This episode features an interview with Kristen Jordan, Benefits and Wellness Manager at Chime. She is responsible for the development, implementation, and maintenance of various programs that enhance employee well-being and satisfaction. Kristen has a proven track record for designing and managing benefit plans, wellness initiatives, and vendor relationships that align with the company's vision and values. In this episode, Sasha sits down with Kristen to discuss the importance of benefits education, customized wellness programs, and the impact of a leave of absence management tool.
This episode features an interview with Kristen Jordan, Benefits and Wellness Manager at Chime. She is responsible for the development, implementation, and maintenance of various programs that enhance employee well-being and satisfaction. Kristen has a proven track record for designing and managing benefit plans, wellness initiatives, and vendor relationships that align with the company's vision and values.
In this episode, Sasha sits down with Kristen to discuss the importance of benefits education, customized wellness programs, and the impact of a leave of absence management tool.
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“When we think about wellness programs, you really do have to tailor them to your specific company. You can't just put a one-size-fits-all program in there because you may not see the results or the engagement that you're looking for when it comes to implementing a wellness program.” – Kristen Jordan
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Episode Timestamps:
*(01:21): Kristen’s career journey
*(04:29): Wellness and benefits at Chime
*(14:16): How Chime supports employees
*(18:21): How Chime builds each year’s benefits plan
*(24:09): Ensuring a great member experience
*(33:00): Kristen’s advice for those new to the industry
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Links:
Connect with Kristen on LinkedIn
Connect with Sasha on LinkedIn
Learn more about Collective Health
Sasha Yamaguchi: Let's face it, healthcare is confusing and costs are continuing to rise. Employers are looking for ways to improve the health of their people and their bottom lines. The good news? Many leading companies are leveraging self funded health plans and innovative benefit solutions to do just that. Learn from some of the best minds in employee health.
Sasha Yamaguchi: Welcome to the Benefits Playbook, Strategies for Self Funded Health Plans. I'm your host, Sasha Yamaguchi. Commercial Leader at Collective Health. On today's episode, we are joined by Kristen Jordan, Benefits and Wellness Manager at Chime. She is responsible for the development, implementation, and maintenance of various programs that enhance employee well being and satisfaction.
Sasha Yamaguchi: Kristen has a proven track record for designing and managing benefit plans, wellness initiatives, and vendor relationships that align with the company's vision and values. Thank you so much for being with us today, Kristen.
Kristen Jordan: Thank you for having me. Hey, Sasha.
Sasha Yamaguchi: Hey, great to have you on the podcast for everyone listening.
Sasha Yamaguchi: Kristen and I have spent a good amount of time in person, and so I'm really excited to have her on the podcast, talk about her own personal passions, but also all the great work that she's doing at Chime. So really excited. So let's start, Kristen, of course, with you. Talk a little bit about your career journey and then, of course, leading to Chime, but give us a little bit of background on yourself.
Kristen Jordan: Yeah, so I went to school thinking that I was going to be a pharmacist and that changed really quickly and so my first role was an HR generalist role and so I kind of had no idea what I wanted to do and so in that I, even though it was a generalist role, my focus was on recruiting. And quickly learned that just was not the route for me.
Kristen Jordan: And so I made some plans to go back to school eventually and get my master's and also worked at the same time. And so that's when I found my love of benefits. And so my mentor is the one who actually introduced me to Chime. And so. I've been here coming up on four years. It'll be four years next year, but it's been a great journey.
Kristen Jordan: And I love all things health and wellness related. And I think that's why I love my job so much as well as my career. It makes things a little bit easier when you love what you do.
Sasha Yamaguchi: Well, that's great. And I think in our industry, talking to people who choose to get into benefits, love benefits is really great to hear.
Sasha Yamaguchi: So you've joined Chime. I think. A lot of individuals are seeing Chime all over the place, which is great. A lot of great programs you all are doing, but tell everyone what Chime does and then would love to get into some of the programs you all have built.
Kristen Jordan: Yeah. So to start off, we're not a bank, just to make that clear.
Kristen Jordan: We are a fintech company and just, we were founded on the, the premise of providing basic banking principles and services to those. Who may not know, you know, information around their finances. And so we really just make everyone else's lives easier by affording them their paycheck to three days prior to payday.
Kristen Jordan: And there's a few other benefits and programs that are available to, to folks who have Chime. One of their amazing features is their credit builder card, which I love. And I think it's just a really good tool for, um, not only us as seasoned But those who are, you know, just new to the financial world, there are so many components of finance that the everyday person just doesn't understand.
Kristen Jordan: And I think Chime does a great job. By providing those tools and resources to the world.
Sasha Yamaguchi: Oh, I love that. I've been thinking a lot about this because I have teenagers. I have three teenagers. Yeah. And even, you know, friends and adults, I think you don't know where to start or the financial education is so important.
Sasha Yamaguchi: So I think what you all are doing is really great. And just getting individuals up to speed on how to handle their finances and build their credit. That was a, that's a big one, right? People do not know how to do that to get started, so. Absolutely. Wonderful. Well, I would love to jump into, for your chimers, I believe you all call them chimers, for everyone listening, which I think is great.
Sasha Yamaguchi: Around the wellness and benefits, of course, that's a big part of what you do in your day to day. Talk to me first about what are you most passionate about when you are talking wellness and benefits? And that's a very broad question, but just starting there, what is that every day that you get excited talking about this, whether it's with employees or with other peers of yours in the industry?
Kristen Jordan: So I think one of the main reasons that I found a love for benefits is because no matter what industry you're in, what job you have, it's complex, right? The average person is not going to sit and talk to you about deductibles or coinsurance, you know what I mean? And so that is where I found my passion in being able to educate people to be better consumers of their healthcare.
Kristen Jordan: Healthcare in the United States is complex in itself, and so I want to make sure that I'm doing my job in educating people, even if it's information that you don't necessarily want to know, or are excited to learn about. It's just something that when the time comes, you know, if you need to use your healthcare, you have that, that base layer of understanding.
Kristen Jordan: Well, I remember Kristen or the benefits team talked about this in open enrollment, or I remember seeing something on our, our intranet that talked about this situation, let me reach out to the benefits team. And so that's really where my passion lies is just making sure that people understand what they're really getting themselves into.
Kristen Jordan: Especially, you know, if you're changing from a high adaptable health plan to a traditional PPO and vice versa, there's just so many different intricacies that I want to make sure that everyone understands.
Sasha Yamaguchi: That's great. It is so complex, so the more they understand and are educated, the better in how to navigate their programs and their plans that they have available to them.
Sasha Yamaguchi: Wellness in our industry has been very popular for many years. It still is. It is. And it's super important and it's kind of baseline wellness. Can you share some of the components at Chime that you have personally put in, but a little bit about the specific wellness program that you have available for employees?
Kristen Jordan: Yeah. So I think when people think about wellness programs in general, they're like, Oh, I have to go see my PCP. I have to get blood drawn and I have to share all this information with my employer. And so wanting to move kind of in a different direction, we implemented a wellness program that basically employees can, or chimers can earn rewards on their activity.
Kristen Jordan: So, one of those activity requirements is to go visit your primary care physician, but we're not tracking any personal information. It's just literally, checkmark, I've gone to see my PCP for the year, I've done what I needed to do from an annual check in basis, and then we're going to think about the rest of our benefits philosophy, so that's going to be physical, emotional, social, and financial well being.
Kristen Jordan: So, We made sure that the wellness program hits on all of those targets. So from a physical standpoint, we have quarterly challenges that are physical. So that may be a step challenge, or that may be tracking your water intake, you know, just small things to make sure that the physical part of health is at the top of mind.
Kristen Jordan: So it's not too complex, but from the emotional standpoint is have you checked in with your mental health therapist? We have a mental health benefit and provider that we offer, Our Chimers, and so, you know, have you taken that step to not only check in with your mental health provider for yourself, maybe you and your partner or your entire family?
Kristen Jordan: Another aspect is the social component of well being, so that may mean giving yourself an hour out of your week to go volunteer. at your dollar school or volunteer at a local charity that means something to you. And one of the good things is that we have volunteer time built in. So it's not like you're taking PTO or, you know, using company time.
Kristen Jordan: You're really using that time to, to give back in a good way. And then the other part is the financial well being, so that may mean meeting with a CPA to kind of go over your budget for the year, or if you have something big coming up, a wedding, you're planning to have a baby, or have a house, or buy a house, that may mean meeting with that financial planner to understand where you are in meeting that goal.
Kristen Jordan: And so I think when we think about wellness programs, you really do have to tailor them to your specific company, you know, you can't just. Kind of put a one size fits all program in there because you may not see the results or the engagement that you're looking for when it comes to implementing the wellness program.
Sasha Yamaguchi: That's great. I have a couple follow up questions. I'm curious your engagement, but before that, I think one thing and for the audience to hear this and I feel is so important is the social. And the financial aspect of it, because I feel like over the years, there's, of course, the wellness programs where you get your lab results, you see your provider, but I think social, really promoting social interaction, and then the financial is just such a great part of your program.
Kristen Jordan: But sure, for sure. Yeah. And I'll tell you this social component was really important to us because we implemented this just after COVID. And so we were still very much a heavy remote first organization. And I really wanted to help our managers find other ways to connect with our Chimers. So, you know, just giving quick tips, maybe you take your one on one, your weekly one on one on a walk to get out of your desk and get some fresh air.
Kristen Jordan: Maybe you take your kids with you, what have you, but just something to get people moving and thinking about working in a different capacity. You're still able to get things done, but again, maybe that just may mean taking that outside of your physical office.
Sasha Yamaguchi: I love that. And on that topic, something that you and I, when we saw each other last, was a topic we all spoke about as a group.
Sasha Yamaguchi: But I feel like what's important now is so many people are remote. And I think after COVID, the meetings, the calendars got packed, right? So I, it sounds like you're promoting that people get up, move around. You can still have a meeting, have a discussion, but I'm sure you all are working. And if you have any examples to share of just Yes, we need to have meetings, we need to get our work done, but we also don't want you sitting the entire day behind a video screen, for example.
Kristen Jordan: For sure. And you know, we can give these tips all day long and people have their different priorities and things of that nature. At the end of the day, it may not work for a team this week, but it may work for a team next week. And so one of the other features that I love about our wellness program is that you as a manager or any charmer really can go in and create your own custom challenges, right?
Kristen Jordan: So maybe you have a group of people who are interested in running a 5K or a 10K, or maybe you have a specific group who will all have Peloton. You have that flexibility to engage with other Chimers who are your own individual teams from a physical standpoint, or maybe that means you work with our team to potentially schedule a sound bath or a virtual yoga class.
Kristen Jordan: Like there's just so many different ways that we can get people out of their seats. I remember when I first joined Chime, it was literally a year after COVID. And we have five minute plank days. So you would literally have five minutes throughout your day and everyone would hop on Zoom. And you'd play for as long as you could.
Sasha Yamaguchi: Oh my gosh, no way.
Kristen Jordan: Yes, it was really cool. I'm like, okay, I just had a baby a year ago, so I'm still working on the core strength. So this might be, you know, a good option, but it was really nice to see people like get up and like, after the fact, it's like, wow, you can kind of see like a little bit of their stress, you know, leave their bodies.
Kristen Jordan: It's like, wow, I haven't gotten up from my desk today. I haven't walked to the mailbox today, but the five minute plank session. I did everything in order for me to finish my work day.
Sasha Yamaguchi: Wow. That is super cool. I'm going to have to try that with my team and see how they react. So I think what you're hitting on too could be, I feel like, is this a great way also for people that, so.
Sasha Yamaguchi: All of us in remote world or hybrid, we are working with individuals in different departments that we don't get to see, maybe ever in person, right? Do you feel like things like this, the programs, the challenges, the playing, is it allowing people to interact across the country with each other that may not every day either talk or not see each other in person often?
Kristen Jordan: Oh, yeah, absolutely. I mean, we all have different interests. I have two dogs. I have a daughter. And so being able to connect with other parents who, you know, are pet parents or have children is really nice and we do that, you know, over Slack or during the challenge and then when we do get an opportunity to see each other.
Kristen Jordan: It's like, we haven't missed a beat because we've been in connection via Slack or via a virtual event. Our workplace team does an amazing job with hosting virtual events. So, you know, again, I'm based in Atlanta. And so I get to see a lot of my co workers that are in the Bay Area on Zoom a lot of the times or at the virtual events.
Kristen Jordan: And so it's really nice that our company makes it a priority. To put our remote employees first when it comes to events.
Sasha Yamaguchi: That's great. No, that's wonderful to hear and I think it's a great way to connect people even if they're not all in one location. Are there any programs, are you doing anything different that stand out that you've been doing at Chime that you feel is definitely industry leading or something new that is working really well?
Sasha Yamaguchi: And I feel, I could be wrong, but when we saw each other last, you were doing some support, I think, for childcare, or at least considering it.
Kristen Jordan: I'd say that's probably one of the newest things that we've implemented. We have a tool that reimburses our chimers a certain amount on a quarterly basis for childcare or pet care.
Kristen Jordan: As well as elder care. And so our trimers are slowly but surely taking to it. It is a new benefit to them. And so, you know, when it comes to childcare, a lot of people already have their village, already have their babysitters. And so, but when it comes to backup care, it's often hard to find someone that you trust that you can call at the drop of a hat to say, Hey, I've got a Run to the office for this meeting for three hours, or the daycare is closed unexpectedly.
Kristen Jordan: And so we wanted to make sure that we were meeting our chimer's needs in that area. And so I'd say that's probably one of the newest things that we've implemented, which I think is not necessarily new throughout the industry, but it is something that people are working towards. I know a lot of people who have the space and capacity to are able to have daycare facilities on site for their employees.
Kristen Jordan: And so that would be really nice at some point, but yeah, we're doing what we can do to support our charters in that area.
Sasha Yamaguchi: Well, I think it's wonderful because I know, again, I have teenagers, they're older, but I thought about that as people were going back to the office, back to work after COVID and most recently, you know, two, three days in the office, whatever it may be.
Sasha Yamaguchi: Still trying to have like partial childcare or last minute and I think being able to offer that or just have it making it very easy for the chimers is probably something they really appreciate.
Kristen Jordan: For sure, and I mean, we have another caregiving tool as well. That also assists with finding schools. You know, I had my daughter during COVID and so I had no idea where to look for preschool at that point in time.
Kristen Jordan: And so as a benefit leader, we often forget what benefits we have access to or the benefits that we offer to our employees. And so I was able to use both of those benefits to help us search for schools, camps, just different activities for her. And so. I'll preface that saying by any other benefits leader out there, make sure you look at your portfolio so you can take advantage of the benefits too.
Sasha Yamaguchi: I think we're all like that. We talk it every day and then forget to check what we have available. But I think that's great. And as you're saying this, what's really cool, because I've been doing this 26 years, I think, in the industry, is how benefits, And HR has morphed into supporting employees in almost every aspect of health, wellness.
Sasha Yamaguchi: You know, their day to day, and so it's really neat to hear how much you all are making available to help your employees.
Kristen Jordan: For sure, for sure. And I think in this benefit space, we do have to expand our horizons, right? There's more to an employee than just healthcare. You know, there's so many different components that we want to make sure, from a health, a mental health standpoint at least, that our employees are able to show up to work at their best selves.
Kristen Jordan: And so, That's the work that I put in day in and day out to make sure that what we have makes sense for our population. From a utilization standpoint, from a cost standpoint, there's a few factors that go into those decisions. But at the end of the day, we want to make sure that our benefits portfolio can serve the employee and home.
Sasha Yamaguchi: Oh, that's great. I love that. So speaking of that, you're getting ready each year, right? You look at your programs. You know that you may want to either keep things as is, change things. How are you, what type of input are you getting from the chimers as you look at each year's plan? Do you do a survey, take into account what they're using or maybe not using as much, and then factor into what you're going to build out for the next year?
Kristen Jordan: Yeah. So it's really important for myself, as well as the rest of the organization, to understand what it is that you need. I tell people all the time when they meet with me, I can't help you unless you tell me. Exactly what you need. I may not be able to give you everything, but I want to do my best. And so, we just wrapped up our benefit survey a few months ago, and it was really nice to hear from our Chimers to say, Okay, this benefit's great, but, or I really enjoyed this benefit.
Kristen Jordan: Can we look at expanding in these ways? And so making sure that the questions on our survey were extremely targeted and focused, it's going to help us to make those decisions going into 2025. And we've started having some of those conversations about just what we're going to do in terms of enhancements or readjustments for benefits.
Kristen Jordan: I never like to say, you know, removing benefits or anything of that nature, but we just try to work with what we already have. for your time. And the other thing that's really important is the data to support that. We can have thousands of people tell us they want a specific benefit, but if there's just not enough industry data, if there's not enough company data to support that, that's something that we have to put in our back pocket and just kind of keep an eye out for.
Kristen Jordan: And I can tell you, we may get into it or not, but GLP-1 is a hot topic across our industry today. And so it's just something that we're continuously looking at for our specific health plan to make sure that, okay, if we have a percentage of trimers with this need, how, what are we doing to make sure that we're at least meeting the need or working towards meeting the need?
Kristen Jordan: And so that benefit survey, as well as data from our external vendors, our health man, really help us to decide what we're going to do in the following plan years.
Sasha Yamaguchi: I love that you hit on that because I think that's super important. I am curious on the GLP-1s, I feel like right now employers are Really in a point where they've got to figure something out.
Sasha Yamaguchi: One, it's being used all the time. The drugs are being used all the time. And so it's, do you open up access to let anybody utilize them or not? And then one topic that I hit on recently in a podcast on this was. Even if you open up access to the medication, there should be programs that also help from a wellness standpoint, whether it be obesity management.
Sasha Yamaguchi: So can you maybe add on a little bit to what you are seeing and as a benefits leader, kind of the challenge you're having with the GLP-1s?
Kristen Jordan: Yeah. I mean, for me, what I'm seeing and hearing from other columns in the industry is that they just don't have enough data to support. A decision of let's give weight loss medication to everyone.
Kristen Jordan: It's not as easy as just turning a switch on, you know, it's definitely something that from a financial standpoint, you have to review from a health standpoint, you have to review. And, you know, because it is such a hot topic, we want to make sure that the people who actually need the medication are able to access it.
Kristen Jordan: And so I agree with you. I just left a benefits conference here in Atlanta with the benefits peer group. And one of the companies there was strictly speaking about implementing a program. So, you know, if you are, if you meet a certain criteria, then you're eligible to go through the track. Because when you think about weight loss and obesity, It's really a mindset, and it's a lifestyle change, so we, I think, at some point, we would have that same sentiment to think about, well, do we implement a program for employees to take advantage of, but not just from a weight loss perspective, but also from a lifestyle perspective.
Kristen Jordan: And with that, as an organization, we also have to look at what we're putting, you know, in front of our chimers or in front of our employees, not just a single chime, but, you know, what are we putting in front of our employees to support that? Um, and so that's really where I'm taking the conversation these days.
Kristen Jordan: And, you know, I'm hoping that we can find a solution for, not just for our organization, but for a lot of organizations, because we're all kind of in limbo, we have no idea, you know, what to do, what's the best decision to make.
Sasha Yamaguchi: Yeah, no, that's fascinating. And I think one thing you hit on, it's, you know, you don't know what to do.
Sasha Yamaguchi: And right now the claims are hitting, right? The drugs are being used. And of course, in, in some, if not most situations, the employee needs it. But as you were talking, I was thinking, if you have a ton of employees using it, but they don't make that lifestyle change, or they don't handle the mental aspect of it, then They're going to come off at some point and it's, it's going to be this cycle, right?
Sasha Yamaguchi: So it helps the employer plan and the members to have that full support to make sure it, the good part of it continues.
Kristen Jordan: Absolutely. I totally agree. Yeah.
Sasha Yamaguchi: It's definitely the hottest topic of I think every benefits leader coming up, so really it just, it exploded.
Kristen Jordan: I know, out of nowhere.
Sasha Yamaguchi: So what I would love to do is jump a little bit to member experience, something that I know is near and dear to both our hearts, and just making sure employees, as they access all the great programs, but then also need help, you know, making sure they have full support and a great member experience.
Sasha Yamaguchi: I would love to hear from you in general in our industry, what are you seeing that's working where you have employees say, I had a great experience, right? I want to call back and get more help because it worked well, but in general, anything around member experience that you're seeing is helping your population especially.
Kristen Jordan: For sure. Well, this is my shameless plug for collective health. We implemented collective health because I had this thought that, You know, Chime does amazing things in the world for our members externally, and I want to make sure that we're equally doing right by our, our first customers, which are internal ChimeRs.
Kristen Jordan: And so providing them with a one stop shop to understand their benefits in whole was really important to me and Collective Health was something that provided that. The mobile app experience is, is pretty simple. It's really not hard to figure out. Even the desktop version, just being able to go in and see all of my benefits, understanding.
Kristen Jordan: You know, what my maternity or paternity benefits are available to me, what my financial benefits are available to me. And then if I have questions about my health insurance, you know, is this specific care or service covered under the plan? Being able to chat or text with someone has been an amazing feature.
Kristen Jordan: I'll, I'll brag on myself. I had to use it back in February when I injured my Achilles and I. Pick up the phone and called Collective Health and I'm like, what do I need to do? Do I go to the hospital? You know, do I go to my general doctor? And they gave me an outline, the steps. They even checked in to say, you know, how was that experience for you?
Kristen Jordan: And so, member experience is Extremely, extremely important to me, just because from a customer service aspect, I started in customer service with recruiting, so, I've been on the other line where I'm not able to get what I need in that critical moment, or I've been in that position where it's just not available for me, even after I've done my own research, right?
Kristen Jordan: And so member experience, customer experience is invaluable, and that is part of the reason why we put out our, this is our second benefit survey. But again, I typically don't find out things until there is a fire, right? Yeah. That was another way of just kind of putting our team out there to say, Hey, the benefits team is here to support you.
Kristen Jordan: If you ever have a run in or a bad experience with any of the benefits that you offer, from health insurance to financial wellbeing, whatever the case may be, we're here to support you. And so I'm hoping that that has fostered that within our community so far, but member experiences is top notch.
Sasha Yamaguchi: Well, that's great.
Sasha Yamaguchi: And, and thank you for sharing your experience with Collective. I think what you were talking about earlier and what's great about what Chime does for their employees is having that one place because it's not just about getting help, but I assume all the things we talked about early on about program engagement, right?
Sasha Yamaguchi: And making it easy to know what's out there sounds like is very helpful for your employees, which is great.
Kristen Jordan: Absolutely. And it also helps us in turn make additional decisions. You know, if we're hearing. You know, 95 percent negative comments around a benefit, I'm ready to dig in. What can we do to provide that vendor with an opportunity to redeem themselves?
Kristen Jordan: Or is it just time for us to part ways? And I don't like saying goodbye, but I'm not afraid to. So if we need to, you know what I mean? I'm going to make it work because I want to make sure that what I'm putting on this silver clatter of benefits. Makes sense. And if, if everyone has a negative sentiment about a benefit.
Kristen Jordan: Then ultimately no one else is going to use it.
Sasha Yamaguchi: Yeah, I agree. And I feel like that brings me to my next question. One thing that's also very prevalent is Point Solutions or Program Partners. We all have different names for it, but can you share a little bit about what Chime has put in some of the programs?
Sasha Yamaguchi: Because there are these great organizations that provide these supplemental, you know, whether it's access or benefits, but would love to hear and have everyone hear some of those programs that you've put in place.
Kristen Jordan: Yeah. So again, I joined Chime just under four years and we were managing our leave of absence in house.
Kristen Jordan: And at the time, Our LOA rate was not, you know, severely high or anything like that. And I think that has everything to do with us being home from COVID, but there was a point where that rate kept increasing. And so it made sense for us to bring in a leave of absence management tool, and we've had it in place for three years now.
Kristen Jordan: And it literally changed our lives. If I, that would be my recommendation for anyone who has a high rate of people going on, on leave. Whether it's medical, maternity, paternity, what have you, really take a look at how much your team is putting into managing a leave of absence, because it's not just going into workday and putting someone on a leave, but you have different state benefits that they may qualify for.
Kristen Jordan: You have different compliance certifications that you have to share with them from a legal standpoint. And you want to make sure that all of that's done in a timely manner from the time that they reach out to the time that they go out on leave, even to the time that they return coming back from leave, that has saved us a tremendous amount of time.
Kristen Jordan: We have our own complexities, but you know, just from a management standpoint, the leave of absence tool hasn't really been. A game changer in saving Martinetoxin. That's great.
Sasha Yamaguchi: So for anyone listening that might consider this, how does it work? I mean, this program, this vendor you've partnered with, does that take every, pretty much everything off your team's plate and they handle everything to do with that employee's leave of absence?
Sasha Yamaguchi: And do you just trigger to them that this person has put in a request?
Kristen Jordan: So one of the things I like about the vendor is that we have the option to be hands on or completely hands off. And so being a part of the people team, I didn't feel like it would give a great experience not to give a proper introduction to the vendor.
Kristen Jordan: So what our process is, they'll reach out to the benefits team, myself, or one other member of the benefits team will set up a time with you and kind of give you the rundown of our leave policy and programs. And from there, we make an email introduction to our vendor. They schedule time to meet with them and give them.
Kristen Jordan: All of their medical certifications that they may have because we don't collect those in house. And from there, they're working with that specialist to ensure that they have all of the documentation they need to support state benefits. They're supplying that on their own to assist with any disability benefits.
Kristen Jordan: They're even on the phone with the doctors if there's any questions or if there's any information that just is misaligned. And so from that standpoint, once they've met with the vendor, there's really nothing more that we need to do outside of payroll, which we can talk about payroll all day long, but we won't, I'm sure.
Kristen Jordan: Yes. So we do manage the payroll process a bit, but the good thing is that they started for us, so we're not starting from scratch and we're pretty much just confirming because the other complexity with Leads of Absences is that we're You don't know when you may receive your income from the state. You know, the disability may take a little bit of time.
Kristen Jordan: And so being able to kind of look into those things and say, okay, well, this person has eight more weeks until, you know, they have this pay coming in. What can we do to support them during that time? So we're not completely hands off just because we want to make sure that The chimer knows we're there for them throughout this process because you go out, again, you go out on leave for various reasons and some by choice, some not by choice.
Kristen Jordan: And so just being shifted off to a vendor doesn't really provide a good member experience again. And so that's how we operate our leave program right now.
Sasha Yamaguchi: I think that's great. And a couple of things you hit on one, I think having these options helps an HR team that may be lean or just. It helps take some of that off, but I love that you said a few times that you help get the employee to the vendor versus them just take over because then you ensure that good member experience that we talked about, but also have that vendor helping with all the intricacies day to day.
Kristen Jordan: For sure.
Sasha Yamaguchi: One final question I was going to ask is if anyone's listening, they have joined a company, they want to do some really great programs. And there are so many options out there and so many vendors. What advice would you give a new HR leader that's, where do I start? What would that advice you give to them be?
Kristen Jordan: I'll say that this is one of my longest standing recommendations is to literally connect with people on LinkedIn. I was at a point in my career where I wasn't sure what I wanted to do, where I wanted to land. And so what I did was I linked and stalked a few people and ended up making some really good connections that way, right?
Kristen Jordan: Because I'm having conversations with these individuals because I see the potential or I see the career track that they are on. And it really got me to thinking, okay, well, I may consider, I may think about wanting to do this, or I'm thinking about doing that, but after you've had a conversation with an expert in that space, it really gives you a, one, a different level of motivation, I think, to You know, whether that's go back to school, get a certificate, or join a benefits peer group like I did, just to put yourself around other leaders in the space, that's also going to help you learn.
Kristen Jordan: I can remember a time where I was sitting in meetings and all of this HR terminology was coming out and I'm like, I don't know what anybody's talking about. And so, you know, I just, I put my, my own emotions and anxiety to the side. And I pulled that leader out of the meeting at a separate time to say, Hey, I'm really interested to make sure that I'm a part of that conversation the next time versus just an audience member.
Kristen Jordan: So is there an opportunity for us to work together, for you to mentor me, things of that nature? And so I know it's really uncomfortable to reach out to people that you don't know. I've been in that space and I've had people do it to me. And so I'm always open to answering questions or, you know, having a quick coffee chat just to kind of talk about my experience because other folks have done it for me.
Kristen Jordan: And so that's how, that's one way that I pay it forward. So don't be afraid to put yourself, yeah, don't be afraid to put yourself out there because I'm sure that there's not a person, you know, that in their career that would not love to have a conversation with you.
Sasha Yamaguchi: Wow. I love that advice. I love it. Yeah.
Sasha Yamaguchi: Don't be afraid to ask. Look out for others that are more than happy to help. I also, tell me if you agree, it doesn't have to be the same. It can be HR leadership and benefits, but the company doesn't have to be the same industry. You can learn from peers and others. As you and I have, when we're in person, right, it's many different industries that are getting together.
Sasha Yamaguchi: So, just reach out, even if it's not the same industry you're in.
Kristen Jordan: Totally agree. I mean, benefits, they're pretty much straightforward across the board. So, you can talk to someone in, you know, manufacturing. You can talk to someone in a tech organization. But at the end of the day, you know, the workloads may be different, of course, but the baseline of benefits as well as HR, it generally doesn't steer too far from the course.
Sasha Yamaguchi: I love that. Well, I'm sure anyone listening that's getting new in, they really appreciate that advice. And even if you're not getting into the industry new and you haven't reached out to new people to learn from, do it and share information. Absolutely. Totally agree. Well, on that note, share with everyone how to find you on LinkedIn, but also as if they're interested in what Chime is doing, where should they go for that information?
Kristen Jordan: Yeah, yeah. So you can visit our website, Chime. com, or you can reach out to me via LinkedIn. My name's Kristen Jordan. I don't have my middle initial in there anymore, but I have a nice, beautiful red background in my picture. So I know there's tons of Kristen Jordans out there. But you can find me on LinkedIn and I'd be happy to connect with anyone in this space.
Sasha Yamaguchi: Great. Thank you, Kristen. I'm so glad you were able to join me. And I know we've talked about doing this, so happy to have you on today. And I know everyone listening, brokers, employers, just anyone in the industry learned so much around all the great work you're doing at Chime. So thank you.
Kristen Jordan: Yes, thank you. And I really appreciate the opportunity. It was great.
Producer: This podcast is brought to you by Collective Health, a health benefits solution that guides employees toward healthier lives and companies toward healthier bottom lines. Check us out at collectivehealth.com