Friends with Benefits: Episode 6 — The One with Lee from Block (ex-Google): Inclusive Design, Why Benchmarks Aren’t Enough
About the guest
Lee Cortez is a seasoned global benefits leader currently at Block, with previous roles at Google, Meta, and the U.S. Department of Labor. With a career that spans public policy, Big Tech, and high-growth companies, Lee brings a uniquely well-rounded view to employee benefits grounded in both equity and operational excellence.
Whether shaping global minimum standards at scale or rolling out inclusive policies across complex markets, Lee is known for asking the right hard questions: What’s fair? What’s sustainable? And who gets left behind?
In this episode, Lee draws from experience designing benefits across dozens of countries to share what real inclusion looks like in practice beyond buzzwords and blanket benchmarks.
Summary
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What does it really look like when you build benefits with inclusion, equity, and integrity from someone who’s worked in both Big Tech and policy?
In this episode of Friends With Benefits, we sit down with Lee from Block (formerly at Google) to dig into what “equity by design” actually means in a global company. Lee shares honest lessons about balancing equality vs equity, navigating local trade‑offs, and why the numbers you benchmark with might mislead more than help.
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Topics on the table:
- Why “minimum standards” in global benefits aren’t always good enough
- The hidden tension between equity and consistency
- Lessons from rolling out benefits across 30+ countries
- What benefits leaders can learn from policy work in government
- Why inclusion isn’t just about what you offer, but who it actually works for
- Navigating change: from high-growth scale-ups to Big Tech giants
- The future of flexibility, localization, and employee expectations across markets
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00:00 – From Social Work to Global Benefits
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"I need to be able to help myself first before I can be more effective in serving others."
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“At the end of the day, we are having huge impact on people's lives. Health, wealth—everything.”
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09:00 — Inclusion That Starts at Home
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“You can't really quantify the value of being with a child. When policies aren’t designed with that in mind, it makes staying at work hard to justify.”
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“The female is automatically assumed to be the primary caregiver. Is that a result of pay equity or societal bias?”
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“Just because you're in leadership doesn’t mean you don’t feel the impact of these decisions.”
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14:00 — Beyond Tick-Box DEI
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“If you approach this like a checklist, you’re a shopper, not a strategist. You’re missing the point of inclusive design.”
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“Everyone’s completely different. So how far do you go with personalisation?”
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“Just because another company offers something doesn’t mean it’s right for your people.”
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28:00 — Building Global Minimums That Scale
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“Understand the broader strategy of the business first. Then build benefits that support it with global minimums as a foundation.”
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“They went so deep, they were comparing U.S. private maternity care with the NHS to figure out parity.”
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“A lot of people just dive into design without aligning it with company goals.”
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35:00 — Communication as an Equity Issue
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“Fifth-grade reading level. Multimodal formats. Language localization. That’s how you create access.”
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“What tips do you have for terminology and making things understood across different audiences?”
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39:00 — Can AI Help?
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“You have to know what you’re solving for at each stage. AI is only as useful as the data it’s trained on.”
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“The system is only as good as what you put in. And most companies just aren’t there yet.”
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“Would you trust AI right now to evaluate policies for equity?”
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46:00 — Practical Steps for Inclusive Benefits
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“Ask vendors about their ability to support diverse needs. Ask ERGs what matters to them. Then design accordingly.”
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“You could take it all the way into primary care. Let people choose who they’re comfortable with.”
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“Definitions matter—especially around family, gender, caregiving. People need to see themselves in the policies.”
Listen to the podcast on Spotify, Youtube, Apple Podcast.
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