Beyond Benefits: Penhall’s CHRO on Whole-Person Rewards, Pay Equity, and Financial Wellness

Summary

What if your benefits did more than attract talent

what if they transformed lives?

Melissa Kaspari, Chief Human Resources Officer at Penhall Company, shares how she “puts the human back in HR” by building total rewards that meet employees where they are. From a formative money story to leading HR in a male-dominated, frontline environment, Melissa explains why benefits literacy matters as much as plan design, and how leaders can move beyond healthcare to support mental, financial, professional, and social wellbeing.

She details practical steps for fair pay separating compensation from benefits, benchmarking to market, and doing the hard work of line-by-line pay reviews plus why EAPs and legal benefits are underused game-changers.

You’ll hear how Penhall is rolling out budgeting assistance for field teams, how to destigmatize mental health, and two 30-day experiments anyone can use to boost financial resilience.

Timestamps

[00:45] – Guest intro: CHRO philosophy—“put the human back in HR” and find your happy

[01:21] – Money story: learning the value of work and wanting more than a bandana

[04:37] – Where comp and benefits break down: self-worth, underpaid loyalty, and benefits literacy

[09:10] – From attracting to transforming: whole-person care—mental, financial, social

[09:59] – Budgeting assistance benefit tailored for a construction workforce

[11:15] – Underused, high-impact programs: legal support, EAPs, and destigmatizing help

[17:14] – Pay equity in practice: market benchmarking, internal mobility, and the right tools

[21:31] – 30-day money experiments: no-buy challenge and the envelope method

Takeaways

- Benchmark pay to market and separate comp from benefits; perform line-by-line reviews to ensure equity.

- Educate employees on benefits literacy—401(k), short-term disability, supplemental life, and healthcare advocacy.

- Design total rewards for the whole person: physical, mental, financial, professional, and social needs.

- Normalize mental health support and actively promote EAP utilization, especially in frontline, male-dominated fields.

- Add practical financial wellness options—budget coaching and voluntary legal plans that meet everyday needs.

- Try 30-day habits: a no-buy challenge and the envelope method to build savings and reset spending.

Sponsor

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Aura gives you a single place to design, compare, and communicate total rewards packages with confidence.

With AI-powered insights, it takes the guesswork and busywork out of comp decisions, helps you spot pay equity gaps early, and makes it easy to model scenarios that keep your teams engaged and your budgets on track.

See a demo at https://www.aurafinance.com/