Meet the Speakers
CEO, Jellyvision
Benefits people are, by nature, people people.
They’re caretakers. Problem-solvers. The person employees call when something has gone very wrong, or when they just can.not. figure out what coinsurance means.
That level of empathy is part of what makes people good at the job. It’s also a lot to carry.
Jellyvision CEO Amanda Lannert recently sat down with Jennifer Weinstein, VP of Benefits at Albertsons Companies and author of Benefits Burnout: How to Fall (Back) in Love with Your Employee Benefits Career, to talk about this unique role. Jennifer described a typical day in an HR leader’s shoes. You may have to support someone through the worst day of their life, then context switch to a budget meeting five minutes later, while also planning open enrollment. Eventually, even the sunniest HR disposition can get tested.
So, yes, Amanda and Jennifer talked about taking care of yourself, avoiding burnout, and building a career you can actually sustain.
But some of the advice that resonated most with our HR community wasn’t just about taking a break.
It was about speaking up for the value of HR and benefits, especially when the people around you don’t quite get it. Because burnout doesn’t just come from exhaustion. It can sneak up on us when we feel isolated, underappreciated, or the perpetual bearer of bad news.
Which raises a more useful question than simply: How do I cope? But more: How do I change the dynamic?
Jennifer offered some refreshingly candid guidance on just that.
Takeaway 1: Call out the elephant in the room. Kindly.
One attendee put a familiar frustration on the table: What do you do when the C-suite sees benefits as a “necessary evil” and a major expense?
Jennifer’s answer was refreshingly direct:
Call it out.
Rather than walking into yet another meeting frustrated that a senior leader doesn’t understand the work, Jennifer suggested naming the tension, and maybe even using a little humor to disarm it:
You’re not pretending the tension isn’t there. You’re not getting defensive. You’re acknowledging it, opening the door, and giving yourself a chance to tell a better story about the work.
Because if you keep hitting the same wall the same way, odds are, the wall ain’t moving.
Takeaway 2: Be a strategic advocate. People can’t appreciate work they never hear about
Advocating for HR and benefits shouldn’t only happen when you’re defending a budget.
Jennifer encouraged HR leaders to get more comfortable simply telling people what they do.
For anyone whose immediate reaction is, “Absolutely not, I hate bragging,” she has a workaround: Talk about your team.
Share the story of something they accomplished. An employee they helped through a difficult moment. A problem they solved before anyone else knew it existed.
As Jennifer put it, people can only appreciate what they know to appreciate. And stories tend to travel further than another spreadsheet full of numbers. (But no shade to spreadsheets or numbers, because they have their time/place, too).
Storytelling can also create allies.
Jennifer recommended finding a few people across the organization who understand the pressures your benefits team is facing and can become “benefits or HR spokespeople” when you’re not in the room. Before a difficult change rolls out, bring them behind the scenes. Tell them what you’re up against. Ask for their advice.
“Taking down the benefits curtain” will build stronger relationships cross-functionally across your organization.
Takeaway 3: Make room for the human stuff
For all the talk about budgets, strategy, burnout, and career longevity, one idea kept surfacing throughout the conversation:
The human stuff is the important stuff.
Or as Amanda puts it, “The most forgotten fact in business… is that we’re all human.”
Jennifer talked about deliberately putting 20 or 30 minutes on someone’s calendar simply to connect, understand what’s happening in their world, and make room for a conversation that isn’t entirely transactional.
It applies outside work, too.
For Jennifer, that means baking and painting cows. A huge fan of Sally’s Baking Addiction, she shared a hot tip for fluffier scones: grate the butter. (Leadership guidance and scone hacks, yes, please).
But there’s a bigger point behind the baking advice.
Jennifer explained that some of her best solutions come when she stops staring at a work problem and steps into the kitchen or picks up a paintbrush instead. Sometimes your brain needs somewhere else to go.
And we can’t help but mention that Jellyvision’s mission to be helpful is to make room for just that—less admin, less headache, more human convos and connections.
We don’t want to automate the humanity out of HR.
