Harrison Newman

▶0:00IntroWelcome to the Built by People podcast, where we share the stories and insights of the world's top HR leaders. Join us as we dive deep into the minds of HR executives, uncovering their strategies, challenges, and triumphs in shaping today's workforce.

▶0:42HostI'm excited to welcome Harrison to the Built by People Podcast. Harrison, thank you so much for joining us today. And as a starting question, I always love to ask if you could share a little bit more about your career journey.

▶0:53GuestSure, thank you for having me, Dave. Like many in the benefits space, Specifically benefits consultant. My career journey was almost completely by mistake. I grew up never wanting to wear a suit and tie every day, and now I'm in the one career where we still wear suit and ties most days. Not as much ties anymore post-COVID. That's the one good thing COVID did was get rid of the ties, but still wearing that suit. I started off working in college for a technology company selling queue management systems to banks, and then the banking industry tanked and I talked myself out of a job. I kept telling my boss what I'm doing is a waste of time, I wanna do more. And at a certain point, he listened to me and says, you're right, it's a waste of time. We don't want you to do more. So here's your severance. Continue. I got my first insurance job on Craigslist back before Craigslist was creepy. Went from there, worked for Aflac for a couple of years, went to a small mom-and-pop benefits broker, and now 15+ years at my current shop, Corporate Synergies, doing mid-market benefits and love every day of it. So I guess you could say it was a good mistake.

▶1:57HostHarrison, can you talk to us about a career-defining moment that you've had throughout your career?

▶2:03GuestYeah, I think the biggest career-defining moment was when I started at Corporate Synergies. I was at a smaller benefits brokerage, doing really well, great culture, great company, but I was 5 years into my career and I realized I had hit my peak there. And in the benefits space, it's hard to leave because you can't take your business with you, so you almost have to start from scratch. So it was a decision of short-term gains versus long-term goals. I had pretty much hit the peak of where I could be, but I knew I had more in the tank. And do I want to take a short backstep or take 3 steps back now so I could accelerate into the future? And it was a tough decision, but 15+ years later, I'm very happy I did it.

▶2:47HostHarrison, can you tell us about a challenge that you faced in your career and how you overcame it?

▶2:52GuestI mean, I hate to repeat myself, but I almost think that that was a You know what, there was two major challenges, and I would say the two biggest challenges is the one I just spoke about. It was that first situation where I had to decide between accelerating my career and taking a step back and moving forward. And the first challenge I would say was when I lost my job, when I lost my technology job and had to figure out what my next career path was. And I think the key to both of those was being both intentional and flexible.. And I think the two of those are very important. I didn't take, when I was looking for my job, I was once again newly married, kid on the way, unemployed at this point, beginning of what was a recession at that time when the banking industry tanked and trying to figure out my next career path. You didn't, I didn't wanna take anything and put myself in a situation where I wouldn't succeed in the future, but at the same point, I had to be flexible. Like I said, I never wanted to wear a suit and tie. So in my mind, insurance wasn't something that was open to me, but at the same point, it sounded interesting and I met with some good people and I spoke to some people and I saw a future path there. So I think the challenges were there, but the way I overcame them was a mindset of being both intentional and making sure that I'm not just doing something for the sake of doing it, but there's a long-term path there, but also being flexible and open-minded in that same concept.

▶4:14HostWhat was your process like for deciding on the path that you wanted to take? You know, you, you said that, you know, you were, you got unemployed, you, you found where you are now, but any color you can provide on like a framework or an exercise that you went through to say, hey, this is the one.

▶4:32GuestSo it's, it's a very basic thing. It's, it's the crystal ball aspect. And we all wish we had a crystal ball and we could look 5 years into the future., but you can't. But at the same point, we almost have to. You have to use your imagination a little bit. The process I used was, was this something that A, I would be able to succeed in on the short term, but also continue doing long term? If I looked 15 years down the road, is this something I wanted to do? I look at a lot of jobs. Look, there, there are some amazing careers out there. There are some amazing things. I'm a huge sports fan. We were talking, Dave, about sports in the beginning. I love sports and I look at the sports career. For most of these athletes, it's a short career window. You have to be really, really good to succeed because you have a very short window of being at your peak. The same for any business world where you have to say, okay, fine, do I have a window? Where am I gonna be 10 years from now? What's my next plan? So it's being intentional in that aspect, but also looking like, all right, is this something I wanna do short-term but also long-term? There's a lot of really fun things I would love to do short-term, but I don't wanna be 5 years later in my career and be nowhere different than I am now and be in the exact same situation. So I think it's that balance of short-term gains versus long-term goals of managing those. I think that's a very long-winded answer to that question, but hopefully that I got my point across.

▶5:53HostThanks, Harrison. Curious to learn a little bit more about what you're doing now on the employee benefits side, and maybe you could elaborate a little bit on some of the trends that you're seeing as, you know, we head into open enrollment. Enrollment and look at 2026. What do you tell every HR leader when you're meeting with them and starting to plan for the year ahead?

▶6:13GuestSo I love employee benefits. I'm an employee benefits nerd at this point, which is crazy to think about considering where I started my career selling technology solutions. But I love employee benefits because it is as HR as HR gets. It's the, in my opinion, it's the one thing HR has complete control over to build a culture within the organization. People look at HR as checking the box. I offer this, I offer that, I'm checking the boxes on those things. We don't like looking at it. And what I tell my HR people is don't look at it checking the boxes. Look at it as a way to build a culture within your organization. We focus on the 3 nos. Know your people, know your data, and know your options. Understand who your people are, where are they located, what drives them, what generation are they. The, the values of a Gen Xer is very different than a baby boomer. What culture is your Employees, how do you communicate with them? How do they take in information? Make them feel valued. Understand what the data's telling you. What's driving your cost? What are we seeing inside of the plans from an informational standpoint? And then know your options. Once you understand the first two, understand what your options are. So what I'm telling people is have fun with your employee benefit plans. Don't just use them as checking the boxes. Use them as ways to make your employees feel valued, ways to attract and retain the top talent that's out there on the marketplace right now because they're looking to benefits. When I first started my career, you offered health insurance, you offered these 4 or 5 benefits. It was check the box. Fine. Now it's not. People are saying, what are the benefits talking to me? What are they saying to me as an individual? Do they cover the stuff that I need? Do they cover fertility treatments? Do they cover LGBTQ benefits? Do they cover lifestyle accounts? Whatever the values that you hold true are for you and you need, does the employee benefits cover those? And if they do, you are attracting and retaining the top talent and the top tier of talent in that space. So use your benefits as a way to attract talent.

▶8:07HostHarrison, we often think that benefits can provide a strategic differentiator as new employees come into the organization or employees think, hey, I do want to stick around this organization because what I'm getting from a compensation and benefits perspective is unique and has outsized value. Curious if you have any perspective on some emerging benefits that are compelling and that you would, you would share with a, a broader HR audience and say, hey, look into these things because these are, these are cutting edge, or, or maybe they're not cutting edge. They're just, you know, basic foundational things, but they're providing outsized value for HR teams in your line of work. What are your thoughts on that?

▶8:52GuestSo there's a lot out there. I'm gonna focus on two very different types of benefits. The first one is lifestyle accounts. So lifestyle accounts are accounts that you're setting up for employees to use for things that often aren't covered by insurance, things that are outside of the box. Once again, we spoke about fertility treatment beforehand. Fertility treatment to include in your benefit plan is unbelievably expensive, but you might wanna offer it because it's important to your employees and important to the culture. So you might give a lifestyle account that gives some money or a stipend or something something for them to use towards their treatment. Once again, you might not be able to afford to offer the full bang, but at least you're making them feel valued and heard. That's one aspect, those lifestyle accounts. The other on the flip side is something which is every conversation, the GLP-1 medications, all these Ozempics, the weight losses. It's one of the emerging trends in this space. And the question is, should we cover them or should we not cover them? I would say 90% of the conversations I'm having with clients is that debate of, Do we cover the GLP-1s or do we not? Because while they are working and having an impact, they're also unbelievably expensive and they're driving up the cost of your benefit plans. But what I'm seeing that I— that's very interesting, and as the insurance nerd, is this is the first time where a conversation about benefits is turning from a purely financial conversation to a cultural conversation. It's not just the ROI from a financial standpoint. It's the ROI from the culture standpoint. If we don't offer it, are we gonna lose employees? If we don't offer it, are employees gonna feel like we don't take their health and wellness seriously? And I, I just love the way the industry is changing in that regards. And it's a sign of HR having a true seat at the table. It's not just finance making these decisions, it's the HR teams making these decisions of it might not be cost-effective on the short term, but the ROI we're getting from employee satisfaction, mental health satisfaction and mental health strengthening without the organization and just a culture building within the organization outweighs whatever we're outpaying for the high cost of these drugs.

▶10:58HostHarrison, what's a legacy you hope to leave in this line of work?

▶11:01GuestI hope it's not for a very long time, but no, I hope the legacy is using benefits to build culture. And I know I've spoken about it a lot during this, but to me, a culture within an organization is the key. We spend more time at work than anywhere else in our lifetime. You want to have work be a place you want to go to, you enjoy going to. I spend more time with my quote unquote work family than my home family at some points during the week, specifically during busy seasons. So I think having a culture within work is so crucial. And as a benefits broker, I think I am at the point where I can help HR people achieve their goals in culture through their benefits. So, I hope my legacy is a benefits culture builder, or create that title of culture builder through benefits, that I leave on to future generations.

▶11:52HostHarrison, any parting advice you'd like to share with the broader HR community?

▶11:56GuestYeah, I think going back, be strategic, be intentional, but also be flexible. I think those are the key things out there. Strategy is important. Know your long-term goals, know your short-term goals, know how those manage. Be strategic, be intentional. Don't just do things for the sake of doing things. Everything you're doing should have a purpose, but also be flexible. Man plans, God laughs. We, we, we have a plan in mind. We have step A, B, C, but sometimes we gotta go straight to F because that's what that is. So I think from a benefit standpoint, from an HR standpoint, but just from any standpoint in life, being both strategic, intentional, but also flexible is the key to success.

▶12:38HostHarrison, thank you so much for joining us today on the Built by People podcast. It was a pleasure to have you involved.

▶12:43GuestThank you, Dave, for having me.