HRchat Podcast
Listen to the HRchat Podcast by HR Gazette to get insights and tips from HR leaders, influencers and tech experts. Topics covered include HR Tech, HR, AI, Leadership, Talent, Recruitment, Employee Engagement, Recognition, Wellness, DEI, and Company Culture.
Hosted by Bill Banham, Bob Goodwin, Pauline James, and other HR enthusiasts, the HRchat show publishes interviews with influencers, leaders, analysts, and those in the HR trenches 2-4 times each week.
The show is approaching 1000 episodes and past guests are from organizations including ADP, SAP, Ceridian, IBM, UPS, Deloitte Consulting LLP, Simon Sinek Inc, NASA, Gartner, SHRM, Government of Canada, Hacking HR, McLean & Company, UPS, Microsoft, Shopify, DisruptHR, McKinsey and Co, Virgin Pulse, Salesforce, Make-A-Wish Foundation, and Coca-Cola Beverages Company.
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Podcast Music Credit"Funky One"Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
HRchat Podcast
Optimizing Vehicle Reimbursement with Lindsay Clayborne, Cardata
Implementing a smart and fair vehicle reimbursement program needs careful consideration of numerous factors, including tax implications, employee fairness, and administrative efficiency. By understanding the challenges and leveraging reliable technology solutions, companies can create a more cost-effective and compliant vehicle reimbursement program.
In this HRchat episode, we consider some best practices for running an efficient vehicle reimbursement program at work and why it helps keep employees happy and engaged.
For HR leaders, a key motivator is ensuring that the vehicle programs are fair and equitable. This includes providing reimbursements that are competitive within industry standards and sufficiently cover the expenses incurred by employees on the road.
Bill's guest is Lindsay Clayborne, Director of People and Culture at Cardata, a fully-managed vehicle reimbursement solution for businesses whose employees use their personal cars for work.
Questions for Lindsay include:
- What is the type of company culture you strive to build and maintain at Cardata?
- What are some of the HR challenges when it comes to leading and supporting the often very distributed teams at Cardata?
- Problems with many current vehicle programs include significant and unnecessary tax waste, misunderstood program rules, lack of alignment with employee needs, and IRS audit risks. Can you tell us more?
- Can we dive into how a vehicle reimbursement partner can help set up a successful and fair reimbursement program? How can a partner like Cardata bring best practices to an organization that’s launching a new program?
We do our best to ensure editorial objectivity. The views and ideas shared by our guests and sponsors are entirely independent of The HR Gazette, HRchat Podcast and Iceni Media Inc.
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Welcome to the HR Chat Show, one of the world's most downloaded and shared podcasts designed for HR pros, talent execs, tech enthusiasts and business leaders. For hundreds more episodes and what's new in the world of work, subscribe to the show, follow us on social media and visit hrgazettecom and visit.
Speaker 2:HRGazettecom. Lindsay, it's my pleasure to welcome you to the HR Chat Show today.
Speaker 3:Thank you so much, Bill. It's so lovely to be here and thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 2:So, lindsay, on this show, usually the first question is beyond my introduction. Just a moment ago, why don't you take a moment to introduce yourself? However, in your case, I was doing my homework and I saw on your LinkedIn profile you wrote three words that describe me both personally and professionally builder, learner, partner. I love that. So, with that in mind, please introduce yourself to our audience.
Speaker 3:Thank, Thank you so much. Well, I appreciate you highlighting those things. And, yes, so technically my role is that I am the Director of People and Culture at Cardata, but I like to think of myself more holistically in my life, as those three things as a builder, as a learner, as a partner, because, you know, work-life integration is important to me. So while during the day I'm at Cardata, I'm leading up our people and culture function. So building that from the ground up back in 2021, all the way to today, where we have a small but mighty team of three that's doing everything from recruitment compensation, all but mighty team of three that's doing everything from recruitment compensation, culture, people, operations, growth and development planning you name it, we're on it. And that reflects, like I mentioned, the building.
Speaker 3:I love helping companies go from sort of zero to one, so if they don't have anything in place, I love coming in having that blank slate and being scrappy and putting those foundations in place and then going from kind of one to two, so maturing those things, ensuring that we have what we need to go to the next level.
Speaker 3:That requires a lot of learning along the way, but then in my personal life too, I love to learn. Most recently, I just redid my bathroom and I learned how to do that all from YouTube. So I do love to learn things, both for business and HR, but also outside of that. And then a partner. I love partnering with people internally at Cardata, whether it's our growth team, our product team, our customer teams love connecting with those leaders and understanding what is your business, what is your domain and how can I and my team help you be better. And then, of course, we are all partners in life in one way or another, whether that's we're friends or we're daughters, sons, aunts, uncles, you name it. We have relationships that we need to maintain, um, because they add joy and value to our lives I love the answer.
Speaker 2:Congratulations on your professional success or your cool partners and, by the sounds of it, your wonderful, beautiful new bathroom. So yes, yes, thank you if you could name one thing that you love the most about your job, what would that be?
Speaker 3:The one thing I love about my job is the endless number of challenges that come every single day, and challenges maybe has a negative connotation, but not in my mind. There, of course, are days that are challenging, but there's just challenges that come up, especially at the stage of company that Cardata is at, especially having the unique journey that we have. So I love having the challenges to walk into in the day Sometimes you don't know what those are going to be and having to problem solve, having to collaborate with other people to figure out how do we solve this, how do we bring in new perspectives to find the best possible route where it helps balance all of the interests of everyone. Maybe that's affected by that particular challenge.
Speaker 4:Thanks for listening to this episode of the HR Chat Podcast. If you enjoy the audio content we produce, you'll love our articles on the HR Gazette. Learn more at HRGazettecom. And now back to the show.
Speaker 2:Let's get into it. Then Can you share the mission of Cardata.
Speaker 3:Absolutely of Car Data, absolutely. So our mission as a company is to be the go-to partner to build the best vehicle reimbursement programs that users love, and so that's a lot of words. How I like to describe it when we're onboarding new people is I like to break it down into three parts. Partnership has been a core pillar of Carata since day one back in 1999. And we'll probably get into a little bit of what exactly that looks like. But we truly partner with the companies that we work with and we recognize their expertise in their own businesses and leverage that.
Speaker 3:Then we build programs so we're not like a one size fits all. Every organization is going to be slightly different, so we need to build the program that works best for them. And then, of course, that user's love. We want to put the customer and the user at the center of everything that we do, whether that's the program, the technology that's supporting it. And then, of course, internally too. My users, my customers, are our people. So it's also our mission to build a great workplace for the people that are building the programs and technologies to support our users.
Speaker 2:I love that and I particularly love the the language that you use there.
Speaker 3:that shows that you take ownership over what you're doing, which is a great lead into my next question team sees as important to the success of the overall strategy of the organization, and that's always going to look a little bit different, but I personally strive to find companies that the values center around teamwork and team mentality, which requires collaboration and being supportive, and one that just recognizes the value of having open lines of communication and open-mindedness.
Speaker 3:And so at Cardata, that is something that aligns with what we value and what we see as core to being able to achieve that mission that we just talked about. And so that's what really we're striving here to do is to foster that organization that is open and open minded because that fosters that collaborative, you know kinetic energy that happens when you're bringing minds together and you're bouncing ideas off each other, and then also that just then fosters relationships where you feel compelled and want to support one another. The thing I often say when people ask what's the thing you love the most about working at Cardata and I think it's the sense of people feeling like, no matter who you go to to ask a question, even if they're not the person to answer it or they don't know, they're going to help you find the answer. They're going to help you find the person and point you in the direction that you need. It's not like you're going to get a door in your face.
Speaker 2:So that is something that you know we're striving to build here, um, but that's partly because it it is important to the values um of our, of our leadership and our company okay, so that that collaboration piece, how much of that is from, uh, the the company culture, from from the ethos, from from what people can pick up when they join a company, and how much of that actually is down to candidate selection? You know, uh, when you guys are looking to bring on new talent, uh, it's collaboration. Is that an essential uh component of their personality, of their skill sets? And and perhaps are you more inclined to say you're not the right fit if you're just not a collaborator?
Speaker 3:Well, absolutely, that is a great question, and so much of this is top of mind because every time we hire someone, new part of our onboarding is talking to them about the type of people that we look for, and I like to do that because it really shows like, hey, this is what we see in you and this is what we see in everybody that works here and here's why, and that why ties to.
Speaker 3:Well, here are the expectations as a company, and these are the traits that we've seen are important to achieving those expectations and you being successful. And, of course, you're here because we see that in you. And so three things, three kind of groupings of characteristics that we look for are passionate crafters, humble and courageous, and then adaptable and curious. And I find that those are important and specifically relating to your question about collaboration, that humility and that curiosity is so fundamental to at least in my eyes, so fundamental to fostering a collaborative environment. You need those traits in people and the number one thing I always say is that there is no room for ego. It sucks the air out of the room and does the opposite of creating that collaborative environment. So we have absolutely been okay with turning someone away that maybe is very skilled in their craft but has a little bit of an ego, because we know that's not going to work here.
Speaker 2:Are traits? Are they more important to you guys than historical career experience? Do you feel like a lot of things can be learned in the company environment if folks have got the matching characteristics?
Speaker 3:That's a really good question. It's not an either or, to be honest, because we, especially for certain roles, it depends the type of level you're talking about. You know there are fundamental you know just fundamental things that experience gives you that is going to allow you to maybe be successful, based on the type of role, the scope that you're taking. So I wouldn't necessarily say it's more important, but they're very much on par and, yes, in some cases it may be that those traits are a little bit more important. That's when you'd be looking at hey, can this person maybe stretch into this? They have those fundamental characteristics, could they stretch into this role?
Speaker 3:And in some cases we've seen that happen and this is a great environment for those people that are looking to stretch themselves. However, this can be a tough environment too. That kind of startup, scrappy mentality. It's not for everyone. Some need more structure, and so even in those cases, you may have someone that has a ton of experience, but if it's in a very structured, very rigid environment, they may not be successful here because they don't have that same scrappiness, that same adaptable, pivoting mentality, and therefore someone that maybe has more of those traits might be more successful okay, very good, thank you very much.
Speaker 2:Let's get back to car data and some of the problems that it tries to solve, if that's okay. Uh, so problems with many current vehicle programs include significant and unnecessary tax waste, misunderstood program rules, lack of alignment with employee needs and irs audit risks. Can you tell us more?
Speaker 3:yes. So these are, of course, problems that are specifically challenging for organizations that are working with some sort of vehicle program or need to do some sort of reimbursement for their organizations. But if we were to zoom out a little bit, you'll see that there's themes that relate to each of those points you just talked about that relate to other areas of HR challenges. Right Talked about compliance. We talked about, you know, compensation. Confusion with benefits is a huge thing. We were just talking about it internally the other day. You know, benefits is just an inherently confusing thing. And then there's always the conversation of cost when it comes to any program in an organization, but especially around HR. So I would say those aren't unique to any organization, but we definitely are specifically positioned to help with those challenges when it comes to reimbursement, and what we do is leverage our long you know 25-year expertise in this area to help organizations solve some of those challenges.
Speaker 5:This episode of the HR Chat Podcast is supported by Nebula Academy, a technology industry-focused workforce accelerator that offers learning programs to prepare individuals for successful careers. Our approach is centered around cognitive neuroscience research, combining the latest research and modern learning methods to create informative and psychologically safe learning experiences. Our programs enable individuals to achieve career readiness and immediate impact in their chosen field. Moreover, we help businesses create positive learning experiences, increase productivity, enhance team performance and build upskilling resources to meet the needs of today's modern workplace. Learn more at nebulaacademycom. Thanks, and now back to the HRr chat show okay, love it.
Speaker 2:Thank you very much. Can we dive into how a vehicle reimbursement partner can can help set up a successful and fair reimbursement program? Then how can a partner like car data bring best practices to an organization that's launching a new program? Perhaps?
Speaker 3:That's a great question and the way I like to look at it, as any partner that an HR professional is choosing to connect with and bring into their organization needs to be an expert in their area, but they also need to be willing to listen to you and understand your challenges and be willing to partner with you to actually solve that. That's again where the partnership comes in. Every organization is going to be slightly different. There's variables that are just naturally in place. When it comes to vehicle reimbursement specifically, organizations differ in the number of people they have on their reimbursement program, the number of miles those people drive, how often they're driving, where are they driving, the type of car they need to drive. There's so many variables just for this one specific program that you need to think through.
Speaker 3:So a great vehicle reimbursement provider is going to understand what are all your variables and challenges with each of those. Then they're going to work with you to take the guesswork out of it. They're going to say, hey, here are the different parameters we need to work with. Let's build this program together. What are your goals, what are your challenges, what are the options? Let's bring this all together and then a phenomenal reimbursement partner is going to give you world-class technology to help streamline the implementation and administration of that program Because, as with a lot of HR programs, there's a lot of manual work that could be there. We want to free up our time, we want to free up the time of the administrators for these vehicle reimbursement programs, so we want to provide the technology that'll help them do that.
Speaker 2:Very good. So if you're looking for a phenomenal that's a good word a phenomenal partner, check out Card Data. In fact, Lindsay, how can folks learn more about Card Data? There will, of course, be links in the show notes that will help, but how can folks learn more about Card Data? And will help. But how can folks learn more about car data? And, as importantly, how can folks connect with you? Is that email address linkedin? I bet you're super cool and all over tiktok and instagram I think I'm a little past the tiktok generation.
Speaker 3:I think I go on the youtube shorts. You know I think that's probably really uncool of me to say, but you know what I'll own it regardless. Um, so, to connect with Cardata, cardataco is our website. That is a great landing spot. You can find so many amazing resources.
Speaker 3:Whether you're just curious to learn more about vehicle reimbursement, if you're an administrator and you have specific questions around the type of programs that exist, or you want to see what technology might actually exist out there to help you with this type of thing exist, or you want to see what technology might actually exist out there to help you with this type of thing, that's a great place to go to learn more about that. You can also check out our LinkedIn. My LinkedIn is Lindsay-Claybourne Very easy to find. Not sure if there's any other Lindsay-Claybournes out there, but if there are, I'd love to connect. I'm not sure if there's any other Lindsay Claiborne's out there, but if there are, I'd love to connect. So can connect with me with me there as well, and for anyone that is looking to take some courses, I also instruct at a couple of the local colleges and universities, so we could also connect through one of those as well.
Speaker 2:Excellent. Well, until I'm next in Toronto and we get to have that coffee that we're talking about before we hit record today. Until I'm next in Toronto and we get to have that coffee that we're talking about before we hit record today. That just leads me to say for today, lindsay Claiborne, thank you very much for being my guest on this episode of the HR Chat Show.
Speaker 3:Thank you so much, bill.
Speaker 2:It was lovely to chat with you and I can't wait for our coffee, and hopefully during a Jays winning season. Oh gosh, that might be a while.
Speaker 3:Okay.
Speaker 2:That just leads me to say, as always, listeners, until next time, happy working.
Speaker 1:Thanks for listening to the HR Chat Show. If you enjoyed this episode, why not subscribe and listen to some of the hundreds of episodes published by HR Gazette and remember for what's new in the world of work? Subscribe to the show, follow us on social media and visit hrgazettecom.
