Live from World at Work Total Rewards 2026 with Special Guest Kristy Durst

In this special episode, Julie is joined by Kristy Durst, Sr. Manager of Payroll & HR Administration at Uline, live from the annual World at Work Total Rewards event in San Antonio, TX, for a practitioner conversation grounded in what modern payroll leadership really looks like inside a complex, frontline-heavy business.

The conversation explores Uline’s move from ADP to the full Workday suite, what it means to optimize a platform after go-live, and why payroll’s value increases when leaders stop treating it as a back-office process and start bringing it into decisions earlier.

Julie and Kristy also dig into the realities of running payroll for a workforce of nearly 10,000 employees across the U.S., Mexico, and Canada, including the importance of local timekeepers, shared services, compliance ownership, paid sick leave complexity, tax accountability, employee self-service, and the trust that comes from getting pay right. Kristy offers a clear view into the controls, data, judgment, and cross-functional collaboration required to make payroll work at scale.

The conversation looks ahead to the future of payroll talent and technology, from AI adoption and Workday optimization to succession planning, cross-training, and the changing skills payroll leaders need next.

Connect with Kristy:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristy-durst-54a0a2b3/

Connect with the show:

LinkedIn: http://linkedin.com/company/hr-payroll-2-0

X: @HRPayroll2_0

X: @PeteTiliakos

X: @JulieFer_HR

BlueSky: @hrpayroll2o.bsky.social

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@HRPAYROLL2_0

WRKDefined Podcast Network: https://wrkdefined.com/podcast/hr-payroll-20

Thank you to our marquee sponsors for powering the HR & Payroll 2.0 podcast forward!

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