'Cost-containment is everyone's challenge': Inside Symcor's total rewards strategy

Rachel Wong doesn’t romanticize HR. For the Vice-President, Total Rewards and HR Technology at Symcor, the job is about hard choices, measurable impact and the discipline to walk away from programs employees don’t value.  

When she talks about her philosophy around total rewards, Wong comes back to one principle: if a benefit doesn’t connect to what people actually need and what the business can afford, it doesn’t deserve to survive. 

“My background is more in the finance business area, but when I graduated, not knowing what to do, I landed my first job in a benefits call center, where that was my first exposure to HR — learning about benefits,” says Wong. “And then I found that benefits are pretty cool and relevant to everybody.” 

The turning point came when she was pushed into the numbers around benefits and total req, which was right down her alley as she enjoys “putting a story or some hypothesis within those numbers,” she says.

That mindset pulled Wong into compensation analytics and eventually roles spanning benefits and HR technology. It also developed her belief that HR’s credibility rests on evidence. 

Learning beyond the scope of the role 

Wong links that trajectory back to a rule she learned early in her career — don’t say no to anything right off the bat. “Any project, even if it's not in my scope, I will be more than happy to be part of it so I can learn,” she says, adding that this exposed her to metrics that weren’t always part of her role. 

That refusal to hide behind the narrow definition of her role now drives how Wong designs total rewards. She’s blunt about the trap organizations can fall into when they chase shiny programs with no real pull.

“A company can put a lot of investment in all these big initiatives, but if it's not something that employees have asked for, it's not going to be impactful,” she says, adding that her team uses tools like field surveys, market scanning, and day-to-day conversations to determine what employees will use, across career stages and life situations rather than just for one segment. 

As with most organizations, the constraint around effective total rewards is money: “Cost-containment is everyone's challenge, but the question is how to continue to evolve but also stay within my budget and ideally not asking for more,” she says. 

According to Wong, her team hunts for drags on the program such as benefits that are no longer relevant, vendors that don’t earn their fees, and money that can be shifted into higher-impact offerings. Prove you can reinvest smarter inside the same space and “self-fund” the changes, and it will be easier to justify the cost, she says. 

Promoting compensation as more than a pay stub 

Wong also believes that communication with employees is key to building a successful total rewards plan and promoting the idea that their compensation is more than just a number on a pay stub.

“I want to continue to educate employees that, ‘Yes, you have your take-home pay, but then know your offerings like the health and dental, the virtual care, the personal days, or the volunteer study we offer’ — those are equally important in the overall well-being perspective,” she says.  

Wong’s points to Symcor’s recent success addressing women’s health issues such as menopause as part of the organization’s benefits offerings. She says they didn’t treat it as a niche concern and leadership was involved in promoting the initiative, which helped overcome any stigma while normalizing support. 

“It's just a part of life, so being the first to admit that it’s something we all go through, it made [leadership] more approachable and made employees feel like it’s not taboo,” she explains. 

Walking the walk about caring for employees 

The reaction to the initiative was moving for Wong and reinforced her belief in always assessing what types of benefits make the most sense for your workforce.

“It was very humbling to see even male leaders come to a session, not just as a support but also for them to understand how it’s relevant to them not just as a leader, but also as a husband and a father,” she says.

Wong describes how one employee approached her afterward in tears: “She said that she never knew it was happening, but now everything that she heard from the speaker, it made sense — and she felt that Symcor is really walking the walk about caring about employees and putting employees in focus,” she says. 

For Wong, it wasn’t about a “feel-good moment” — it was proof that ignoring topics that might seem taboo can leave employees to suffer in silence and lead to productivity costs that may not be measured. 

In the interest of inclusivity, Wong says that in early 2026, Symcor will be rolling out a men’s health initiative, followed by financial wellness later in the year, each based on survey signals about what different demographics actually care about. 

The organization continues its efforts to balance what employees really want with cost on the benefits from, according to Wong, who says that they’re adjusting to shifting demographics by treating younger workers’ needs as real, not indulgent.

“We have invested in virtual care for employees and their families, including virtual care for our pets as well,” she says. “We see that many in the younger generation may not be starting a family yet, but many of them have pets and we want to make sure they feel that the pet family also taken care of,” she explains. 

She also is paying close attention to the trend of mental health benefits use rising quickly among employees under 30, as she decides where to push to expand or shift resources, she says. 

Flexibility, technology key to benefits success 

According to Wong, flexibility will define the success of benefits going forward. She believes that rigid, one-size-fits-all plans miss the mark for both younger staff and older workers with mounting health costs.

“Having flexibility to the health, dental, and overall well-being approach is a must-have — I think many companies have a traditional benefit plan or a ‘cafeteria-style’ plan, but I do think more flexibility is needed — so having the flexibility in different benefit buckets will support the different age groups in the workforce,” she says.  

The data Symcor has gathered over two years of this model is already showing distinct usage patterns across benefit “buckets,” and Wong says she’s prepared to keep reshaping the benefits mix as that evidence evolves. 

Technology, in Wong’s view, is also a core part of a successful rollout for total rewards and a way to reduce administrative costs while supporting more privacy for employees. She says that Symcor is building AI-enabled HR case support so employees can get answers without waiting in line.

“When we launch [the support tool], employees can just type a question and AI will prompt them if needed or have the response — it helps them learn how to self-serve,” she says, noting that it’s as much about personal dignity as efficiency. 

Wong’s personal story as an HR leader shows the evolution of HR into a partner for multiple functions and disciplines. “Career-wise, I'm very lucky because I have had great mentors and a manager who really put my interest and my growth in the heart, really, and that's how I was exposed to different opportunities,” she says. 

Wong now expects her own team to push for exposure beyond total rewards, and she backs that up by pulling them into projects as observers, learners and, eventually, decisionmakers. It might just bring more “numbers people” into the benefits and total rewards world — and HR leadership.