Una Raghavan
VP of Total Rewards
Securitas
Episode 380
Holistic Total Rewards: The Strategic Advantage for Business Growth
Current chapter: Covering monthly expenses is the number one concern for employees in 2024
Built By PeopleDecember 6, 2024 · 9:13
Thesis
“A holistic approach to total rewards, deeply integrated with business understanding and employee well-being, is crucial for driving organizational growth and fostering a motivated, productive workforce.”
Show notes
Companies that don't know the business they're trying to serve risk mismanaging everything downstream: talent needs, HR strategy, and the benefits programs designed to support both. Una Raghavan, VP of Total Rewards at Securitas North America, spent 24 years as a consulting actuary at firms like PricewaterhouseCoopers and Willis Towers Watson before moving in-house—and the first lesson she transferred from consulting to corporate was this one: understand the business relationships first, or you'll get the strategy wrong.
Her work at Securitas centers on harmonizing benefits and compensation across a large, complex organization, where the traditional Total Rewards mandate has expanded. The six pillars she uses to frame employee wellness—physical, mental, financial, social, professional, and work-life balance—reflect a broader shift she's observing across the market: the increasing weight that work-life balance carries as a distinct element, no longer folded into mental health but recognized as its own strategic focus. Her framework for getting wellness right is empirical: survey employees, track utilization, gather exit and onboarding feedback, and close the gap between what employers think employees need and what employees actually say they do.
Her leadership philosophy is equally clear: she's a leader, not a boss. The distinction is whether your team chooses to collaborate with you or reluctantly complies because you told them to. Inspiration, she believes, is a function of cultural fit between leader and organization—and her parting advice for aspiring Total Rewards leaders is to find that fit before accepting the role.
- Business fluency as a Total Rewards prerequisite: why HR strategy misaligns when leaders don't understand the business context first
- The six-pillar wellness framework: physical, mental, financial, social, professional, and the increasingly critical work-life balance dimension
- Closing the perception gap: using surveys, utilization data, and lifecycle feedback to identify what employees actually need vs. what employers assume
- Balancing wellness ambition with budget reality: selecting programs with the highest ROI for your specific employee population
- Leadership vs. management: building teams that choose to collaborate rather than reluctantly comply
- Hiring for complementary expertise: why Total Rewards leaders need teams with diverse skill sets, not mirrors of themselves
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What you'll take away
- 1Deeply understanding the business and building strong relationships with business leaders is essential for shaping effective HR strategies and gaining change agents.
- 2A robust employee wellness strategy, incorporating physical, mental, financial, social, professional, and work-life balance pillars, yields increased retention, motivation, and productivity, alongside lower medical costs.
- 3To create an effective wellness strategy, companies must actively solicit employee needs through surveys, utilization rates, and feedback during various career stages (onboarding, promotions, exits).
- 4Leaders should inspire their teams to willingly collaborate rather than simply comply, fostering an environment where team members choose to work together.
- 5When building a team, prioritize hiring individuals with complementary skill sets to foster diversity of thought and compensate for individual expertise gaps.
What most organizations get wrong
In Una's words
“Without knowing the business, you really risk a mismanagement between your HR strategy, your talent needs, and your business enablement.”
Emphasizes the critical link between business acumen and effective HR strategy, highlighting risks of disconnect.
“The traditional pillars of wellbeing for employers have been physical, mental, financial, social, and professional. But what we're seeing is a shift and an increased focus on work-life balance as well.”
Highlights the evolving landscape of employee wellness to include work-life balance as a crucial, emerging pillar.
“It sends the message that, you know, leadership cares about their employees, and I believe in turn, employees will care about the business in that regard as well.”
Connects leadership's demonstrable care for employees directly to enhanced employee dedication and commitment to the business.
“there may be a disconnect between what our employees need and what our employers perceive the need to be... So it's important to get that right.”
Stresses the importance of accurately identifying employee needs versus employer assumptions for effective wellness strategies.
“I do see myself as a leader and not a boss. And I do feel like it's my responsibility to inspire my team so that they're choosing to work together rather than reluctantly complying because I told them to.”
Defines a leadership philosophy centered on inspiration and voluntary collaboration, distinguishing it from command-and-control methods.
“you can't be an expert in everything. So surrounding yourself with a team with broad knowledge is essential, but it also enables the diversity of thought as you collaborate and solve problems together.”
Advocates for strategic team building with diverse skill sets to foster comprehensive problem-solving and innovative thought.
The problems this episode addresses
- •Misalignment between HR strategy and business needs: Companies risk mismanaging HR strategy, talent needs, and business enablement if HR leaders don't deeply understand the business context and relationships.
- •Lack of employee buy-in during transformation: Leading a team without full support results in struggles, resistance, and obstacles, particularly when implementing significant organizational or HR-related changes.
- •Disconnect in perceived vs. actual employee wellness needs: Employers often misjudge what their employees truly need for wellness support, leading to the implementation of ineffective or underutilized programs.
- •Budget constraints for wellness initiatives: HR leaders face the challenge of balancing desired employee wellness strategies with limited financial resources, requiring careful selection of programs with the highest return on investment or value.
- •Lack of diverse expertise within teams: Individual leaders cannot be experts in all areas, making it challenging to comprehensively address complex problems and foster innovation without a team that offers broad, complementary knowledge and diverse perspectives.
In this episode
Covering monthly expenses is the number one concern for employees in 2024
Built by People
After 24 years as a consulting actuary, Una transitioned to corporate world
Built by People: Una
You've led a lot of HR transformation work in your career
What's been the key to HR Transformation?
I think employers have a huge opportunity to build an employee wellness strategy
The Wellbeing Strategy of Companies
What are some of the key learnings you've had along your wellness journey
What are some of the key learnings
One of the challenges I felt in leading a team is when you don't support
Challenges Leaders Face in Their Career
What advice would you share for someone seeking to become a total rewards leader
Total Rewards Leader: How to Inspire Employee Collaboration
Topics covered
Organizations and entities mentioned
Full transcript
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