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

1. 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.
2. Total rewards statements fail not because of their design, but because they land months before employees need the information they contain.
3. On-site workplace clinics create predictable costs for employers while eliminating the impossible choice some employees face between medication and groceries.
4. Benefits comprehension is built through repeated, plain-language conversations across the year, not through a single annual enrollment presentation.
5. Pay transparency is already happening whether employers lead it or not — employees are comparing salaries, and legislation is coming regardless.

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

Sponsor

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• (00:00) - Tia Larsen and the FJ Management portfolio