
Beyond the Paycheck · 2026-05-19 · 33 min
Key moments - from our scoring
Substance score
56 / 100
Five dimensions, 20 points each
Hollie Delaney draws from 25+ years in HR, including 14.5 years at Zappos, to articulate a philosophy of compensation grounded in fairness, equity, and understanding individual employee needs. She traces her approach back to witnessing a neighbor's financial vulnerability at age 9, which instilled a commitment to financial independence and informed her belief that pay should reflect the value and skills employees bring, not favoritism or market opacity. At Power Home Remodeling - a hybrid sales, installation, and technology company - Delaney challenges conventional wisdom about job prestige: their door-to-door sales roles, often stigmatized as low-status, actually offer 32-35 hour work weeks and ~$110,000 average annual compensation for performers. Rather than implementing one-size-fits-all benefits, she advocates for listening to day-to-day employee needs and building flexible, adaptable programs that address individual circumstances - whether that's weight loss support, diagnosis management, volunteer opportunities, or community. Her influence came directly from Tony Hsieh's Zappos philosophy: "do the right thing for people, and the business will follow." For B2B operators, Delaney's insight challenges the efficiency-obsessed mindset and reframes compensation strategy around quality of life and genuine support.
For employees who perform well in Power Home Remodeling's door-to-door sales position, average annual compensation is around $110,000, working 32-35 hours per week with flexible scheduling.
Tony Hsieh told her, "We hired you because you don't like it. That's why we wanted you," affirming that her critical perspective on HR rules and people-first questioning was valuable to Zappos' mission.
Employees should research market compensation, understand total hours required per week, consider long-term career growth and pay trajectory over 10 years, and assess whether the role aligns with their desired lifestyle and life goals.
Benefits and compensation should be fair, equitable, skills-based (not favoritism), flexible to individual needs rather than one-size-fits-all, and guided by the principle that doing the right thing for people first drives business success.
At age 9-10, she witnessed a neighbor's divorce leave a stay-at-home mother with no job skills or independence, which inspired her determination to always have the skills to support herself regardless of circumstances.
Our reviewer’s read on each dimension, with quotes from the episode.
The episode delivers moderate insight density with some valuable points about compensation strategy - particularly the door-to-door sales example ($110K average) and the distinction between hourly vs. salary compensation. However, much of the conversation devolves into personal biography and soft generalities about 'listening to employees' and 'doing the right thing' without actionable frameworks or concrete mechanisms. The AI section is especially thin, offering only platitudes about 'measured approach' and 'alignment with values' rather than specific implementation details.
our average compensation for our people that knock on doors is around $110,000 a year
I think it's really important that if I am setting up a compensation plan or a function where I am - I'm part of that group that's responsible of figuring that out, that it is based in fairness, and it's equitable
The episode relies heavily on well-worn frameworks (Maslow's hierarchy of needs, culture as a business driver, holistic wellbeing) and leans heavily on Zappos nostalgia without generating fresh thinking. The 'people over profits' framing is mainstream in 2024 CHRO discourse. The 30-day experiment suggestion (reimbursing fitness activities) is generic and widely practiced. Little here would surprise a experienced people operator.
once you make a certain amount of money, then it's just like you're... The Maslow's hierarchy of needs, that basic security level is met
if you do the right thing for people, the business will do the right things that it needs to do, because the people are the business
Hollie Delaney is a legitimate CHRO with 25+ years in HR and substantial tenure at both Zappos (14.5 years) and now Power Home Remodeling. She has operated at scale in diverse environments (sales, construction, tech). However, she is not a recognizable thought leader or operator known for public innovation in compensation design; her credibility is solid but not exceptional. She's a practitioner, but not a notable one in the broader industry conversation.
I've been in the world of the people space for over 25 years
Spent the majority of my HR career at Zappos.com, and then came here in 2020 to be the chief people officer here
The episode contains a few concrete data points (Power's door-to-door sales reps averaging $110K; 32-35 hours/week work schedule; adoption/surrogacy reimbursement and therapy benefit offerings) but lacks specificity on critical dimensions: no pay equity audit results, no retention metrics before/after interventions, no financial wellness program metrics, vague references to 'AI strategy' without concrete applications. The personal anecdotes are vivid but not business evidence.
our average compensation for our people that knock on doors is around $110,000 a year. And so it's, there's a lot of great things about it
You work about 32 to 35 hours a week
Kelsey asks thoughtful opening questions and does push back productively once ('I'm gonna push you on this question'), which surfaces the Zappos story. However, the host often accepts vague answers without drilling deeper - when Hollie says 'it's about listening to employees,' Kelsey doesn't ask *how* that happens operationally, or *what metrics* validate it. Follow-ups are warm but lack journalistic rigor. The interview reads more like a reflective conversation than an investigation.
I'm gonna push you on this question- Sure ... 'cause I love your answer, but it's interesting that you give this answer in a time where we're in a really qualitative or quantitatively focused world
What was your earliest memory of money
Computed from the transcript - who did the talking, and the words that came up most.
Summary Hollie Delaney, Chief People Officer at Power Home Remodeling, shares the financial independence lesson she absorbed at age 9, her 25-year career arc from Zappos to Power, and her framework for what total compensation really means. She breaks down where employees lose financial ground, why quality-of-life math matters more than salary alone, and how Power builds benefits that actually move people. Chapters 00:00 Introduction and Welcome 02:15 Hollie's Background: From Zappos to Power Home Remodeling 05:30 The Financial Independence Lesson Learned at Age 9 10:20 How a Personal Money Story Shapes Compensation Philosophy 14:00 Where Compensation and Benefits Break Down Most 19:30 The Quality-of-Life Math Most Offers Miss 23:45 Building Benefits by Listening to the Small Things 27:00 AI, Trends, and Staying Strategy-First 30:20 A 30-Day Financial Wellness Experiment Takeaways Most employees evaluate offers by salary alone - Hollie's framework adds hours required, career trajectory, and lifestyle delivered to the equation before any offer is accepted.
Transcribed and scored by The B2B Podcast Index.
riverside_hollie_& kelsey_beyond_the paycheck === Hi everyone, and welcome to Beyond the Paycheck, where we bring you candid conversations with CHROs and people leaders who are rethinking how compensation and benefits impact far 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. This podcast is presented by Aura Finance, a psychology-based financial wellness employee benefit that combines coaching and financial management.
Now, let's get started and jump in with our next guest. Kelsey Willock Jones: Welcome, Hollie Delaney, Chief People Officer at Power Home Remodeling. We're so excited to have you this morning. Thank you so much for joining us.
To kick us off, I'd love for you to share a little bit more about your role, where you're calling in from, and a little bit more about your background. Hollie Delaney: Sure. So I am the Chief People Officer here at Power Home Remodeling. I'm calling in from our headquarters just right outside of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in Chester, Pennsylvania.
And I've been in the world of the people space for over 25 years. Um, started as, started in a role in HR as just fell into it out of college, and just kind of stuck with me, and I grew in the role in many different ways. Spent the majority of my HR career at Zappos.com, and then came here in 2020 to be the chief people officer here.
Kelsey Willock Jones: Fabulous. And can you tell us a little bit more about Power Home Remodeling in general? What does the workforce look like? Hollie Delaney: Sure.
Um, we have a wide variety of different things. It's, it's a unique company because we are a sales company, so we do door-to-door sales as well as in-home sales. Uh, we sell products for the exterior of the home. Um, we then also do the installation, so once you purchase the product, you come and do the installation.
But outside of that, we are also a tech company. We build all of our own software, um, so we have a large technology team, and everything that powers the company itself is built by our technology team. So we're kind of a unique company where we're a sales organization, a construction organization, and a tech organization all at the same time. Kelsey Willock Jones: I already have so many questions about- ...
specifically the technology you're using in such a diverse workforce, especially in this, you know, age of AI. But before I get there- Yes I wanna back up and get to know you personally a little bit more better. Sure. So if you'll indulge me, I'd love for you to share your earliest memory of money.
Hollie Delaney: Sure. So interesting question. I remember back, I was about 9 or 10 years old, and I had... I lived down the street from this family, and I was best friends with this girl that was part of this family, and we stayed friends for a long time.
And when I was about 9 or 10, I remember the - their mom was a stay-at-home mom, had never had a job. Um, she had five kids, and her husband had decided to leave her, and she had no skills. She had never worked, and she had always just stayed home, take, took care of her children. And I remember she was so...
I just remember her being so worried and upset and not knowing what she was gonna do, and that really struck me at that age, Because I never wanted to be in a position where I was financially dependent on somebody else. I wanted to know that in my life I had the skills and I would be able to take care of myself regardless of the situation that happened, and I think that was the first time that money and, like, financial wellness really was brought into my world, and I didn't want to be...
I wanted to be a woman that was financially independent and that I could do what I needed to do in my life knowing that I had the skill set to make it happen. Kelsey Willock Jones: Thank you for sharing that, that story. And, you know, it certainly strikes a chord, I think, a lot about how oftentimes economic systems weren't necessarily built to support women- Right ... or other marginalized communities.
You know, it's only since the past 50 years that we've been able to really meaningfully participate in the economic system- Yeah thanks to the Equal Credit Opportunity Act. Situations like that are, are not rare, but to break through them and make sure that doesn't happen to you is, is such a valuable but it's a hard lesson to learn at such a young age. So- Hollie Delaney: Yeah ... Kelsey Willock Jones: um, thank you again for sharing that with me.
Sure. It's I think a really important lesson. How do you think it shaped how you see freedom, security, and even responsibility? Hollie Delaney: Yeah.
I think that, I think it shaped a lot of different things. It made me look at all of the things that I wanted in life differently. I wanted to find my partner, I wanted to be in love, I wanted to be married, I wanted to have a family, and I wanted to do it in a way that didn't stop me from being everything that I wanted to be, too. Yeah.
And I think that situation that I dealt, that I saw when I was younger put me in that mindset because I wanted to know that the person that I was with was somebody I was choosing every day, not somebody that I had to have because I was dependent on them for something else. I wanted to know that I could be the person that I am and work in the job that I wanted and to have all those things. So, it kinda shaped how I looked at everything a little bit differently and made me also think about myself, myself in each one of those processes, which I think a lot of times we don't do that.
We don't consider ourself when we are- Kelsey Willock Jones: Yeah ... Hollie Delaney: um, looking at where we wanna go and what we wanna do. We consider the environment and everybody else around us, but not really ourselves in that situation, and I think it made me start to think about myself also in that situation. Kelsey Willock Jones: As a, a personally identifying people pleaser, I can certainly resonate with it can be very challenging to center- Yeah ...
yourself, but it is also such a kind thing to do. Mm-hmm. It's not always a kind thing to do only to think about how a circumstance affects others, so. Hollie Delaney: Yeah.
Kelsey Willock Jones: What was your first job? Yeah. And do you recall what you spent your first paycheck on? Hollie Delaney: Yeah.
So first job, um, I remember I was training to be a lifeguard. That's what I wanted my first job to be, and but I had to go through all the training. And so while I was training to be a lifeguard, I got a job as, at a dental, at a dentist's office, and I was the break room receptionist for lunch. And then at the rest of the time, I sat in a back room, and it was back when X-rays weren't digital.
They were in this plastic holder. There was like 12 per holder, and so I had to punch out all the X-rays, so they could reuse the plastic holders. So that's what I did. I was lunchtime receptionist, and I punched out X-rays.
So that was my very first job. I was about 15, um, when I got that job. And I remember my dad made me save my paycheck for the school clothes that I were, was gonna have to buy for the next school year. So, um, so I had to save it.
I didn't get to spend it right away. Kelsey Willock Jones: Sounds like your parents deeply influenced your money story. Can you say a little bit more about that? What was, you know, the money conversations about money like in your household growing up?
Hollie Delaney: Sure. There was not a ton specifically about money, but there was a lot about responsibility. Hmm. Um, my parents at a very young age made sure that we had to express ourselves, express what we wanted, and make decisions.
So a lot of times when you're kids you don't get a say in anything. My parents always made sure we had a say in what we wanted to do, know, knew what we wanted to do, make decisions about what we wanted to do. My dad was an attorney and he would always make me make an argument for what I wanted. So I always had to, I always had to talk through and have an argument for what I wanted, and if I could argue it and it made sense and it was reasonable, then I'd get my way.
And if I couldn't, then I didn't get my way. And so a lot of it was all centered around responsibility, and money was one of those things that you just had to be responsible about. So having a job and having a work ethic and understanding how money fit in and played within your life, that was part of understanding the responsibility that you had as a person. Kelsey Willock Jones: How do you think your money story, whether it's that, early learning about how a divorce can impact the rest of your life, those conversations with your parents about money, your first job, has influenced how you think about pay and benefits?
Hollie Delaney: Yeah. Um, I think it's influenced it a lot. It's really important to me that if I am setting up a compensation plan or a function where I am - I'm part of that, that group that's responsible of figuring that out, that it is based in, is based in fairness, and it's, it's equitable. That it's not based in favoritism, that it's not based in who you know and those type of things, but it can be as equitable as possible.
That it's based on the skills that you bring into the workplace and the skills that provide, you provide the company and the value that you provide the company, and that the compensation reflects that, and that it's really about the value and the skill set that you bring, and that's it. Kelsey Willock Jones: So you bring up a really interesting point. Pay equity is such a huge topic right now, uh, and one in which I think experiences a lot of breakdowns. Not every company gets it right, and a lot are figuring out how to get it right with all the new regulatory changes happening.
Hollie Delaney: Mm-hmm. Kelsey Willock Jones: That said, where do you see compensation and benefits breaking down most often today? Is it pay equity? Is it something else?
Hollie Delaney: I really think - I think there's a lot of things that could break down, but I think what breaks down the most is people's understanding of their pay, of how their pay works, of how the market works, of how a job is compensated, and the due diligence around understanding those things. I think a lot of times we take jobs not, not necessarily understanding those things, and especially from a female perspective, not advocating for ourselves and knowing our worth in that process.
And I think it's really important that, like, when you are, when you're taking on a job, you understand what that job is in its entirety, and pay is a big part of that. You understand how, how it's paid in the market, and that should play into what you need in life and how you want to develop your career. And I think people don't do enough due diligence for themselves in those matters and advocate for themselves enough when thinking through that stuff. And you see it a lot of the times.
There's a lot of societal pressure about what jobs to take, what jobs are the good jobs and what jobs are the bad jobs. But nobody ever considers how much work do you actually have to put in every day to do that job? How much does that job actually pay? What is the long-term growth in that job?
What does your pay look like 10 years from now if you continue down the road in that career, and is that what you want in life? And does the pay that that bring you, is that going to give you You know, the lifestyle and what you want in life and the hours you have to put in and everything else, and really thinking through all those things. Yeah. I think Power has a job that is a really good example of this.
Uh, we, we do door-to-door marketing, so we have people that knock on doors. It's an entry-level job here at Power, and to society-wise, everybody looks at that job as a bad job. That's not a job that you should take. Um, but the job is, it has...
It's hard. It's hard like any job, but it has a lot of advantages. You work about 32 to 35 hours a week. You're outside with your friends, and if you do the job well, the way the pay plan is set up, if you perform, you av- our average compensation for our people that knock on doors is around $110,000 a year.
And so it's, there's a lot of great things about it. It's a great company. It comes with great benefits. It...
You make a decent living, and you don't have to spend all of your time at work. And I think people overlook some of that stuff because of what society tells us is good and what society tells us is bad, and I think people should take more time to really dig into what they want. Kelsey Willock Jones: Have you found ways to effectively Hollie Delaney: help people achieve that? I think the, what I've tried to do the most is set up, set up plans that, set up company cultures and compensation plans that really are about people and about the ~uh-oh.
Getting echoes, sorry. , ~little things that that people need, and then trying to set up the environment that they wanna be a part of and really consider what people want in life, and then being able to talk about it and help people understand with the different things. Different jobs bring different pay. So when you move from one job to another job, you're not gonna get paid the same because it's a different job.
It requires different skill sets. It requires different things. So helping to educate along the way as people do that to help them understand how this stuff works so they can make informed decisions when they're deciding what the things that they want in their future. I think companies need to do a better job at allowing people to be part of those decisions versus making decisions for people when it comes to these things.
Kelsey Willock Jones: I love that you bring that up because I think that so often when we think about pay equity, uh, or when we think about the communication of total rewards, it's typically, you know, what's the value of the benefits package, and what's the salary value that you're receiving? Most people look simply at the number in front of them. Mm-hmm. But I came from finance, a- and what I didn't realize is I worked three times the amount of hours than a lot of my colleagues coming out of college.
Sure. And sure, maybe I was paid on paper a little bit more, but I didn't think about it from an hourly perspective. And, and certainly working on a Saturday and Sunday weighs on you. Yeah.
It takes time away from your life. Hollie Delaney: Yeah. Kelsey Willock Jones: So I, I love this more holistic thinking about, compensation and benefits breakdown. It's, you know, what's the quality of life you're living with that role, and what are you getting out of it?
Hollie Delaney: Correct. Correct, because like dollars, it's not always just about the money. You know, there's, there's a lot of studies out there, you know, that have been around for a long time that talk about once you make a certain amount of money, then it's just like you're... The Maslow's hierarchy of needs, that basic security level is met, and then it doesn't mean as much anymore.
And then different things come into play, and I think it's important for people to think about it. I think we get caught up in the, "But I can make that much more, but I can make that much more." But what does that much more actually get you? Is it g- is it getting you what you actually want, or do you just get to say you make that much more?
Kelsey Willock Jones: Or perhaps it comes around with, uh, lifestyle creep. Yep. If I make more, therefore I need to spend more, and I need to keep up with the Joneses- Correct ... et cetera, Hollie Delaney: correct.
Kelsey Willock Jones: It's a really brilliant way to think about it. I'm really curious about, you know, examples of benefits or systems or programs that you've enacted transforming the lives of employees. What do those programs, new benefits or systems look like? Hollie Delaney: So it's, it's funny.
When, when you talk about this, when I look at this type of stuff, I try to do it in a way that is, is less about any one tool or system or anything like that, and more about what is, what are the little things that are affecting people in their day-to-day, and what is the strategy that the company wants to employ? And then figure out what are those different things that we can do to bring in to bring those things in. What are those different tools we can use, those different systems we can use, the different types of benefits we can use to bring in to help solidify those, that, that culture, those different strategies that we want to bring in?
It's hard. It's- Difficult because people are difficult. People are different. There's not a...
Everybody is always looking for a one-size-fits-all opportunity because that is easier. Um, but people aren't one-size-fits-all. Everybody needs something different. Everybody wants something different.
And so, like, to, what I have found to really do it and do it in a way that really works for people is you have to be really willing to do a lot of different things, and not one tool or one system or one thing is gonna work for all of that. You have to be adaptable and flexible, and you have to listen to the little things that employees want every day. And and a lot of times we focus on the big things. Like, here I have this big, shiny thing, and it's really cool, but it's not those big things that I think are actually transformative.
It's the little things. It's the day-to-day things that you can do for your employees that help them in individual ways. And if you, if you listen and you pay attention, and you be- and you're as flexible as you can be with this stuff, you can build programs, and you can build benefits. You can build structures that will actually allow you to do things that aren't just one-size-fits-all.
Kelsey Willock Jones: You know, when I ask this question, uh, and maybe this is me seeking that silver bullet- ... for the, for listeners, but I love your answer, which is there is no silver bullet. Hollie Delaney: There isn't Kelsey Willock Jones: one. Uh, certainly the answer that folks typically give might not also resonate with your particular workforce.
Uh-huh. But what is true across any workforce is that there might be commonalities, but everyone is different- Yeah ... within those, you know, subsets. I love that advice.
Yeah. When you think about, you know, having those kind of individual impacts for people, and it's not- Mm-hmm ... necessarily just introducing a new benefit or something like that, what's the impact you're looking to have? What matters to the organization?
Is it, you know, improving engagement? Is it improving, you know, people's perception of the company? Is it retention? Is it something else?
Hollie Delaney: I think it's all three of those things, but what really matters to me is that when people leave work, they're leaving work knowing that they're supported, knowing that they have a place that is more than just a job, that it is, it's not just about the company. It's about their lives, and it's about the things that they That they need and that they feel fulfilled and that they get that at work, um, whether that be money, whether that be a benefit, whether that be a feeling, whether that be you know, being part of a volunteer opportunity or being engaged in an event or, having the support to lose weight because they wanted to lose weight or, you know, having the right benefits and the support from the benefits teams to deal with a diagnosis that they received or, you know, just knowing that they have a community within the walls of the organization that they can count on when they're having a hard time.
It's all of that stuff to me. It's, it's knowing that you, you can make a good living, you have the support that you need, and you're with people that mean more to you than just a nine-to-five. And that is, like anything that, that I'm trying to create for any organization I work with that's really what I'm trying to do. I'm trying to make it more than just work because we spend so much time at work.
Um, so much of our life is spent working, and nobody wants to work at a place that sucks. And like, I don't want to be that place that people dread coming in on a Monday. I want to be the place that people have FOMO when they're not here. Kelsey Willock Jones: So I'm gonna push you on this question- Sure ...
'cause I love your answer, but it's interesting that you give this answer in a time where we're in a really qualitative or quantitatively focused world. You know, in the- Mm-hmm ... age of AI, i- it's hard to escape, how do we improve efficiencies? Yep.
You know, how do we boost NPS scores? It's almost this kind of rigid mentality. What do you think led you to have this perception, though? We want people to feel that the quality of their life improves when they come to work for us.
Sure. Why did that become something that was so important to you? Hollie Delaney: Well, so I think it started with me when I first started working in the HR space. I worked for some companies that didn't think this way.
Kelsey Willock Jones: Mm. Hollie Delaney: And I didn't study to be an HR person. That wasn't my, my world. I kind of fell into it.
And I always remember being the person who's like, "That's a dumb rule, and it doesn't fit with people. Why would y- why would we have that rule?" And I was always pushing on that. And I remember I came to a point where I was like, I don't want to work in this field.
This field is not for me." And so I remember applying for a bunch of jobs, and this is when I got the job at Zappos. And I applied for a bunch of jobs. It was the only thing I knew how to do up to this point, and I needed a paycheck, but I wanted to switch my career.
And so I s- I got this job at Zappos. I remember I really wanted this job. I didn't think I was gonna get it. Um, and they offered me the job, and so I remember coming in and starting working in HR and doing this stuff, and I remember Going to the CEO at the time, Tony Hsieh, and him telling me, uh, and, and me telling him, "I want to switch my career.
I don't want to do HR." And him telling me, "We hired you because you don't like it. That's why we wanted you, because you don't like it." And I spent, you know, 14 and a half years working for him, and it really shifted my perception of what a job, what a company could be for people.
And we really just focused on, like what is the right thing to do for people, not necessarily for the business and everything else, but what is the right thing to do for people? And if you do the right thing for people, the business will do the right things that it needs to do, because the people are the business. And it... that's really what we focused on.
And so when I found myself, at a point where it's like, okay, it's time for me to transition out of Zappos, I was like, "I don't know what I'm gonna do, because I think I'm kind of ruined for any other company because I don't fit in these other worlds." And I happened to get a headhunting call for this company that they didn't tell me anything about, and they said, "I just want you to talk to this guy," which I was like, "Okay, that's weird enough for me to do." So I, like, talked to him, and he was this really cool guy, and that was one of our CEOs here at Power.
His name's Asher. And he really cared about people, and he really cared about what, what was happening with his employees, and he really cared about their life and making their lives better. Not, it wasn't about, that was not... The conversation wasn't about how are you gonna make this more efficient?
How are you gonna make me more money? The conversation was about how are you gonna make this a better place for the people that work here? And it was one of those things where it's like, I can do that. I didn't think I would work at another big job.
I thought I would just work at like, you know, Costco checking receipts or at the grocery store checking groceries, because I didn't think that I was gonna be... I would find another place where I'd want to do the work. And then I found Power, and it wanted all the same things I did. And so that w- it was important to me to be able to come and do this job because I wanted to be able to continue that push that we started at Zappos.
Kelsey Willock Jones: I'm so happy that I pushed you on that because- I knew that there was something deeper to your original answer. So, um, thanks for sharing that with me. Sure. It's really cool to see how, you know, Power really lives its values.
Yeah. And how they attracted bringing you into the company, and, and how it pervades how you make decisions to continue supporting the people you hire. So kind of thinking about looking ahead, what compensation and benefits trends do you think are gonna shape the employee experience most over the next year? Hollie Delaney: Yeah.
This is an interesting question also for me, because I've been around long enough to see a lot of trends, and trends change a lot. And so I don't know if there's any one trend that's actually gonna change anything. I think it really comes down to, like how you use the different things that are out there right now and how you use it to, to basically enact the strategy that you have and what you want to see happen for your company. So I think AI is a perfect example of this.
Like, I think AI has the ability to change a lot of things. But I think it's how you use AI will depend on how your business changes. So if you have a strategy and you know what you wanna do, and you know how you wanna use this amazing tool that it is, um, then it will change your company for the better. But there's going to be another AI that happens down the road.
There's going to be another trend, and every time one of these trends... Culture used to be a trend. It used to be a thing that nobody - culture of a company when I started at Zappos, it was, like, the thing that nobody believed in, and you didn't do it and blah, blah, blah. And it's like things change, and then becomes the next thing and the next thing, and it really, it really depends on your strategy and how you bring that stuff into your organization to, to accomplish the goals that you want in the organization.
And if all of these trends and all of these tools that are out there, if you use them in the right way to do that, then they'll be super, super beneficial, and they will help you move the needle like you don't understand. But if you don't have a strategy, they're really gonna be meaningless. Kelsey Willock Jones: Yeah, no, I think that You hit the nail on the head in terms of if you don't have a strategy, they're meaningless. As so many people are figuring out what is that strategy right now- Mm-hmm ...
this moment of madness. Hollie Delaney: Yep. I'm Kelsey Willock Jones: curious, how does Power think about the strategy of leveraging AI, if you're willing to share? Hollie Delaney: Yeah, absolutely.
Like, so for, so for some of the stuff we're doing right now, it's about how do we provide a better experience both for our customers, for our candidates, for our employees, and how do we leverage the ability of AI to improve that experience for- Mm-hmm all of the people that we interact with? Um, so how do we get to candidates faster, and how do we get the information and help them share the information in more complete ways so we can make better decisions to bring them into the organization?
I think AI h- has so m- so much potential for us to be able to do that and to speed up that process without... And if we do it right, we can do that without losing the things that we value most about that person-person interaction. And so that's really what we're looking at right now. We're not, we're not fast-tracking AI, and we're not slow-tracking AI.
We are looking at it in a measured way to make sure that it, we can use it, it runs with our values, and that helps people in all of the different aspects that we have to make things better for them. Kelsey Willock Jones: Which is in complete alignment with what you said is important from a values perspective, which is how do we support people in their total lives so they can- Yeah ... show up more effectively at work. So clearly that strategy had so much intention to be in alignment with those values.
Hollie Delaney: Yep. Kelsey Willock Jones: How important is wellbeing and financial wellbeing to the company? Hollie Delaney: Extremely important. Um, I think wellbeing in general, and it's what...
Like, when you say wellbeing, there, that can mean a lot of different things to a lot of different people. Mm-hmm. To me, it's very holistic. When we talk about wellbeing here, we talk about everything.
We talk about financially, do you have what you need to live the life that you want to live? To live that balanced life. Do, are you, is that basic level on Maslow's hierarchy pyramid, is that basic level met, that's one piece of it. The other piece is are you, do you have all of the benefits that you need to, you know, get all the healthcare that you need, to, do...
We have a therapy benefit we just put in place last year because- Benefits plans aren't, don't really work in the therapy world. And so a lot of people have to pay for therapy outside of their regular benefits and everything else, and we think it's really important that if you want therapy, you should be able to get it. So we started a, a separate benefit for our employees to be able to get therapy if that's what they wanna do, without the hurdles and without all of the things that you have to do with a regular benefits plan.
Family planning, being able to have the family that you want, for any family, any type of family, whatever your family looks like, to be able to support that. So we have, you know, our regular benefits plans. We have adoption and surrogacy reimbursement plans. We have childcare subsidy plans that we give to our employees just so we can, you know, provide a bunch of different things to help people, be able to get to all those things in life that they want.
Because wellness is a whole thing. It's not about one thing, and it's a whole bunch of different things for each individual. And so we're continuing to build these things out, but it's really important to me that we have a variety of things that meet people where they are so that they know that they're supported and that they know that they can achieve all the things that they want. You can come in here and you can...
we will train you in everything, and you, we, you, we have a proven record of how this stuff works, and you can move throughout the business, and you can make a very, very good living doing the jobs here in a lot of different ways. And you can be supported in different ways from the benefits and have the training to move in all directions. And we have, like I said, we're kind of a three-pronged business, so you have different things that you can move into. We have training in all aspects of those business, so you can, you can carve your path, and you can know that you'll be paid fairly, that you will have the benefits that you need, and that you have a company that cares about your life.
Kelsey Willock Jones: And last question for you. What's a 30-day experiment that our listeners could try to boost financial wellbeing or wellbeing in general at their companies? Hollie Delaney: 30-day, ooh, that's a good one. Experiment.
Experiment. I love experiments. This is, this is how you do things. And, and you see what works, and then you, you shift it from there.
I would say anything you do let's just say you can take a, Let's say you wanna get p- employees moving. Um, so you can do something where you say, "Okay, we're going to reimburse any fees for any 5K, 10K, a run, a walk, a charity walk," whatever it is, a dance, yoga class, a laughter yoga class, a regular yoga class, whatever it is. You can pick one thing. And if you complete the, if you complete the task, then you get reimbursed for the money that you put into it.
And just see what that does. Maybe do it for 30 days for a group of employees and see if those employees are happier at the end of the day. It's important you do it in the right way, though, because it has to be... they have to put something up for it, too.
They get reimbursed for it, and it has to be something that's important to them. So you can't put too many barriers around it, 'cause if you put too many barriers around it, then you're not gonna get the result. Because the result comes back as does the em- does the company, does the employer care about me, me enough to care about what I care about? And so that's why there can't be any, too many parameters.
Kelsey Willock Jones: Re- reducing friction to make sure action happens is- Yeah ... such a brilliant strategy. Well, Hollie, thank you so much for joining us today. I've learned so, so much from you.
I feel like I could keep talking to you for far longer. So where can our listeners connect with you beyond this conversation? Hollie Delaney: Um, sure. I'm on LinkedIn.
Um, I'm also on Twitter. I think my handle is HollieD.~ I- it's not Twitter anymore though, is it? I, uh, that's how long ago when I, when I started doing it.
~ But yeah you know, just anytime, anybody can reach out. If you have questions, look me up on LinkedIn and shoot me a message, and I'd be happy to answer. Kelsey Willock Jones: Fabulous. Well, I hope you have a wonderful rest of your week, and thank you again for joining us.
Hollie Delaney: Okay. Thank you so much. Thank you for joining us on Beyond the Paycheck, presented by Aura Finance. If you enjoyed this conversation, be sure to follow Beyond the Paycheck wherever you get your podcasts.
Beyond the Paycheck is brought to you by Aura Finance, the personal finance platform helping employees build confidence, security, and freedom with their money. See how Aura Finance is redefining financial well-being at AuraFinance. I'm Kelsey Wheelock.
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