Navigating Benefits with Katrina Thaler

Speaker A: Hello and welcome back to Career Compass, a podcast from shrm. I'm going to be your host today. Ali Sharp. Career Compass covers pertinent topics in HR that are relevant to students and emerging professionals. Each episode, we're joined by an industry expert to share their knowledge and advice with you. Today we welcome Katrina Thaler. Katrina is the manager of HR and business operations at Collier Aerospace, where she has built and developed the HR department of one alongside growing the business operations team responsible for the company's marketing, events, finance and analytics. A passionate advocate for creativity and innovation, Katrina is a TEDx speaker, delivering a strategic talk on choosing to be a creator in a world dominated by consumption. Katrina also serves as the college Relations Chair on the Peninsula SHRM Board of Directors to support emerging HR professionals with a focus on creativity, strategic leadership, and small business growth. Katrina is dedicated to making a meaningful impact. Welcome, Katrina, to Career Compass.

Speaker B: Thank you. I'm excited to be here.

Speaker A: So I know how you got your role, um, because we have, um, some history going back to seeing you. Um, so could you give the audience a little background on how you got into your role at Collier Aerospace?

Speaker B: Absolutely. Um, so I also earned my bachelor's degree from Christopher Newport University. And through that experience in my education, I changed my major multiple times, from accounting to finance to management. Had a lot of interest in business, types of different business areas, nonprofit management, career planning, counseling, and even teaching. So had a lot of interest there. Wasn't sure where to go with it. Um, but when I entered my management degree, I took my first HR course. And that was really where I saw all of those interests merged together. From being able to help employees and balancing business strategy, but also career progression for employees, and even learning and development, getting to teach employees. So. So from that, I kind of jumped into an independent study, that second semester where Ali and I both, um, did independent studies with a professor, and mine was on organizational values in different types of organizations and nonprofits. And so that really got me interested in different types of HR and leadership. And I also did a lot of informational interviews. So I learned what types of HR jobs were out there, what people did in their roles. Um, and that current semester, that second semester of senior year, one of my career counselors, who I was very connected with, she forwarded me the job from Collier Airspace, and I started interviewing with them. And it was for an office manager role, so it wasn't actually an HR role. Um, but I shared with them that I was interested in HR and was interested in learning about their department. Um, and they didn't have a formalized department. So we kind of shifted that conversation to instead talk about me, um, developing and leading that HR department of one, which also meant building a business team to separate that role out to an into a few roles.

Speaker A: That is so cool. And I did. I texted Dr. Hench and I was like, hey, just so you know, um, we're both gonna be on the podcast together and we're definitely gonna talk about you, so just want to give her a little shout out.

Speaker B: Hey, she's incredible.

Speaker A: And I also think that you might be one of the first people we've had on the podcast who's a department of one. And I am, um, honestly so impressed. Hard department of one. I know it's probably like on the smaller side in terms of companies, but still, to know every aspect, like you said, the engagement, the learning, development, all of those aspects of hr, building that up basically from the ground is really, really impressive. And I promise everyone listening, this is not going to be me just tooting Katrina's horn the whole time. We are going to learn about benefits. So as someone who has led open enrollment for three years, why, or about three years, why is it crucial for young professionals to understand and enroll in health insur early in their careers?

Speaker B: Yeah, so health insurance is something that truly will never go away. So the need for it is only going to get more intensive as we age. Um, and a lot of young professionals don't think they need to think about it because they don't have a lot of health needs or expenses at that time. Um, but it's only going to get more complicated because we're going to, you know, have more things come up later in life. Um, and so a lot of times it's a good time as a young professional to take the time to understand what it is, what these terms mean, how it works, even try out some plans. And it's a safe time where you can be able to do those and make decisions without these looming massive expenses that normally are on your family's plate. And, um, you also never know when an emergency healthcare issue could happen. So you never know what could happen when you're driving to work or on the way to an after work event. Uh, but also you never know when you might get kicked off of a parent's plan. So a lot of young professionals are on their parents plans until they turn 26. Um, but some, sometimes those parents can have job shifts and changes and then suddenly you're without insurance. So it's always easier to just have an awareness of it. When you can, when the time is more available to you, and then be ready to make those decisions when you really need it the most.

Speaker A: Yeah, I would say I was definitely kind of taken aback when I graduated and then got my first job because my mom was like, okay, we have to do your insurance. And I was like, wait, what? I thought I was going to be on your insurance. What the heck is going on? And apparently, like, it was policy within her specific company, um, that, like, if your dependent had access to insurance, like, they had to take it, basically. So I am like a rare breed of being under 26 and being. Having paid for my own health insurance. And let me tell you, this stuff is expensive. And I understand it's for kind of the luxury of just in case something happens. Like, I just went to the dentist the other day and they were like, yeah, so you need a root canal like in the next month. And I was like, oh, man, I had no idea. But luckily, our benefits cover like, 90% of the surgery, so, like, that's great. And, uh, did I have to look into our benefits to see that? I sure did, because I'm not very familiar with all of our benefits. I think in our. In our discussion leading up to this, I may have mentioned that, like, I'm super bad at benefits. Like, I cannot remember what a deductible is to save my life. Um, and I'm only one. Right. And I'm very grateful that we have an answer HR team, especially because as, uh, on day of recording, like, our open enrollment closes today. So. Okay, yeah, we just had, like, our benefits fair and everything, which I also highly recommend attending if your company does that, because you get to meet the people who provide. Well, I guess the sales people who provide your benefits, but they know more about what your coverage is actually going to look like. So how do you effectively communicate complex health insurance terms like we just mentioned and options to younger employees who may be unfamiliar with them?

Speaker B: Yeah, I think what's interesting about health insurance is I feel like the majority of the population is pretty unfamiliar with it. So even in my organization, we have mostly younger employees, but we also have a lot of older employees. Um, and all of them, it's beneficial to. To go over and review all of those. Um, I kind of always assume the baseline is that there's no knowledge people have because it's easier to just start there. Um, and then those that maybe do have some familiarity, it's just confirming what they already know as a refresh every year. Um, and then some of people who think they know what they know. It really confirms what they know. And then those who have no idea. We're kind of starting from the baseline of everything. And I've heard that a lot of my friends who are young professionals as well, and they're various organizations that sometimes their organizations will only just send the health insurance information and kind of ask them to make decisions or they'll present, but they don't really go through what the terms mean and what everything is actually saying. And so they'll just kind of mentally check out at that point and not really be engaged. And they'll either just waive it if they have coverage themselves, or they'll join a plan they don't really know a lot about because they just know they're never going to learn it. So I think it's important to really break it down for everybody. Um, and personally for what I, my approach is in my company is really teaching health insurance. And so I kind of do that in a few ways. Um, first is breaking down all those terms like you just mentioned. And we go through every single one of the terms and break down what they mean and compare it to real life. So even with a premium, we compare it to a Netflix subscription. You know, you're used to paying things even if you don't use it.

Speaker A: That is such a good example. Oh my gosh.

Speaker B: Yes.

Speaker A: Yeah.

Speaker B: And trying to find things that are more familiar. And then we also engage with some videos, so I try to bring in animations so that people can see other people talking. Um, some of the visual learners are able to understand that way. Um, I also implement a lot of visuals into it because I'm a visual learner and I feel like it's easier to understand even how tiers work with the portions that you pay than the portions that you pay with the insurance. And then when the insurance fully covers things, it's easier to kind of see it in a timeline, tiered progression. Um, and then we also go through best and worst case scenarios. So we kind of break the numbers down. If everything goes wrong in a year, how much will you pay for each plan? If everything goes great in a year, you never use your coverage, how much you you paying per plan? And then our health insurance plan also provides some scenarios of if you were to have a baby or have a fracture, um, or have diabetes, kind of what those costs look like on each plan. So those are kind of ways we make it a little bit more practical. But really breaking it down by teaching.

Speaker A: Yeah. And I also really appreciate that you implement like different learning styles and like, because I think that might be part of my problem is like I can listen to a presentation and I can talk to people and like I can read. But it's not the same as like having those kind of correlations or connections to like real life things. Um, like I said, I, I've been on my own insurance now for three years and I'm still kind of confused as to when like my out of pocket maximum happens and then there's like another, there's a backup I don't see. I just, I sound like a blubbering fool because I'm just like, wherever I'm going to the doctor, like, I just make sure it's a network and then I deal with it after the right like. And I was kind of one of like the worst, not necessarily worst case scenario people. But like I went to get my physical and then they were like, oh, I think you need to see like a specialist because I have a large like muscle in my cheek. And they were like, you need to get an mri, like da, da, da. Wow, I'm fine. And I knew I was fine because I had been checked out previously for the same problem back in high school and it's gotten worse. It's way more noticeable now. But I was like, I had to go the mri. Then I got hurt, um, at a conference. And I have now been going to the chiropractor every two weeks. So it's like, it's been a tough year on my benefits, honestly. Like, I would like to not use them so much. But I'm also very grateful that I do have the coverage as much as it can provide to me. Like, I made the choice to have a lower, I think it's lower premium, um, and have an HSA card, um, that my employer contributes to. So I can use my HSA card on those fees that aren't covered. So now I'm just, just getting on my soapbox. That's all I know.

Speaker B: Um, yeah, that's great though.

Speaker A: But from the perspective of hr, can you elaborate on how you guys guide and support employees through the benefits selection? You kind of just talked about that. Um, but particularly for those who are new to it. So like, if you're really starting from someone who is like just coming off of their parents insurance or this is their first time selecting, um, benefits.

Speaker B: So every organization does it a little bit differently. So I'm always interested how others do it. And some are more engaged and some are more, you know, hands on based on the capacity the HR departments Have how many people are in it, the roles specifically for my organization. I kind of make open enrollment my full time role for the month of November. Um, so I'm kind of available for employees during that time. Um, and I work with my team to kind of push off other priorities for that period. Um, but we do present those benefits, first of all to our employees. And we make our benefit presentation mandatory for all employees that are benefit eligible because most of them won't go otherwise if they'll just kind of think it's not important. But we really want them to know it is important and to value that, um, for all employees to be there. And we offer two different times to hopefully work with different schedules. And it's very interactive as we do it. And I kind of use those different teaching methods. And then after that presentation, we share a recording, we share documents, and then I'm pretty much available for the whole period of deciding for employees to reach out. Um, so I'll have a lot of employees that will send me kind of graphs that they make because I'm in the engineering and development world. So they'll put it all into their own equations and build these graphs to kind of find the max and min points of everything. And they'll have me check it out to make sure it all makes sense. I also have some employees that will want to hop on a zoom to just talk through what they're thinking they know and make sure it's all accurate. And sometimes there'll just be a few quick messages that people are confirming details. Um, but I really engage with employees a lot during that time. And I really emphasize, because we have so many younger employees in our open enrollment presentation, that it's important for them to know as a young professional, but also that I'm available there even if they forgot everything I talked about in that presentation, or even if they feel like everything they're asking is a dumb question. And I also work with our employees in other senses because we're a smaller company. And so I'm able to build relationships with them before this open enrollment presentation so they hopefully feel more comfortable reaching out to me for some of those questions.

Speaker A: Yeah, I would say that's definitely a benefit. I am not gonna lie. I don't really know who's on our benefits team. I know we call it total rewards, so they do other stuff, but I, I couldn't really name them. Um, but that's, that's what happens when you work at a company with like almost 500 people. Right.

Speaker B: And it's hard to reach out when you don't necessarily have a relationship with them.

Speaker A: Right. And I could say, like, it would definitely be nice if they had that, that established relationship. And like, I don't know, maybe you somehow got into talking about someone's about to get married. And so, like, right. The natural step for some people is to then have a kid. And so it's like, yeah, well, you gotta start thinking, like, how are your benefits going to change when you have another dependent? Are you going to switch to your partner's insurance? All that stuff? Um, so what are some common challenges that young professionals face during open enrollment and what strategies do you recommend for overcoming them?

Speaker B: I think, um, two of the biggest challenges are first understanding it. So as we kind of talked about, I feel like that's the biggest hurdle to get over is just the mindset of, I don't know what's going on. I'm so confused, you know, and it's only one time a year you're really looking at that stuff in depth. So it's not frequent enough to really be set in stone. Um, and so I think understanding the health insurance for yourself is first, most important. And that can be done through what your company provides. But also you can just Google videos about these terms and you. I had to teach myself a lot of these when I started at my company. And that's what I did is kind of just watching these videos because that's how I learned best and really making it understand for you. So, you know, you're learning even as a young professional and you can help your other friends out. I know all my friends go to me for all their questions. So, um, if you're the one that knows it, you can be an asset to your group of connections as well. Um, and I think the second hardest part that I talk about with my employees is really just understanding your level of risk and costs because it's such a unique time in your life where you might not have a lot of healthcare needs at that point, but you also have a lot of things that you could put money towards. You could put it towards savings accounts you already have on your own kind of bank accounts, but also student loans, retirement accounts, if they offer health savings accounts. So there's just all these floating, um, opportunity costs that you could choose instead. And so I think the hardest part is understanding how comfortable are you with risk. So if you're willing to take a little bit more risk for that high deductible plan, um, and especially if there's a health savings account like you had even mentioned that's offered. Um, that's a great asset if you are not expecting a ton of health expenses that year because that money can just build, um, and then be there for when you do have those expenses or if you know you have pre existing conditions and you just are more frequent to go to appointments throughout a year or you have a procedure coming up. Um, understanding that you may have to put some more costs towards that. But I think that's a lot of the challenges is understanding where those costs come into play. Um, and so my kind of advice for that, I guess would be to understand your current health needs. So take a mental check of where things are at. Um, if you're generally always kind of feeling okay, I think a lot of times it's great to take the risk. Especially if there's a health savings account. We're big health savings account advocates. In my company we have about 75% of our people who join a plan, join a health savings account. Um, and it's a great way to put money you would have put towards a premium that just kind of goes away on a higher, costly premium plan, um, and put it into savings account so it's there, it's not being wasted. It's kind of like the same like thinking if you buy a house instead of an apartment, like you're putting money in something that's growing at least. But then it's of course important to know what the deductible is because if it is something outrageous you don't have in your bank account, then of course if something happens, it's not going to be good. So I think that that's really important. And then every year you approach that again so you see if things are getting worse, if you have things you want to get checked out, if your family's growing. Um, but I think, yeah, checking that out and being able to kind of understand the savings cost benefit is probably one of the biggest challenges.

Speaker A: Yeah. And I would say, like literally this year, mind you, I've worked at SHRM three years in like two weeks. And I was like, wait, why are we doing open enrollment again? We just did this last year. I didn't even know that it was an annual because when I had started, our coverage starts like 30 days after you are employed. So that would have put me at January 1st of 2022. And so I didn't have to do it that year. And then I did it last year and I was like, okay, cool, we're good. And then they put up signs and I was like, wait, what? I have to keep changing. But I guess like, of course, like insurance premiums are going to change because of inflation and drug costs and you know, all of that other stuff. I don't know exactly what goes into it. That's why I'm in marketing. But it's, it was so funny to me. My friend was like, yeah, we literally do this every single year. And I was like, that is crazy. I had no idea. Just because of when I got hired at shrm. I was like, oh, this is just like a, ah, twice every two years type of thing. I don't know, I don't know why I thought last year we just did it. Cause we got new insurance and then

Speaker B: we did it and it's confusing.

Speaker A: Um, but luckily I did last year. I did go to the benefits fair and I did go to the presentation that they had.

Speaker B: Good.

Speaker A: I didn't do it this year because I didn't change anything and I was just like, like, hope, hope, that's good. But I, I will say I definitely like, I almost went to two of the presentations just to make sure that like, I really understood what I was getting myself into. Because to me it was never like an option of if I was gonna have it or not. It was what plan is best. Like, I still don't know what PPO means. I just, I just picked the, the right. The health insurance with the HSA card. Cause that is what I've been doing. And I will say that it is honestly a blessing that SHRM contributes every quarter because I don't have to put anything towards that and I'm still able to use coverage or get that to pay for, uh, expected expenses.

Speaker B: Yeah. Health savings accounts are amazing, especially if your company contributes a good amount.

Speaker A: Yeah. So what advice would you give to HR students who are preparing for a career focused on benefits and employee well being, especially in a younger workforce?

Speaker B: Yeah, I think for that type of career, I think it's really exciting because it's one of my favorite parts of my job because I again do kind of all the areas of hr, but open enrollment time is my favorite time of year because I love benefits and wellness. Um, and it's so impactful to get to help people understand what they already have or understand how to make their lives healthier or better. Um, I would encourage for people thinking of entering that to really try and stay up to date with the trends of what benefits are offered, what benefits mean. So most of the time you don't get taught in college what health insurance is, especially even if you are an HR major or have classes like that. Um, so taking that initiative to researching yourself, reading, you know, those SHRM articles on what are all those terms actually meaning, and then also understanding what different things exist. So an hsa, an hra, an fsa, these are all complicated acronyms that people don't normally know, especially when they enter an organization for the first time out of college. So any leg up that you can have by knowing any of that terminology, to ask those specific questions in an interview is a great advantage. Um, and also being able to talk to professionals about what they're actually doing for employee wellness, I think is really something that would step up, um, your competitive advantage as well. I know for me, informational interviews in college were just a great asset because I was able to just, just no strings attached, just learn from professionals what they did. Um, or even if you have the opportunity to do some research in college, to really understand. Because every organization, type and industry and size, they all have different ways of doing wellness based on what they need to do for their employees, what they have funds for, what they have people and staff for. Um, and there's just so many creative options to do that. So I think learning what's already out there, learning what people are doing, would really allow you to kind of enter that wealth. Um, I also think that benefit and wellness roles, a lot of them are not entry at first. And so if you can't find an entry role for that type of role, any type of HR assistant, HR associate, generalist role, I think would be a good starting point because you kind of get your hands on everything you can learn from that, and then you can go into more of a specialty role if you want to specialize in benefits or wellness.

Speaker A: Yeah. And I, it took me getting into marketing to realize that, like, we kind of have that same thing where you can be a marketing generalist and do everything, or you can be a specialist in like social media or email and stuff like that. And because that was one of the things, I've said this so many times on this podcast, like when I was getting ready to graduate, I did not know if I was going to go in marketing or hr, because I liked both. And it just so happens that I got into marketing for the HR association, so I was like, okay, kind of mixing the best of both worlds here. Um, but I do. This is kind of. It wasn't a question that I had told you, but I, and this can just be part of a conversation, but I want to say that it's also important that when you're approaching, like maybe signing a job offer letter or something like that, as you're going through the interview process, there might be benefits that don't count as insurance. Um, and I think that that's also really important to take into consideration. I didn't know at the time that I was going to be after my master's, um, working at charm. But then once I started, they were like, oh, we do like professional development and you can get reimbursed after you complete your semester, stuff like that. And now they have. I think they're trying to roll out like a student loan, like, payback kind of plan that's very similar. And I think that offers like that are kind of rare, but they are important to know about. I, um, know specifically for myself, I probably wouldn't have gone back to school if I had to front the whole cost by myself. I definitely appreciated having help from SHRM for, I think about a year of my program. It just so happened to be that way. It's based on a calendar, and I think that's standard for Virginia. Can't speak to other states, but I think that's pretty standard for our state. But I just think. And when it comes to having those conversations, because you're probably doing onboarding too as well, and talent acquisition. So how do you present all of the benefits when someone is about to join your team?

Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, I think that benefits, it's such a wide variety of things that can be inside of it. And I've seen other companies do this, which we've now adopted, but we break up our benefits in four different categories of benefits when we share it with our employees and new candidates. We start with financial benefits because that's the core, you know, you need to get paid well. And we start with what that looks like when you. With pay and with performance reviews, raises over time, that type of situation, and pto. And then we talk about, um, health benefits because that's kind of right behind it. And that's all of the health insurance, you know, disability policies, life insurance, all of those things that go into that. Um, and then we also talk about community and career wellbeing. So those are two areas that kind of extend into these other benefits that are not the primary need, but they are still very important. So community will be how we engage as a company. The different type of events we'll have together and different ways of engaging through newsletters that are internal and different, um, opportunities we have even to recognize employees. And then the career, uh, section is how we Talk about those career aspirations, professional memberships and joining, um, opportunities for traveling to grow their career and being able to contribute to their professional development and things like that. So we kind of break it up in those ways because all of those contribute to your overall wellness and they're all important, um, to be able to balance. And some have higher priority of course, but that's how we kind of frame our benefits to employees.

Speaker A: Yeah, that is very cool. Like I know we kind of do this a similar way because I can point out all of those different aspects in our benefits guide. But I do really like that setup. But we're going to end with this last question. So considering industries with younger workforces, how do you envision the future of employee benefits evolving and what changes do you anticipate will be the most impactful?

Speaker B: Yeah, I think one of the growing trends that we're seeing is organizations reacting to the amount of generations that will exist in a workplace. So we're going to have up to four or five different generations in a workplace and that is coming with our youngest generation really entering the workplace. Um, and even though in my organization a lot of our employees are younger, we still have many generations represented. And the challenge with that is that these days different generations we're seeing in trends have different things they're valuing and different priorities. And so it's then the employer's job to kind of figure out how can we balance all of these together. Um, and some of those older generations, they especially have valued pay, health related benefits, 401k contributions and stability. Whereas a lot of the youngest generations we're seeing entering the workforce are starting to really value their career progression. The company values, so what the company's saying that they value how they actually do that, um, even counseling options that exist within benefits is a growing trend. And then also just flexibility and work life balance. And so trying to balance those two things and that's the kind of extremes, there's still generations between those that have a mixture of them. But now I feel like it's that employees are caring more about their life wellness instead of um, just what their work jobs look like. And as employers, as companies, we have to be ready to kind of adapt and support those different needs. Because what once was people very loyal and um, employees loyal to their company brand and their actual organization, now employees are more loyal to their personal and professional growth goals. And so if an organization is supporting those professional goals, that's great, they're going to be loyal. But if an organization stops supporting their professional goals or Even their personal goals. If they aren't able to adapt to what their life needs, they're just going to move on to somewhere else. So I think that's kind of the challenge that I'm anticipating, just from what I see a lot of places. And I think how we kind of figure that out is by assessing and staying up to trends with what is happening in the industry and in the workplace, what trends are coming, so we're at least aware of them, but then also really understanding through surveys and feedback what specifically your organization is caring about the most so you can really understand what they want to prioritize and what they, uh, feel like they may have missing. And then being able to frame your benefits in a certain way to match both of those. So I know even for an HSA is a great example of how you can frame it in a different way that meets different needs. And so we always share how it can be used for those hospital bills, those big medical expenses and procedures that a lot of people later in life may have. But we also say that it can be used for, um, your daily vitamins or just for even counseling appointments that you already have. And so it's meeting those different ways of employees that have those values. Um, and I know that even under the Secure 2.0 act, for the 401k plans that's going to be coming up, student loan payments are going to soon be able to be considered a match for employer 401k plans. Um, so that's one of the new things that's coming up with those plans. Um, and so students who are paying their loans that what they're paying will be able to be counted as a match for some of those 401k plans. And so it's giving them that 401k plan, but still meeting them where they're at right now if they don't have the funds to contribute to that matching plan because they're trying to pay off their student loans. So it's neat to see how benefits are kind of how you can frame one benefit, but frame it in different ways so that different generations can value and benefit from it. It.

Speaker A: Yeah. That is awesome. And now I'm kind of like, dang, I wish I had student loans. Like, that would be nice. But I've also, like, my mom prepared me. She was like, you're gonna do the max contribution to your 401k to max out your employer's contribution. And now that I have worked three years, I'm like, wow, all of that money could have been getting me out of an apartment, but that's fine because it'll be there when I need it. Once, uh, I'm done working, which I do talk about frequently, that it's gonna be 40 years from now. I don't care where I am, it's gonna be 40, then I'm gonna be done. Um, but thank you seriously, so much for joining and reaching out. It was so nice to catch back up with you. And I know that this episode's gonna be really awesome for students and emerging professionals.

Speaker B: Of course. Yeah. Thank you for having me. This has been great.

Speaker A: That's gonna do it. For this episode of Career Compass, a reminder to our listeners that this podcast is Approved to provide 0.5 PDCs towards SHRM CP and SHRM SCP recertification. After listening, you may enter this activity ID into your SHRM Activity Portal 2.5Qkk2n. Please note this activity ID will expire on December 10, 2025. Before we say goodbye, I encourage everyone to follow Career Compass wherever you get your podcasts. If you enjoyed today's episode, please take a moment to leave a review and help others discover the show. And finally, you can find all of our our episodes on our website@, uh, shrm.org careercompass thank you for joining us today and we'll see you next season.