The Stretch – Exceeding Employee Expectations By Listening

The Stretch – Exceeding Employee Expectations By Listening
November 18, 2025 30 mins

The Stretch – Exceeding Employee Expectations By Listening

Season 2 Episode 10: Aon host, Kevin Fyock, sits down with Kate Phillips, Global Head of Benefits at Bank of America, to explore how listening to employee feedback shapes a modern total rewards strategy and culture of holistic wellbeing.

Key Takeaways
  1. How employee feedback can directly shape benefit design and total rewards strategies
  2. Why innovative time-away programs, such as sabbaticals, can drive engagement, retention, and wellbeing
  3. Practical ways to build a business case and measure ROI for new benefit offerings

Kevin Fyock:
Hello, and welcome to season two of The Stretch, a podcast brought to you by Aon that explores the latest breakthroughs and emerging ideas in workplace health and benefits. My name is Kevin Fyock and I lead innovation for Aon Health Solutions. In this cutting-edge podcast series, we discuss revolutionary approaches to employee well-being, we interview thought leaders, and we spotlight organizations that are setting new standards in employee benefits and health.

  • Read Transcript

    Kevin Fyock:
    On today's episode of The Stretch, we're going to talk about how innovative benefits contribute not to just a positive employee experience, but a positive organizational culture. We title today's episode Exceeding Employee Expectations by Listening because, well, listening is often the first step in contributing to change. Here to discuss how Bank of America delivers on expanding and evolving its employee expectations is Kate Phillips, Bank of America's global head of benefits.

    We're thrilled to have you here.

    Kate Phillips:
    Great. Thanks so much. Really pleased to be here, thank you for having me.

    Kevin Fyock:
    So, Kate, we've had a wide variety of guests on our show focusing on our discussion from a wide range of topics, but I have to admit, I've been extremely excited to have a major Fortune 20 organization to talk about benefits specifically, which is obviously near and dear to my heart. So with that, Kate, I would love you to introduce yourself, your position, and tell us a little bit about your background.

    Kate Phillips:
    Sure, yeah. Kate Phillips, as you said. I'm the head of global benefits for Bank of America. I've been with the company for about 17 years now, which is of course really hard to believe. I actually started my career many moons ago in our HR development program, which is a rotation program for graduate students. And here I am, 17 years later, leading benefits for the company.

    And over that tenure, I've really had a variety of different roles across the company. Most recently prior to this assignment was leading a team called Life Events Services, and then assumed this position about 2.5-years ago. All of my roles I would say have been incredibly rewarding, but what's really great about this role is I really get to deliver and think about the strategy, our integrated strategy of how we're going to deliver comprehensive benefits that really support our approach of physical, financial, and emotional wellness. We really take that holistic well-being strategy, and it's great that I get to come to work every day and think about how do we deliver on that commitment for our teammates.

    Kevin Fyock:
    That's awesome. And I think what a great intro to set the stage for the rest of the conversation. And maybe we can start off at the first question I'll ask you which I think does a really nice job hopefully speaking to what you mentioned about integrating the strategy across the benefit suite. So as we set the stage for today's conversation, I'd love, Kate, if you could, could you, as a benefits leader, talk to us about how employees are thinking today about the role of benefits as it relates to the bigger picture of total rewards?

    Kate Phillips:
    Yeah, for sure. I think that's a great question. Benefits are increasingly becoming I think an important and key component of the employee value proposition. And I think increasingly, being higher on that stack rank if you think about that total rewards pictures. I've seen some studies that put benefits as number two, maybe number three, maybe in some studies it's number one. But demonstrating that after compensation, benefits is probably the next most important priority that people are thinking about when they think about that total rewards package.

    And I think employees are coming to expect competitive benefits. And the best employers, in my opinion, are really rising to that challenge and are continuing to listen to what their teammates need, and then innovate their offerings or evolve to ensure that they're delivering what employees are coming to expect. And I think that's a really important part of my job, is making sure that I'm staying connected to our teammates, understanding what they need, what do they want, and then how are we enabling them to be their best selves. To get the benefits they need, to focus on their holistic wellness priorities. So that's a significant part of the work that my team does.

    But yeah, back to your question, I think having strong benefits is core to our strategy of being a great place to work, and is really part of how we not only bring and attract some of the best talent, but also retain that best talent over time.

    Kevin Fyock:
    Kate, that's great. And I will absolutely echo everything you said around compensation being number one, benefits being a very close second. And I think the other thing that's fascinating, and we don't have to go on a tangent here, but maybe I will anyway. You look by generational group, that varies too, as you chunk out benefits in what Gen Z, versus Gen X, versus Boomers. So I loved that you talked about the rank order and the stacking of compensation versus benefit because you're right, it's a huge attractor, it's a huge retention mechanism.

    Which I think leads me to the other question I wanted to ask you and something I've been so excited to dig into. I understand that, at Bank of America, you and your team have recently spearheaded a really interesting benefit in your sabbatical program. So maybe before we dive into the specifics of that offering, could you tell me a little bit about what led to you and your team implementing it?

    Kate Phillips:
    Yeah, for sure. And this actually ties into a couple of the points that I was saying in your prior question around staying connected to our teammates. We really have a culture of feedback at our company. So every year, probably like many other employers who may be listening into this podcast, we conduct an annual survey. We go out, we ask for feedback. I think in this most recent survey, we got over 35,000 comments back related to benefits.

    And a few years ago, we heard through that employee ESAT or feedback channel how much our teammates would really appreciate and were looking for more programs to support their emotional wellness, including more opportunities to take paid time off. So it was us going out, making sure we're staying connected, listening to their feedback. We listened to that feedback, used it to design and come up with a program that we felt like was delivering on what they were asking for. And in 2023, so just a few years ago, we launched our sabbatical program and it's certainly quickly become our most popular benefit program that we have out there for those that are eligible.

    So yeah, it really was about staying connected to our teammates, understanding what they were looking for, responding, doing something about it, taking action. And then that led us really to designing and implementing the program and rolling it out to all of our teammates.

    Kevin Fyock:
    That's great. And, Kate, I love too, that that's the best use case of you heard employee feedback and you listened to that feedback. Earlier in my career, Kate, I remember being in focus groups talking to clients where we would talk about annual surveys. And I think the fear that they had or that employees had that often times, they were performative in nature where feedback wasn't always taken seriously. So I have to say, kudos to you and your team to hear the feedback and then implement something that would really make a difference, and especially that you said is so universally loved.

    So maybe you can tell us a little bit about the sabbatical itself. Who's it for? What does it provide? And maybe dig into a little bit how does it satisfy your employee expectations that they raised in the first place?

    Kate Phillips:
    Yeah. No, all good questions and can get more into the nitty-gritty. So the program really provides four to six weeks away from work beginning at 15 or more years of service. So really begins on that 15-year milestone and then on milestones thereafter. And it is paid time away, so I do think that's one of the differentiation factors about our program is it is paid time away. And the time can be used for however you want. It could be used to go and volunteer, it could be used to take a trip of a lifetime, or simply to stay at home and rest and recharge.

    By the end of last year, we had already had over 20,000 employees had taken a sabbatical, including myself. So I had mentioned I've been here for 17 years, so I did get to take my sabbatical in 2023 and it was an amazing experience. And by the end of this year, we'll have had an additional 14,000 teammates take their sabbatical. So as I was saying, in terms of that popularity and percentage of eligibility participating in the program, this ranks amongst the top.

    And then in terms of how are we satisfying employee expectations, I would say it goes back to when we were listening to what teammates were looking for, it was really about that opportunity for our longer tenured teammates who wanted a chance to take a break, go get refreshed. They've worked with our company for a long time. They didn't want to leave our company, but they were also feeling like, "I need a break, I want to go take a pause, a little bit of time out to rest and recharge, and then I can come back and continue my career with the company." So we believe that it's really been able to satisfy that commitment and has really helped us stay connected to our teammates, and achieve that retention, engagement, and satisfaction components.

    Kevin Fyock:
    Ah, Kate, that's great. I was just talking to colleagues the other day about benefits that really drive the mark of being loved by members, loved by employees, and this is something I can absolutely see why somebody loves it so much.

    And going back to your comment about the stacking of compensation being one, benefits being a close second. If we were to chunk out benefits, time away, especially creative time away like sabbaticals, tends to rise towards the top as well. So I just love how your team has really drilled into what's going to keep someone engaged, what's going to keep them active at the organization.

    Kate Phillips:
    Yeah, totally agree.

    Kevin Fyock:
    So, Kate, continuing on the thread of the sabbatical, could you tell us a little bit about the benefit of offering something like this? And then as a fast follow, how are you measuring success of rolling something like this out?

    Kate Phillips:
    Yeah. No, absolutely. And I think it's important that we are able to demonstrate and show the business benefit of a program like this. We want to be able to show that we're making this incredible investment, but this investment is also going to have a return for us as a company. And I think for others that are listening, I think that's got to be an important part of your business case when you propose something like this.

    But certainly, it's a powerful tool for us from a recruitment standpoint. To be able to go out and talk about a sabbatical program that not many other competitors are able to bring to the table in the way that we do, we know that this is a real differentiator for us. So certainly, that would be one key component I would highlight. And then of course, it's also just an amazing way for us to foster retention, motivate teammates to have and build a longterm career with us. So it's really helped us to round out our offerings for some of our more tenured teammates.

    The program is still in its infancy, we're in year two here, but we're certainly monitoring things like engagement, retention, satisfaction, other factors. And we also are continuously gathering feedback and input from participants directly. When our teammates come back from their sabbatical, they fill out a survey, they tell us about their experience. And I will say, one of the best parts of my job is that I get to receive notes from people when they come back from a sabbatical and they tell me about all the amazing things that they have done with their time off. And it's really heartwarming, it's really great to hear from them.

    Just a few examples to bring it to life. I get some emails that talk about going and spending time with their grandchildren or traveling to see relatives that they haven't seen in many years. I got a note from somebody who literally stayed home, paved their driveway, and reorganized their closets, and said it was the best self-care that they'd ever had. And that's amazing. And then of course, you do get those emails from people who have traveled around the world, or conquered some amazing feat of athleticism, or something like that. Climbing a mountain, or going around the world, or doing an amazing trip. So I would say we get a range of feedback on what people do with their time, but it's pretty special to be able to lead a program that's enabling such amazing experiences and really creating these lifelong memories for tens of thousands of people at our company.

    Kevin Fyock:
    Sure. Well, what a gamut, Kate, of different experiences, from grandchildren to paving a driveway. I'm going to be honest, I wasn't expecting you to talk about someone paving their driveway.

    Kate Phillips:
    Maybe not on your Bingo card, but it was on somebody else's.

    Kevin Fyock:
    That's wonderful. And I loved how you talked about measuring success, too. I think that's often times the battle with so many benefit programs you can roll out. What is the quantifiable benefit? Because you talk about something like a sabbatical, I think you ask 10 people, 10 people are going to say, "What an amazing benefit." But proving that out I think, I imagine would be somewhat of a challenge. But between surveys, between some of the anecdotal information, clearly it's something that is working out really, really well.

    As we think about employers who are thinking about what their version of a sabbatical is, what is the wow benefit they think is going to really drive engagement within their benefits program. So the innovative thing that's almost going to differentiate them in the market, but support their organization, support their people going forward. What advice would you give to someone else in your position in another organization who is going down this path?

    Kate Phillips:
    Yeah, I think there's a couple of things. One I stated a little bit already, which is be prepared as you are going out and socializing a proposal, or an idea, or a concept, you've got to make sure you have that return on your investment or what's the so what. Why are we going to do this? What's the benefit? What are we going to get from it? I think that's really part of the story that you've got to tell if you're going to go out and make significant investment like we are doing with our sabbatical program.

    And then I would also say advice number two would be going from idea to execution is a long road and there is a ton of work that has to be done from taking idea and concept to actually operationalizing it and rolling it out. Especially if you're doing it at scale, like we do at Bank of America. Really do thoughtful analysis. Dig into how the program is going to work. Make sure you really do your homework. If you've seen other companies maybe do version of it or similar things, make sure you're talking to other companies, understanding lessons learned.

    That's one thing that I do a lot of times with my peers and things is we just say, "Have you done something like this? What's worked, what's not?" So I would say advice number two is make sure that you are really kicking the tires, doing really thoughtful analysis, and also capturing lessons learned, things that you should be thinking about. Because again, going from idea to execution, devils is going to be in the details, especially at scale.

    And to that end, another suggestion I would say is sometimes, and this is something we've done at our company on occasion when it makes sense, is consider testing or doing a pilot. You could do it within a market, you could do it in a particular business unit. That way, you can test and learn within your own population, really kick the tires on something before you roll it out. I think that's a great way that we've done some things where we've tested within a smaller market, learned, and then used those learnings to be able to scale.

    And then the last advice I would highlight is just around communication. Don't underestimate the importance of a really strong communication and engagement plan. I sometimes feel like I communicate constantly about things and I'm always surprised when someone said, "I didn't know we had that at Bank of America." So you've got to be out there constantly communicating, reminding teammates about the programs you have. So a really thoughtful rollout communication and engagement strategy I think is going to also be key to success.

    Kevin Fyock:
    Yeah, that's great. All great points of advice, irrespective of what program an employer's looking for.

    So, Kate, on all the guests that come on this show, I ask this crystal ball question. And I'm going to put a little bit of a different spin on for you. And it's simply what's next? What's the next frontier in Bank of America and staying innovative, like you've communicated here, and really exceeding employee expectations?

    Kate Phillips:
    Yeah. Listen, I think we are at a really interesting inflection point right now. I think the cost pressures that we're seeing in the broader healthcare benefits arena, with as well this increasing expectations from teammates and employees who are looking to get great and competitive benefits is really I think challenging all of us to rise to that set of expectations and really deliver for people.

    So I think one thing that we're thinking about here and that we're excited about is really that personalization trend for our teammates. I think as consumers, and all of us can probably attest to this, we're used to having really personalized, convenient, accessible, highly you-centered experiences. So we've wanted or we've been trained to want things to look good, to feel good, to be incredibly easy to navigate, to get our questions answered with the click of a mouse button, and our teammates are looking for similar things for their benefits. No longer do they want to go out and scroll through 100-page summary plan description or navigate through a 30-minute-long webinar to get their question answered on something that was found 15 minutes in. So I think we've got to be figuring out how do we meet those expectations, what people are asking for. How can we better personalize our offerings, adapt to what our teammates need? And that's something that we're really spending a lot of time thinking about for our teammates.

    Then of course, I would be remiss if I did not mention AI, and just the broader trend around automation and where that's going to take us. Certainly at our company and within the benefits space as well, we're really looking at opportunities to utilize AI to enhance and support the work that we do as HR professionals, and of course the experience that we're able to bring to our teammates. So there's a lot of opportunity here and we're really excited about what's to come.

    Kevin Fyock:
    You would have taken the words directly out of my mouth. The point of inflection, I totally agree. Cost pressures are, I haven't seen it for most of my career, trends as high as we've seen. You mentioned AI. I think in many ways, Kate, being within HR, being within benefits right now, it's certainly a difficult time period because of the cost pressures, but we also have in front of us, a set of emerging technologies and trends and a captivated employee group that learns and consumes like they never have before. So balancing that pressure with a really cool time to be in this field as well, so I'm excited to see what you all continue to do and excited to see what the next sabbatical is coming. Not just from Bank of America, but other peers of yours in the industry.

    Kate Phillips:
    Well, I look forward to coming back and sharing more.

    Kevin Fyock:
    Well, we look forward to too, Kate. To our listeners, thank you so much for tuning in. We hope you enjoyed Exceeding Employee Expectations by Listening. This is the 10th episode of season two of The Stretch, a podcast dedicated to the ideas that are revolutionizing the world of workplace health and benefits. If you've enjoyed this episode, we encourage you to check out previous episodes. And if you haven't already, subscribe to the podcast so you can get our latest updates. Thanks so much, and have a great day.

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