.
- Benefits comprehension is built through repeated, plain-language conversations across the year, not through a single annual enrollment presentation.
- Pay transparency is already happening whether employers lead it or not — employees are comparing salaries, and legislation is coming regardless.

Connect with the Guest
Tia Larsen LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tia-larsen-mshr-ccp-cpsp-shrm-scp-5125602a/
Company Website: https://fjmgt.com/

Sponsor
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.

See a demo at https://www.aurafinance.com/

Summary
In this episode of Beyond the Paycheck, Kelsey sits down with Tim Goodchild, Director of International Benefits at Take-Two Interactive (parent company of Rockstar Games, 2K, and Zynga), to dig into what's actually broken in employee benefits. Tim's argument: the packages are often strong, but most employees don't understand what they have. With nearly 20 years in HR across AOL, the BBC, The Telegraph, and Anaplan, Tim lays out why financial wellbeing is the load-bearing pillar of any wellness program, why AI is about to flip benefits from reactive to proactive, and what it means for employers who aren't building toward that now.

Chapters
00:00 Welcome and Tim's background at Take-Two Interactive
02:15 Earliest money memory: saving pocket money for a motor racing helmet TV
04:00 First job: games tester at EA, a rival of Take-Two
05:30 Benefits strategy by life stage: young workforce vs. older workforce
07:30 Where benefits break down: the comprehension crisis
09:30 Gamification in benefits: interesting in theory, dangerous in practice
10:30 Financial wellbeing as the most important pillar
12:00 Elder care and the sandwich generation
14:00 Cost of living, global inflation, and financial wellbeing at work
15:30 AI and the shift from reactive to proactive benefits
17:30 Flexible and voluntary benefits: the dream of year-round personalization
19:30 How to connect with Tim

Takeaways
- Most employees don't understand their benefits package — and measuring comprehension, not just coverage, is the metric most organizations are missing.
- Financial wellbeing is the load-bearing pillar: when finances are stable, mental health generally follows.
- AI in benefits is shifting from reactive (employees ask) to proactive (AI tells) faster than most HR teams are preparing for.
- Benefits strategy must map to life stage — a 25-year-old and a 55-year-old need fundamentally different things from the same employer.
- Elder care — power of attorney, will writing, family financial planning — is becoming one of the most meaningful benefits an employer can offer.

Connect with the Guest
Tim Goodchild LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tgoodchild/
Company Website: https://www.take2games.com/

Sponsor
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.

See a demo at https://www.aurafinance.com/