Interview with Lisa Yee, Executive Director, Silicon Valley Employers Forum

As part of celebrating our 10th anniversary, we are delighted to share this series of interviews with benefits leaders—Insights From Industry Leaders. These benefits pros share their thoughts on the current landscape, and their visions for the future. The interviews will be posted on my LinkedIn page as they are released weekly.

Today, we feature:

Lisa Yee, Executive Director, Silicon Valley Employers Forum

1. What’s your current role and where are you focusing your time and energy? 

As the Executive Director of the Silicon Valley Employers Forum (SVEF), my primary role is to facilitate the sharing of domestic and international benefits best practices among our high tech members to enable them to strategize, optimize, and manage their benefits programs. In addition, I look for ways for us to collaborate on projects and partner with key stakeholders to influence the evolution of innovative global benefits. Lastly, the employee experience is really critical among our members, so I am focusing on ways to support their goal to help their employees.

2. How did you get into employee benefits? 

I had the opportunity to manage international compensation and benefits earlier in my career. But as I continued to take on increasing responsibilities within global compensation, I wanted to learn more about benefits at a deeper level. Fortunately, I was tapped to step in to manage domestic benefits for a one-year stint, which became global overnight! Since then, I’ve never looked back and evolved my career in global benefits.

3. Why have you stayed in the industry?

I love the impact that benefits have on employees and their families, and that we can develop programs to support their needs. Benefits are influencing the Employee Value Proposition in big ways. Plus, we can also influence and shape the direction of HR programs, legislative policies, and the community we live and work in. I can see the difference the benefits industry makes!

4. Why do employee benefits matter? 

Employee benefits—such as health care, retirement planning, education reimbursement, time off, perks, child and elder care, and on-site convenience programs—impact the lives of people every day. Benefits programs not only affect talent recruitment, attraction, and retention, but they also make the lives of employees and their families easier.

5. Why does benefits communication matter?

Benefits communications is so critical to the overall education and awareness of the amazing programs companies offer. Communicating is important to ensure that employees understand how to use their programs and get the most value from them because doing so fosters the Employee Value Proposition, and helps employees appreciate their employers.

6. When you reflect on the past 10 years, what accomplishments are you most proud of? 

• Developing the health care strategy to prepare for the Affordable Care Act by overhauling more than 20 medical plans and moving to full replacement plans with medical plan accounts, which resulted in the consolidation to two carriers and millions in savings.
• Establishing the first national wellness platform and launching wellness programs across a major Fortune 50 company to provide valuable resources to help employees incorporate healthy activities and behaviors into their daily lives.
• Developing and executing an international benefits strategy—including the build of an international benefits function to design and deliver benefit plans in more than 40 countries.
• Creating the benefits communications strategy and implementation plan to support employees and their families, and completely overhauling the company benefits intranet and design to make it an easier, more compelling experience for users.

7. What has been the most significant change in employee benefits during the last 10 years? 

• The sweeping changes brought upon by the Affordable Care Act to employer- sponsored health plans raised important and much-needed awareness within the C-suite.
• The strategic importance of health, financial, emotional, and social well-being has dramatically shaped programs that employers now offer.
• There have been significant changes in pension reform and legislation on a global scale, which have resulted in more oversight and governance of global benefits at the corporate level.
• The shift in personalized communications tactics to get the attention of employees, similar to how consumer products companies have successfully done for many years.  

8. What are you excited about right now? 

The opportunity to work collaboratively across some amazing high tech companies to shape and influence the market, and leverage the purchasing power of member companies to drive change.

9. What are you concerned about right now? 

The rising costs of health care and specialty pharmacy drugs, and the limited access to care to support the behavioral health needs of people in our society.

10. What do you want to see happen in the next 10 years? 

Health care payment and transparency reform, reasonable pricing for drugs, and access to quality care. It is astonishing that most other industries have a clear set of cost and quality measures—and that health care doesn’t! 

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About Benz Communications

We are a communications and marketing agency that is solely, purposefully, and passionately focused on employee benefits. Our proven approach combines the science of behavioral economics with the best of communications strategy and design. Since 2006, we have served leading employers and benefits providers, including many Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work For. As a thought leader in the benefits industry, we invest in research and resources to help companies educate employees about health, financial, and other benefits. Learn more at www.benzcommunications.com. Follow us on Twitter @BenzComm and Facebook.