Designing Benefits People Actually Use: Starkey’s VP of Total Rewards on Global Mental Health, Onsite Care, and Financial Wellbeing

Summary

With healthcare costs rising and five generations in the workforce, how do you build benefits that are clear, equitable, and actually used?

Ryan J. Seman, VP of Total Rewards (Health & Wellbeing) at Starkey in Eden Prairie, MN, shares how his team pairs transparency with hands-on guidance so employees make smarter decisions in moments that matter.

With three decades of experience across healthcare, manufacturing, and Goodyear, Ryan explains Starkey’s pillars of social, mental, financial, and medical wellbeing—and why “every dollar matters” from the front desk to the C‑suite.

He details the company’s new global mental health program with Spring Health (and what real engagement should mean), how an onsite wellness center reduces avoidable ER visits, and why inviting spouses to financial sessions boosts outcomes.

Expect practical, repeatable ideas: cross-promoting care options when employees need them, helping early-career talent choose between HSA and 401(k), and using peer stories to break stigma and drive adoption.

Timestamps

[00:20] – Ryan’s path to Starkey and four-industry view of Total Rewards

[01:34] – Money memories: allowances, Lemonheads, and early lessons on value

[02:50] – First job, layaway in retail, and saving a first paycheck for a bike

[04:49] – “Every dollar matters”: affordability, flexibility, and coaching employees

[07:00] – Navigating healthcare costs: onsite wellness center, urgent care vs. ER, and timely education

[10:18] – Where benefits break down: clarity, early-career choices, HSA vs. 401(k), PPO vs. HDHP

[15:55] – Launching a global mental wellbeing solution with Spring Health and aiming for >15% true engagement

[22:38] – Tools that work: Spring Health; Beyond Medicare and the RAINN group’s Social Security/Medicare/“aging well” series

[20:34] – Trends ahead: transparency, equity, and giving employees permission to pause and use resources

Takeaways

- Redefine engagement beyond account creation; target meaningful use and peer-driven adoption.

- Equip employees to navigate care choices in the moment—promote onsite clinics, nurse lines, and urgent care to reduce ER overuse.

- Coach early-career talent on HSA (triple tax advantage) vs. 401(k) and maximize the employer match.

- Build a global mental health strategy with local language, local providers, and clear privacy assurances.

- Treat wellbeing as multidimensional—social, mental, financial, and medical—and invite spouses to key financial sessions.

- Normalize “set it and forget it”: automate contributions and nudge increases with each raise.

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/