David Hanrahan: Global Benefits, Local Needs: SolarWinds' CPO on Managing People Across 6 Countries (LIVE @ Transform 2026)
WATCH: https://youtu.be/gddkPTnNtlQ Recorded live at Transform 2026, this episode features David Hanrahan, SVP of People and de facto Chief People Officer at SolarWinds — a global B2B IT observability and management software company with approximately 2,100 employees across the US, India, the Philippines, Poland, Ireland, and beyond. Dave joined SolarWinds about a year and a half ago, two weeks before the company was acquired — giving him a front-row seat to one of the more complex people leadership environments you can walk into. The conversation opens up territory that hasn't been covered anywhere else in this series: what benefits actually look like when your workforce spans six countries and four continents. Dave shares how his team is working through transportation benefits for employees in Bangalore and Manila — cities where commuting isn't a minor inconvenience, it's a daily ordeal — and how something as seemingly simple as a commuter subsidy can be a more meaningful benefit than a gym membership for teams in those markets. The elder care conversation is where this episode hits hardest. Dave went through the journey of caring for both his parents without any company support, and it led him to become an advisor for an elder care benefits platform. He makes the case — backed by data — that the elderly population in the US is about to eclipse the child population, and that the sandwich generation (employees simultaneously raising kids and caring for aging parents) is about to become the dominant demographic challenge facing people leaders. He also covers mental health benefits and the confidentiality challenge, the generational divide in what candidates care about in total comp, and his framework for deciding what HR should hand to AI versus what requires human judgment. This is one of the most globally-minded and personally grounded conversations in the series. Connect with David: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidhanrahan/ Learn more: http://www.solarwinds.com
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TAKEAWAYS:
1. Global Benefits Require Local Listening
There is no universal benefits playbook. What matters to an employee in Bangalore — where the daily commute can be a two-hour ordeal — is fundamentally different from what matters to someone in Austin or Cork. Companies with global teams need to engage local employees to understand what's actually meaningful, rather than exporting the US benefits model everywhere.
2. Transportation Is an Underrated Global Benefit
In cities like Bangalore and Manila, commuter benefits can have a more meaningful daily impact than gym memberships or wellness stipends. Dave's team is actively exploring cab subsidies and transportation allowances as targeted benefits for teams in markets where commuting is genuinely burdensome.
3. Mental Health Benefits Only Work If Confidentiality Is Real and Communicated
On-demand therapy platforms drive adoption when employees genuinely believe their sessions are private. People leaders need to actively and repeatedly communicate that they have zero access to individual usage data — because the fear that HR is watching is a real barrier to utilization, even for platforms that are genuinely confidential.
4. Aggregate Mental Health Data Is a Strategic Signal
Even without individual visibility, the top themes surfaced by a mental health platform — stress, burnout, anxiety — give people leaders actionable intelligence about where the organization needs to go deeper. That's qualitative data that should be feeding benefits strategy and manager training.
5. What Candidates Care About Depends on Where They Are in Life
Junior employees ask about food and gym benefits. Senior employees want to know about 401(k) match and parental leave. But across every level and every geography, candidates are asking to see the benefits package — and those conversations are happening on par with base salary discussions.
6. Elder Care Is the Next Major Benefits Frontier — and It's Personal for Dave
Dave went through the elder care journey for both parents with nothing from his employer to help navigate it. That experience led him to advise an elder care platform and made him one of the most vocal advocates for this benefit category. His message: companies that don't build something here in the next few years will lose the sandwich generation employees who need it most.
7. The Elderly Population Is About to Eclipse the Child Population in the US
The demographic shift is imminent. The sandwich generation — employees simultaneously raising children and caring for aging parents — is about to become the dominant workforce cohort. People leaders who are not designing benefits for this reality are already behind.
8. Concierge Benefits Address the Real Cost of Being Away
The most relatable benefit Dave wishes he had: someone to handle real-life logistics when you're traveling for work. A fallen tree, a lawn that needs cutting, a home emergency — the mental load of worrying about what's happening at home while you're on the road is a real productivity drain that concierge services can address.
9. HR Needs a Purposeful AI Design — Not a Default One
Dave's key insight from Transform 2026: the most important AI conversation in HR isn't about what AI can do — it's about what you want it to do. Mapping capabilities and making deliberate decisions about where AI takes over and where human judgment is protected is the strategic work that separates thoughtful people organizations from reactive ones.
CHAPTERS:
00:00 – Introduction Adam welcomes Dave Hanrahan from SolarWinds, fresh off a panel session, and sets up a conversation about global people leadership and benefits.
02:00 – Meet SolarWinds & Dave's Role Dave describes SolarWinds — a B2B IT observability platform — and his role as SVP of People, including joining two weeks before an acquisition and managing a team spanning six countries.
04:30 – Managing a Global Workforce Up Close Why Dave prioritizes getting out to international offices in person, and what you can only understand about site culture when you're actually there.
07:00 – How Benefits Work Around the World A rarely discussed topic: how benefits are structured differently by country, why one-size-fits-all doesn't work globally, and what SolarWinds is learning about meeting employees where they are in each market.
10:00 – Transportation Benefits in Bangalore & Manila The standout benefit conversation: why commuter subsidies matter more than gym memberships for teams in some of the world's most congested cities — and how SolarWinds is working with local teams to figure out the right solution.
13:00 – Mental Health Benefits & the Confidentiality Challenge How SolarWinds approaches global on-demand therapy benefits, why anonymity is the key to adoption, and what aggregate data from the platform tells Dave as a people leader about workforce stress trends.
16:30 – How Benefits Are Priced & Structured A practical breakdown: per-employee session allotments, how utilization is tracked, when the company raises session limits, and how group sessions expand access across the organization.
19:00 – What Candidates Actually Ask About in Total Comp Dave's generational breakdown: junior employees ask about food and gym benefits; senior employees go straight to 401(k) match and parental leave. And across the board, every candidate asks to see the benefits flyer.
22:00 – The Elder Care Gap — Dave's Personal Story Dave's most personal moment in the episode: going through elder care for both parents with zero company support, becoming an advisor to an elder care benefits platform, and why he believes this is the next major benefits frontier.
26:00 – The Sandwich Generation Is Here The data point that stops the conversation: the US elderly population is about to eclipse the child population. Dave and Adam get real about what that means for employees caught in the middle — raising kids while caring for aging parents.
29:30 – Concierge Benefits & the Value of Peace of Mind What Dave wishes he had as an employee traveling for work: concierge services that handle real-life logistics — the lawn, the fallen tree, the home emergency — so employees can focus on the job.
32:00 – Mapping AI to HR: What to Automate, What to Protect Dave's aha moment from Transform 2026: the importance of purposefully mapping which HR functions should become agentic versus where human judgment — on hiring, promotions, compensation, feedback — must be retained.
35:00 – Keeping the Human at the Center Dave's words of optimism: at this conference, HR leaders are pushing back on the narrative that AI should replace human judgment. The energy at Transform is about keeping people at the heart of the most important decisions.
