{"id":15128,"date":"2025-03-11T06:30:00","date_gmt":"2025-03-11T12:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/compt.io\/?p=15128"},"modified":"2025-03-13T10:41:32","modified_gmt":"2025-03-13T16:41:32","slug":"rebel-for-a-cause-debra-corey-on-recognition-flexibility-and-ripple-effects","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/compt.io\/blog\/rebel-for-a-cause-debra-corey-on-recognition-flexibility-and-ripple-effects\/","title":{"rendered":"Rebel for a Cause: Debra Corey on Recognition, Flexibility, and Ripple Effects"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I\u2019ll let you in on a little secret: I\u2019ve always been a bit of a rebel at heart. So when I met Debra Corey<\/a> \u2014 consultant speaker, bestselling author, and people leader \u2014 I was thrilled to find out she feels the same way.
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\u201cI\u2019ve been in HR my entire career,\u201d Corey says, summarizing her past 20+ years. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI was an HR leader in lots of different organizations. And then I moved into my rebellious phase<\/strong>, where I started really trying to challenge and do things differently. And that moved me into my pay-it-forward phase where I\u2019m still doing that. I\u2019m still shaking things up, but I\u2019m doing it in a more intentional and proactive way.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For Corey, HR is second nature. She provides consulting services<\/a>, is a frequent keynote speaker, and has published six books on industry topics. And on the latest episode of our monthly podcast \u2018Getting Personal,\u2019 she gave me an inside look at how HR teams can stay flexible to take care of their people in the best way possible. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Walk through Corey\u2019s career milestones where she\u2019s taken risks<\/em> to provide her people with better benefits<\/a> \u2014 and learn how you can, too. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Making an impact with flexible benefits<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

We all have our own story of our \u2018rebellious\u2019 moment (think: sneaking out of the house in high school). I wanted to hear from Corey an experiment she risked because she thought it could positively change company culture. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI was doing a review of our global benefit programs at a company [via] focus groups. Every single focus group talked about wellbeing \u2014 but everybody had a different thing written on their card. That\u2019s where we came up with the idea of a wellbeing allowance.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The wellbeing allowance was a specific sum of money (around $500 annually) based on employees\u2019 locations that could be used on \u2018anything\u2019 that could improve overall wellbeing. Employees simply had to provide their goal, how they would reach it, and the cost of the chosen activity or equipment.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Corey was nervous to let employees use their allowance on whatever they wanted. But after all, she had just co-written a book called \u2018The Rebel Playbook<\/a>.<\/em>\u2019 <\/em>So, she decided: \u201cI\u2019m going to be a real rebel. I\u2019m going to say, you know what, you can do whatever you want to do.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Corey did put up some guardrails by having all employee requests come through her for approval. And in the end, her gamble panned out. In fact, the impact lasted well after she was gone. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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