Friends with Benefits

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‘Friends with Benefits’ is the essential podcast for rewards and benefits leaders. Hosted by Carl Chapman and David Duckworth from Ben, each episode brings together top minds in benefits and HR to unpack the latest trends shaping the world of benefits. Think AI, employee engagement, ROI, and more. Expect real talk with industry innovators and bold ideas you’ll want to steal. If you’re building better benefits, this is the podcast your CPO wishes you’d listen to.

Episodes

  1. JAN 19

    The One With Claire from WPP: Why “Jazzy” Benefits Don’t Work If People Don’t Know the Basics

    Benefits teams are under pressure — rising medical costs, mental health claims, disengaged employees, and finance teams demanding proof. Claire Reading from WPP joins Carl and David to talk candidly about what’s really broken in benefits, why prevention is such a hard sell, and why nailing the basics still matters more than launching the next shiny thing. Claire Reading is a global benefits professional with 12+ years’ experience delivering strategic change across EMEA, APAC, and the US. She has led benefits harmonisation, policy design, and global programme rollouts, partnering closely with HR, business, and communications teams to enhance employee experience and deliver cost-effective, inclusive solutions. Along the way, Claire shares a clear perspective: while the industry chases “jazzy” benefits, many employees still don’t properly understand the fundamentals — and that gap comes with real risk. 00:00 — The Basics Are Being Left Behind 00:47 — Falling Into Benefits 02:29 — The Reality of In-House Benefits Roles 03:00 — Mental Health and Long-Term Sick Leave 04:28 — Why the Numbers Are Rising 05:18 — When Work and Life Blur 06:20 — NHS Pressure Drives Private Claims 08:14 — Benefits Don’t Land When People Are in Crisis 10:05 — Why Prevention Is So Hard to Sell 12:12 — How to Win Finance Over 16:48 — Intervention Is Easier Than Prevention 29:15 — Why Innovation Often Stalls 31:35 — The Benefit People Forget About 40:00 — A Hot Take on Private Medical Be the first to know when new episodes drop! Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/thanksben/

    42 min

  2. 12/23/2025

    The Christmas Special: Reflections, Wishes, and the Future of Employee Benefits

    Our festive episode reflecting on the first year of the Friends with Benefits podcast — plus Santa drops by with the world’s biggest benefit wishes. In this Christmas Special, Carl and David look back on a standout first year for the Friends with Benefits podcast — from launching the format to hosting guests who challenged conventional thinking in reward and benefits. The conversation covers reflections on standout episodes, why passion-led discussions matter more than scripted topics, and what themes are likely to dominate 2026. A surprise appearance from Santa (Seb) introduces a series of benefit “wishes” submitted by consultants, reward leaders, and managers — sparking honest discussion around AI, inclusion, pay transparency, engagement, and global complexity. The episode closes with a look ahead to what’s shaping up to be a big year for benefits. 00:00 — Intro 00:39 — Reflecting on a Big First Year 01:00 — Why the Podcast Matters 01:41 — Letting Guests Talk About What They Care About 02:00 — A Standout Moment: Josephina from British Airways 02:34 — Purposeful Communication Over Noise 03:00 — Why Passion Creates Better Conversations 06:00 — Inclusion and Choice in Benefits 07:00 — Pay Transparency Is Coming (Whether You Like It or Not) 08:17 — Rethinking ‘Engagement’ in Benefits 09:19 — Global Complexity Isn’t Going Away 11:05 — Looking Ahead to 2026

    12 min

  3. 12/10/2025

    The One With Josephina from British Airways: Why Financial Empowerment Beats Financial Wellbeing

    Josephina Smith, Reward and Recognition Director at British Airways, joins Carl and David to explore the shift from financial wellbeing to financial empowerment — and why employers must think differently if they want people to make better financial decisions. She breaks down the global design of BA’s award-winning financial empowerment program, the real drivers behind the pension gender gap, why reward must be seen as a value-creation function (not an admin one), and the mindset needed to successfully drive change inside a large organisation. 00:00 — Intro 00:45 — A Career Built on Change and Making a Difference 02:00 — Why Reward? Exposure, Emotion, and Influence 05:30 — Salary Sacrifice Reform: Cost, Uncertainty, Planning 08:45 — Why BA Chose Financial Empowerment Over Wellbeing 12:30 — Making It Global: No Copy-Paste Policies 15:30 — The Pension Gender Gap: A Systemic Problem 19:00 — Reward as a Strategic Function, Not Admin 23:00 — Risk, Reputation, and Legislative Awareness 28:00 — Change-Making: Courage and Intentionality 33:00 — Final Advice for Change Makers Be the first to know when new episodes drop! Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/thanksben/

    37 min

  4. 11/25/2025

    The One With Tony from Aristocrat: What 40 Years in Reward Reveals About Employee Benefits

    What happens when one of the earliest flexible-benefits pioneers looks at the industry today — and realises many of the same issues still haven’t been fixed? Tony Nevin has spent over four decades in reward and benefits, working as an advisor, consultant, practitioner, entrepreneur, and one of the earliest team members at Thomsons (later Darwin, now Mercer). Tony joins Carl and David to reflect on four decades in benefits — from the birth of flex, to the pitfalls of tech, to the ongoing struggles with admin, comms, and engagement. They cover salary sacrifice reform, focus groups on factory floors, carers’ benefits, medical inflation, neurodiversity, and the hard truth that HR and finance often underestimate the strategic impact of benefits. Episode Highlights: 00:00 — Intro 00:45 — 43 Years, a Green Suit, and an Accidental Career 02:00 — The Moment Flexible Benefits Were Born 03:30 — “The Problem Hasn’t Been Solved Yet” 05:30 — Salary Sacrifice: Easy for Government, Hard on Employees 08:45 — Engagement as the Real Bottom Line 12:30 — Benefits Aren’t Important… Unless You Make Them Important 16:00 — The Whiteboard Reality Check 19:00 — Carers Are the New Frontier of Workforce Support 23:30 — ADHD, Self-Understanding, and New Communication Patterns 27:00 — The 80% Open-Rate Email 30:30 — The Job, Defined Simply Be the first to know when new episodes drop! Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/thanksben/

    33 min

  5. 10/29/2025

    The One With Christina from Cohesity: How Benchmarking Broke Benefits (and Why Flexibility Can Fix Them)

    What happens when benchmarking becomes a comfort blanket — and the industry forgets what flexibility really means? In this episode, Christina Alliak, Director of Benefits at Cohesity, joins Carl and David to explore how the industry got tangled up in comparison reports and legacy systems, and what it’ll take to build something better. Together, they dig into the messy middle between aspiration and reality — from flexible benefits dreams and ancient insurer tech to admin overload, prevention vs. intervention, and the one mistake that taught Christina her biggest lesson about communication. Episode Breakdown: 00:00 — Intro 03:30 — AI Everywhere (and the Boring Stuff It Should Fix) 05:00 — The Catch: How Do You Learn Without the Boring Work? 08:00 — Benchmarking Is Overrated 10:00 — The Dream of Open Data 13:00 — The Trap of Ease and Expectation 14:30 — Medical Inflation and the Benchmark Box 18:00 — Prevention Beats Intervention 20:00 — Flexibility: The Holy Grail 23:00 — The Dream Model 27:00 — The Marketplace Vision 29:00 — HR Tech, Product Thinking, and Delight 31:00 — The Hidden Cost of Admin 34:00 — Standards, APIs, and Stalemate 41:00 — What AI Needs to Work 43:00 — The Future (and AI Burnout) Be the first to know when new episodes drop! Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/thanksben/

    47 min

  6. 10/13/2025

    The One with Will from Halfords: Why Benefits Lost Their Way — and How to Get People to Care Again

    What happens when employee benefits get too complicated, too noisy — and people stop caring? In this episode of Friends With Benefits, we sit down with Will Winter Smith, Reward Director at Halfords, to explore why traditional benefits strategies are no longer landing with today’s workforce. From private medical that “lost its way” to too many bolt-on products and confusing comms, Will shares a refreshingly honest look at what’s broken — and what actually gets people to engage. 00:00 — Engagement Is Key 03:00 — Private Medical Has Lost Its Way 08:00 — Product Overload and Noise 16:00 — Benchmarking and the Same-Same Trap 17:00 — We’re Retailers to Our Colleagues 21:00 — Guerrilla Marketing and Disruptive Moments 25:00 — ROI and Knowing When to Stop 31:00 — AI Is Like Teaching a Toddler Origami 38:00 — Culture and Trust Around AI Be the first to know when new episodes drop! Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/thanksben/

    40 min

  7. 09/23/2025

    The One with Lee from Block (ex-Google): Inclusive Design, Why Benchmarks Aren’t Enough

    What does it really look like when you build benefits with inclusion, equity, and integrity from someone who’s worked in both Big Tech and policy? In this episode of Friends With Benefits, we sit down with Lee from Block (formerly at Google) to dig into what “equity by design” actually means in a global company. Lee shares honest lessons about balancing equality vs equity, navigating local trade‑offs, and why the numbers you benchmark with might mislead more than help. 00:00 — From Social Work to Global Benefits 14:00 — Beyond Tick-Box DEI 28:00 — Building Global Minimums That Scale 35:00 — Communication as an Equity Issue 39:00 — Can AI Help? 46:00 — Practical Steps for Inclusive BenefitsBe the first to know when new episodes drop! Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/thanksben/

    56 min

  8. 09/11/2025

    The One with Benefits Leader Mark: Global Rollouts, AI Caution, Engagement

    In this episode of Friends with Benefits, David sits down with global benefits leader Mark to break down the hard-earned lessons from rolling out benefits tech across 50+ countries.From why engagement isn’t just a comms problem to how AI could derail more than it helps, this episode gets into the operational realities most people don’t talk about.They unpack:— Why most global rollouts miss the mark on engagement— How to design for personalisation at scale— The role of consistency vs. autonomy across regions— Where AI fits in and where it really doesn’t— What benefits teams can learn from product teamsIf you’re navigating complexity, scaling strategy, or just trying to get your benefits platform actually used this one’s for you.Timestamps: 00:00 – Getting into Benefits03:50 – Health Benefits Are Underused08:15 – Benefits Are Designed, Not Just Delivered10:45 – The Local vs. Global Trap17:20 – Post-Launch is the Real Work21:50 – Measuring Impact24:40 – The Personalisation Gap36:00 – The Marketing Mindset43:50 – AI, Structure & Scale47:10 – Benefits ConfessionThanks for watching! Subscribe to our channel.

    55 min

  9. 08/20/2025

    The One with Steve from Autodoc: Radical Transparency, Reimagining Benefits from Scratch

    In this episode of Friends with Benefits, Carl and David are joined by Steve Bianchi ex-Unilever, now Chief People Officer at Autodoc. Steve brings his systems mindset, startup grit, and global experience to the table as they unpack everything from UK healthcare policy to why payroll is the most underused channel in benefits comms. They discuss the limits of fairness, the value of radical transparency, the true cost of “workations,” and why benefit strategies need to move from one-size-fits-all to hyper-personalised at scale. No fluff just sharp, structured thinking from someone who’s built benefits from the ground up. 00:00 – Should companies fill NHS gaps? 08:00 – The real shift post-pandemic 10:00 – Why prevention gets ignored 14:00 – Reimagining the value of healthcare 15:00 – How to build a benefits strategy from scratch 19:00 – Recognition as a benefit 25:00 – Career frameworks as proprietary benefits 27:00 – Trust and transparency over fairness 30:00 – The problem with intangible rewards 35:00 – What matters changes with life stage 38:00 – Why we’re failing on comms 40:00 – Hyper-personalisation is already here 44:00 – Should performance-based benefits exist? 49:00 – What great rewards leaders do now 52:00 – Steve’s Benefit Confession Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/thanksben/

    54 min

  10. 08/18/2025

    The One with Joana from Eventbrite: Mental Health, Global Equity & Marketing Your Benefits

    In this episode of Friends with Benefits, Carl and David sit down with Jo Viana, Director of Global Benefits at Eventbrite, to get real about what it takes to build benefits that actually matter especially when you’re supporting people across 9+ countries. They dive into the messy realities of global equity, the limits of utilisation metrics, why mental health needs more than a tick-box, and how communication can make or break your benefits strategy. It’s honest, sharp, and full of lessons from someone who's doing the work. Timestamps: 00:00 – Meet Joana & the Eventbrite landscape 04:30 – The equity balancing act 08:00 – Mental health: usage ≠ impact 15:00 – Breaking stigma through storytelling 22:00 – Making benefits visible 26:00 – AI, access, and cautious optimism 37:00 – When redundancy matters 41:00 – Benefits Confession Be the first to know when new episodes drop! Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/thanksben/

    43 min

  11. 08/18/2025

    The One with John from Workday: Decluttering Benefits, Proving ROI, and the Truth About Data

    Benefits are bloated. Data is broken. ROI is murky. But people still need support that works. In this episode of Friends with Benefits, we're joined by John Whitaker, Senior Director of International Benefits at Workday. From decluttering bloated benefit portfolios to the real reasons wellbeing ROI is so hard to prove, John brings a refreshingly honest view of what actually matters in the benefits space. We cover global cost pressures, benefit duplication, the data gaps still holding us back, and why sometimes the best employee experience is just making things work. Tune in for practical insights, hard truths, and a few benefit confessions you won't forget. Timestamps: 00:00 – Welcome & intro to John from Workday 03:00 – Why having more benefits isn’t better 07:40 – Wellbeing fatigue & lack of results 12:00 – Budget ≠ impact 14:00 – Personalisation over standardisation 19:00 – Data gaps still hurt decision-making 23:00 – Admin vs. strategy 30:00 – The problem with proving ROI 33:00 – Living your values through benefits 38:00 – Cutting costs without cutting care 40:00 – The value of simplification 42:00 – Benefit confession Be the first to know when new episodes drop! Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/thanksben/

    46 min

  12. 08/18/2025

    Friends with Benefits: Episode 1 – The one where David and Carl started a podcast about employee benefits

    In the very first episode of Friends with Benefits, Carl and David kick things off by diving into the tangled world of employee benefits and why it’s getting harder for companies to get it right. They share their own career journeys, but more importantly, they lay the foundation for the conversations to come: honest chats with reward leaders, brokers, and consultants who are shaping the future of work. Timestamps: 02:00 – Why This Podcast Exists 03:00 – The Complexity of Benefits 04:00 – Why Benefits Are Under-Leveraged 06:00 – The Role of Employee Expectations 08:00 – What’s Coming Up on the Podcast 10:00 – Themes to Watch For 17:00 – The AI Question 21:00 – Benefits Confessions 23:00 – Closing Thoughts

    23 min
  • 12 Episodes

About

‘Friends with Benefits’ is the essential podcast for rewards and benefits leaders. Hosted by Carl Chapman and David Duckworth from Ben, each episode brings together top minds in benefits and HR to unpack the latest trends shaping the world of benefits. Think AI, employee engagement, ROI, and more. Expect real talk with industry innovators and bold ideas you’ll want to steal. If you’re building better benefits, this is the podcast your CPO wishes you’d listen to.

Information

  • Creator
    Thanks Ben
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    12
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Thanks Ben
  • Show Website
    Friends with Benefits