The Evolution of Benefits

Hannah Wilkowski, CEBS is a Human Resources professional with over a decade of experience in both the Talent and Reward space, with a specialty and passion for Global Benefits and Wellness.

Currently, Hannah manages Global Benefits and Wellness at BuzzFeed. In this role, she is responsible for the quality, relevance, and sustainability of all employee health, wellness, and retirement plans. Prior to this role, she was a Business Partner and Global Reward Specialist in the financial services industry. Hannah’s accomplishments include rebranding and expanding global employee benefits, implementing and growing Wellness Programs, and enhancing Parental Leave policies and offerings.

Hannah is a Certified Employee Benefit Specialist (CEBS) by the IFEBP and Wharton Business School, received an M.S. from New York University, and a B.S. from Muhlenberg College. Hannah lives in Manhattan with her husband and 2 rescue dogs. Hannah enjoys yoga, hikes, and red wine.

More from Hannah…

Hannah says the workplace can’t just deal with your grandpa’s benefits anymore. It’s a whole new ballgame. She says millennials in the workforce expect much more from their employers.

“I would say that more than anything else, I think millennials want to feel like they’re getting what they deserve. I think they just have higher expectations. They understand that the world’s benefits encompasses more than just the core benefits like health, retirement and risk.

And I feel as we’re kind of growing together, that conversation, what can we do for you has just becomes more and more important. So I’ve worked in companies where we have a big Baby Boomer and Gen X population. And for the most part, having those risk benefits, those health benefits, retirement benefits, that’s really the main concern.

But then you look at millennials, and you kind of look at where they are in their life. And I feel like it’s such a different story. So you just have to adapt your benefits programs to reflect that.

For instance, there are a lot of millennials now who are thinking about possibly starting a family, that’s the age range now. So that comes with a lot. So they want to make a decision whether or not they want to start a family. So offering fertility benefits is really important. Having that professional resource out there that they can talk to you about their different options, through the workplace is amazing.”