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Navigating benefits strategy is tough for any HR pro in today’s business environment.
As employee expectations about benefits become more diverse and niche, organizations must juggle providing a competitive total rewards package while managing challenges like rising costs. For Kate Phillips, Bank of America’s global head of benefits, one key part of her team’s multi-pronged approach to crafting offerings for the bank’s over 200,000 employees is simply through feedback.
“An important part of my job is making sure I’m staying connected to: What are our teammates’ needs? What do they want? How are those needs and priorities evolving for them?” Phillips told HR Brew.
For example, her team sources feedback via an enterprise-wide employee survey. They parse through the comments to gauge what workers’ needs or wants are, how priorities are changing, and incorporate that into their strategy planning. Last year, employees responded with more than 40,000 benefits-related comments on the survey.
One example of a successful offering coming from this approach is the firm’s sabbatical program, launched in 2023, which is eligible to employees after 15 years of service.
“We were listening to our teammates, looking for a way to recognize them,” Phillips said. “It’s been incredibly rewarding to hear and see the feedback from our teammates. I get letters, notes, emails all the time from teammates who go on sabbaticals, talking about what a really life-changing experience, for some of them, it has been to take time away really focused on whatever it is that they want to do.”
This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
What’s the best change you’ve made at a place you’ve worked?
In 2023, we launched our sabbatical program which has become one of our most popular benefits. The program provides four-to-six weeks away from work after 15 or more years of service. By the end of 2024, more than 21,000 employees had taken a sabbatical, including me! We expect an additional 14,000 teammates to take their sabbatical by the end of 2025.
What’s the biggest misconception people might have about your job?
People may think of HR as a department that’s siloed off from the rest of the organization, but our team can’t and doesn’t work that way. We’re embedded across the company with an ear to the ground and a seat at the table because being a great place to work isn’t just something we like to say, it is core to our business strategy.
What’s the most fulfilling aspect of your job?
The most fulfilling part of my job is the ability to speak daily with teammates about their experiences working here. I love being able to connect with them individually and understand what their needs are, while gathering feedback on programs that are working well. That is extremely rewarding.
One of the best parts of my job is receiving notes from people when they come back from a sabbatical telling me about the amazing things they were able to do with their time off. It ranges from “I went on the trip of a lifetime” to “I paved my driveway and reorganized my closets” or “I got to spend more time with my grandchildren.” It’s pretty special to lead a program that’s enabling wonderful experiences and creating lifelong memories for tens of thousands of people at the company.
What trend in HR are you most optimistic about? Why?
We’re at an interesting inflection point in the industry right now, but I think one trend that I’m excited about is more personalization for teammates. As consumers, we’re used to having incredibly personalized experiences. We’ve been trained to want things to look good, to feel good, to be easy to navigate—and our teammates want the same things from their benefits. Figuring out how we can personalize our offerings and adapt to what our teammates need is something I spend a lot of time thinking about. Another trend I would be remiss not to mention is AI and HR automation. Evaluating ways in which AI can enhance and support us as HR professionals— see a lot of opportunity here, and that is exciting.
What trend in HR are you least optimistic about? Why?
I wouldn’t say there’s any one thing right now that leaves me lacking a sense of optimism. In fact, I view a core part of my role as being intellectually curious and ensuring I understand what is happening in the marketplace. But like some things in life, there are times when trends or focus areas can feel like a phase—or everyone is just using the same buzzword.
I try to look at each phase or trend and find the opportunity to learn something and hopefully grow or be better. Whether that’s skills-based hiring, people analytics, holistic wellbeing, workplace flexibility, or AI, I am always optimistic about potential opportunities.
