Erin Ogunsanya
Benefits and Wellness Manager
Matterport
Episode 319
Why Your HR Strategy Needs Radical Adaptability for Global Well-being
Current chapter: Covering monthly expenses is the number one concern for employees in 2024
Built By PeopleFebruary 3, 2025 · 11:07
Thesis
“Successful HR and wellness initiatives must be authentic, data-driven, and highly adaptable to the evolving needs of a diverse, often global and hybrid, workforce, empowering individuals with flexibility and a culture of holistic well-being.”
Show notes
Erin Ogunsanya started her professional life as a hairstylist. She'll tell you directly that she shares that story because she hopes it encourages someone else who's standing at a non-traditional crossroads — proof that unconventional paths can lead to meaningful careers in HR, even at a global technology company.
As Head of Global Benefits and Wellness at Matterport, Erin manages programs for a distributed, often remote workforce where the conventional playbook for employee wellness — gym subsidies, office snacks, in-person events — simply doesn't apply. Her experience has produced a clear operating philosophy: effective wellness programs are not static. They require continuous feedback loops, willingness to adapt based on what employees actually report, and the discipline to retire initiatives that have stopped resonating. "Remote work, when managed effectively, can significantly increase employee productivity, reduce stress, and improve work-life integration" — but only when the programs supporting it are designed for how people actually work, not how they used to work.
She's also a pragmatist about global wellness strategy: treating a dispersed workforce as a single population produces programs that are mediocre for everyone. Each region has different healthcare systems, cultural norms around wellness, and generational expectations. Erin designs regional programs as distinct entities while maintaining coherent global principles — an approach that requires more work upfront but produces significantly better outcomes. Her broader message for HR professionals considering non-traditional career paths: data fluency and strategic thinking transfer across functions, and the fastest way to build influence is to make your value visible through metrics.
- Wellness programs designed for remote and hybrid reality — moving beyond in-person defaults to programs that work for distributed teams
- Continuous program adaptation — building feedback loops that allow wellness initiatives to evolve with employee needs
- Regional wellness strategy for global organizations — treating each geography as a distinct design challenge, not a localization exercise
- Data metrics as wellness program management tools — measuring what's working, retiring what isn't, advocating for investment with evidence
- Employee engagement in hybrid cultures — the specific practices that maintain connection and well-being across in-office and remote populations
- Non-traditional career paths in HR — how transferable skills and self-advocacy open doors that traditional credentials alone don't
Built by People is sponsored by Previ, the private pricing network that saves employees an average of $2,200/year on essentials like cell phone and auto insurance — free for companies to launch and maintain.
What you'll take away
- 1Remote work, when managed effectively, can significantly increase employee productivity, reduce stress, and improve work-life balance, leading to higher utilization of benefits.
- 2Effective wellness programs are not static; they must be continuously adapted based on community feedback, data, and changing demographics to remain relevant.
- 3For global organizations, a successful benefits and wellness strategy requires treating each region as a separate entity, tailoring offerings to distinct local needs and cultural contexts.
- 4Leveraging data and metrics is critical for HR professionals to drive strategic decisions, advocate for initiatives with leadership, and objectively assess program effectiveness.
- 5An unconventional career path into HR is achievable through self-advocacy and actively seeking opportunities to build practical skills, even if traditional entry points are inaccessible.
What most organizations get wrong
- •Erin sees an increase in benefit utilization as a positive outcome of remote work, indicating employees are better able to take care of their health, contrasting with potential corporate views of increased costs.
In Erin's words
“I've had a pretty unconventional background and journey into HR and hoping that sharing that encourages someone else to leap into HR if they were thinking about it.”
This quote highlights her unique entry into HR and her desire to inspire others to consider similar paths.
“we created Wellness at Matterport, which encourages our community to actively take care of their health in a holistic way, both physically, mentally, and financially. So I wanted to create a culture of wellbeing by offering programs that put employees' health in the forefront.”
This defines the core philosophy and comprehensive approach behind the wellness initiatives at Matterport.
“our utilization of benefits actually went way, way up, which I actually see as a positive. I know it's not always a positive for a lot of different companies, but our employees were able to fit in gym sessions, afternoon walks, yoga classes between meetings, you know, walking meetings, taking care of their health in ways they just weren't able to in the past.”
This illustrates a positive and perhaps counter-intuitive outcome of remote work: increased employee well-being and engagement with health benefits.
“Every year it's a different need and I think that's the most successful thing that anybody can do when putting wellness programs in place, uh, be adaptable. Not one year is the same.”
This emphasizes the critical need for flexibility and responsiveness in designing and implementing wellness initiatives.
“I generally treat each region as a separate entity. So my US community will have different needs and wants than my UK team.”
This highlights a key strategy for effective global HR: localization of benefits and wellness programs rather than a one-size-fits-all approach.
“HR, I think, is often thought of being primarily people-focused, but applying data and metrics truly does help get a lot of initiatives moving forward.”
This stresses the strategic importance of quantitative data and analytics in HR to gain leadership buy-in and demonstrate program value.
The problems this episode addresses
- •Employees' number one concern in 2024 is covering monthly expenses, indicating a need for financial wellness solutions beyond traditional benefits.
- •New graduates or career changers face significant difficulty breaking into HR roles without prior internship experience, often leading to roles like office management as a stepping stone.
- •Global companies struggle to offer universally relevant benefits and wellness programs, as regional needs, cultural contexts, and mental health priorities vary significantly (e.g., US/UK vs. Singapore).
- •Employee burnout and screen fatigue, especially during the pandemic, necessitate proactive wellness initiatives like mindful apps, no-meeting Fridays, and stress reduction programs.
- •HR initiatives often struggle to gain traction and leadership approval if they are not supported by compelling data and metrics, challenging the perception of HR as solely 'people-focused'.
In this episode
Covering monthly expenses is the number one concern for employees in 2024
Built by People
Dave has had a pretty unconventional background and journey into HR
Dispatches: My Unorthodox Journey into HR
Working remotely increases productivity, reduces stress levels, and improves work-life balance
How Remote Work Is Affecting Employee Wellbeing
Erin says it's important to be adaptable when putting wellness programs
Have WeWorks' Wellness Programs Been Adaptable?
Matterport is a global company with wellness initiatives tailored to each region
Matterport's Global Wellbeing Program
What metrics do you use to assess effectiveness of your wellness programs in hybrid work
What Metrics Do You Use to Evaluate Well-being Programs
Erin has some advice for aspiring entrepreneurs on Built My Podcast
Erin On The Built My Podcast
Topics covered
Organizations and entities mentioned
Full transcript
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