About the guest

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Joana Viana,
Director, Global Benefits at Eventbrite

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Joana leads the design and delivery of employee benefits across 9+ countries. With a background in psychology and a passion for equity, Joana brings a deeply human lens to the world of total rewards. She’s known for challenging outdated metrics, advocating for mental health without stigma, and ensuring that every benefit no matter the budget actually makes a difference in people’s lives. In this episode, she shares honest insights from years of working at the intersection of culture, care, and scale.

LinkedIn

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Summary

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In this episode of Friends with Benefits, Carl and David sit down with Jo Viana, Director of Global Benefits at Eventbrite, to get real about what it takes to build benefits that actually matter especially when you’re supporting people across 9+ countries. They dive into the messy realities of global equity, the limits of utilisation metrics, why mental health needs more than a tick-box, and how communication can make or break your benefits strategy. It’s honest, sharp, and full of lessons from someone who's doing the work.

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Topics on the table:

• What global equity really means (and why equal ≠ fair)
• Why utilisation is a flawed metric for mental health
• The power of personal storytelling in breaking stigma
• How to make benefits visible without adding more spend
• The risks and realities of using AI in mental health support
• Building benefits with intention across multiple countries
• Why communication is as important as design
• Benefits confessions, and why disruption isn’t a bad word

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00:00 – Meet Joana & the Eventbrite landscape

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“We’ve got teams in India, Spain, the US, Brazil, and beyond… and they all need benefits that feel fair—even if the price tags are different.”

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04:30 – The equity balancing act

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“You hear it all the time: ‘Why do they get that, and we don’t?’ So we build for access, not identical spend.”

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08:00 – Mental health: usage ≠ impact

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“Utilisation only tells you someone used a benefit. It doesn’t mean it helped.”

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“Utilisation as a success metric? Total nonsense.”

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15:00 – Breaking stigma through storytelling

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“I’ve struggled with depression—and I talk about it. Because hiding it helps no one.”

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22:00 – Making benefits visible

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“If people don’t know something exists, it’s not a benefit. Full stop.”

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“Most teams are spending millions—and employees still say ‘I don’t know what we get.’”

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26:00 – AI, access, and cautious optimism

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“AI’s biggest flaw in mental health? It doesn’t know how to say ‘I don’t know.’ That’s dangerous.”

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“The best thing AI can do is help people find what’s already there.”

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37:00 – When redundancy matters

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“That moment when someone says: ‘Your program helped me get through the worst week of my life’—that’s when you know it’s worth it.”

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41:00 – Benefits Confession

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“My guilty pleasure? Watching older industry guys realise I’m the one running the show.”

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Listen to the podcast on Spotify, Youtube, Apple Podcast.

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