Experian

**LIVE from the Transform Conference in Las Vegas**

In this episode of Culture Uncovered, Jena Dunay sits down with Mary Burke, SVP of HR at Experian, to unpack what it actually looks like to build a high-trust, inclusive culture inside a massive, global organization.

Mary shares why Experian calls its culture a “best kept secret,” how flexibility existed long before it became the norm, and what it takes to create an environment where employees can truly bring their whole selves to work.

They also get into the real drivers behind retention, from industry-leading parental leave to redefining what “family” means in the workplace, and how Experian is using AI to personalize career growth at scale.

What you’ll learn:

•  What Experian actually does and how it impacts both consumers and businesses 
•  Why belonging and inclusion are at the center of their culture 
•  How flexibility without guilt is practiced (not just promised) 
•  The real impact of benefits like parental leave on retention and families 
•  How their AI-powered “My Career” platform helps employees grow internally 
•  What makes someone successful at Experian (and what doesn’t) 

Experian Highlights:

• Team Size: ~22,000 employees globally 
• Presence: 30+ countries 
• Headquarters: London (North America HQ in Orange County, CA) 
• Industry: Data, Technology, and AI 
• Culture: Inclusive, flexible, purpose-driven, growth-oriented 
• Recognition: Ranked #14 on Great Place to Work’s World’s Best Workplaces

Unique Perks & Programs:

• Generous parental leave:
  •  18–20 weeks (birth parent) 
  •  12 weeks (non-birth parent) 
• 91% return rate for women after one year post-leave 
• 60% of parental leaves taken by men (rare and culture-shifting) 
• 10 days bereavement leave for chosen family (not just traditional definitions) 
• Flexible work culture with no guilt attached 
• AI-powered career platform (“My Career”) for personalized growth and internal mobility 
• Strong emphasis on belonging, inclusion, and work-life balance

To learn more about Experian:

•  Careers Page (They’re hiring!) 
•  LinkedIn Page 
•  Mary’s LinkedIn

Transcript

Jena Dunay: And welcome back to another episode of Culture Uncovered where we go behind the scenes of cool companies to work for. And today we are here at the Transform Conference, which I'm so excited to be here with Mary A. Burke, who is the SVP of HR at Experian. So Mary, thank you so much for joining us today.

Mary A. Burke: Well, thank you for inviting me, Jena. I'm really glad to be here.

Jena Dunay: Why don't you just start us off and tell us a little bit about what your company does?

Mary A. Burke: Well, Experian is a global data and technology organization. We're a large enterprise, headquartered in London with 22,000 employees in over 30 countries. At the core, we help consumers take control of their financial lives. And we also help businesses make better decisions through the use of data, technology, and AI. And so we really intersect around data and how we build the technology on data and using AI to drive better decisions for both businesses and consumers.

Jena Dunay: Okay, and then tell me again how many employees you have at your organization.

Mary A. Burke: Around 22,000 globally. We are a large enterprise. But I think what's great about Experian is that I've been there now for eight years and it really does feel like there's something new for me every single time. And there are moments where I feel like we're very small as well because we try to maintain that small company mentality in how we build products and deliver to market.

Jena Dunay: Yeah, tell me a little bit about how you came across the organization and what made you want to come work for the company. And the reason I asked that is I feel like job seekers can learn a lot about an organization by how their HR leaders find the organization and why they choose to come work for them.

Mary A. Burke: Well, I was very lucky to find Experian because Experian found me. In Orange County, there's not a lot of large enterprises. And Experian has always had a great brand locally in Orange County. And that is where the North America headquarters is located. And so through networking with HR colleagues, I managed to meet one of the HR leaders at Starbucks over coffee. And she really sold me on the culture and what it's like to work at Experian. And from then on, I interviewed many members of the leadership team and eight years later, I'm still here.

Jena Dunay: Yeah, that's good. I love that too, just for people to hear networking works, friends.

Mary A. Burke: Networking works great. Absolutely.

Jena Dunay: It works so good. So tell us, how would you describe the culture at Experian?

Mary A. Burke: We get that question a lot and culture means so many different things to so many different people. But I will tell you that I think Experian culture is the best kept secret. So even if we are a large organization, we actually ranked number 14 in Great Place to Work's World's Best Workplace. And that survey is all about the culture and the trust that we foster here at Experian.

And so I think when I reflect on what makes us really great, there's a lot of things. But for me, it's around belonging and inclusion, where I feel like every single employee can bring their whole selves to work. And so one of the reasons I joined Experian at the time, eight years ago, I was a mom of three kids and all three kids were under five. And I remember having...

Jena Dunay: I'm in that world right now except two, under three. So I get it.

Mary A. Burke: And you know, it's a little bit daunting to start a big role in a large enterprise. And I remember having a conversation with my boss at that time and he asked me, well, what are your biggest concerns? And I said, my biggest concern is I want to be the mom that I want to be to my kids without compromising anything. And so I'm really looking for that balance in any role I take on. And he said, well, if that's your concern then that's not a problem at all.

And I said, well, I really want to be able to manage my time without judgment. And he's like, no problem. And I said, wait, no judgment? Because a lot of companies, Jena, you may know this, they'll say, hey, we're flexible. But then when you actually do it, there's a feeling of guilt that often moms feel already. And you don't need to add that to how you work.

And so that was even before COVID where we had flexibility and more companies were flexible. And we were always just really foundational on work-life balance and flexibility. I also like to describe the culture when we build goals around improving our culture, it's like, what does that actually mean?

And to put it simply, the way the leadership team and I describe it is we want Experian to be your best job ever. So when you retire and you look back, Experian would be your best job ever. And that would be a job that offers you flexibility, that has good benefits, that provides career development, allows you to balance your personal and professional life, and allows you to grow.

And more importantly, you actually like the people you work with. And you feel like you belong. And so all those components are the secrets to what makes Experian one of the best workplaces in the world.

Jena Dunay: That is so good. Why don't you tell us a little bit about some of those benefits and those perks that make your organization great? I love you saying we want this to be the best place that you've worked because I can think back on my own career and some of the best places that I worked really were intentional about a lot of those things that you were talking about. So tell me what are some of those benefits maybe or perks that individuals can come and work for your organization and what can they benefit from with the benefits?

Mary A. Burke: Yes, absolutely. And we try to make sure we're very competitive in our benefits. And so one of the benefits that I'm most proud of is we have a very generous paid parental leave. And so for women that give birth, they can have up to 18 to 20 weeks of fully paid leave. And for the non-birth parent, up to 12 weeks.

And an interesting statistic that I'm super proud of is that after one year from returning from leave, 91 percent of our women are still working for us at Experian, where the national average is 50 percent. And so absolutely, it's so cool. It makes me so proud that we are able to foster that workplace and moms want to come back and thrive.

And for me, I didn't have my kids at Experian, but it makes me so proud that women can feel like they can be off for four months of fully paid leave and come back and feel like they can continue to grow their career and be the mom that they want to be.

And another important fact that I love to share is that across all our parental leaves, 60 percent of them are taken by our male employees. So paternity leave. And that's unheard of. If you think about traditionally, there was always this sentiment that males can't leave the workforce because they have to continue to stay at work and drive their careers.

But then more than half of our leaves are taken by men and our male colleagues. And I think what I love about that too is that it kind of changes and influences how family and work and childcare gets done at home, which I think is really important for women. So it's sort of this cycle where you have a leave, you allow women to take time off and bond, but you also allow the dads also, and it's so amazing.

Jena Dunay: Well, Mary, I think you touched on something that I may have been experiencing right now. So I have a three-year-old and a one-year-old, and my husband is able to have flexible work that they don't make him feel guilty about any of those things in this instance, but he's able to do that, and I'm able to be here talking to you. And it makes a difference for my life that my husband's work allows him to do that. Do you understand what I'm saying? It matters to the fabric of the families that you employ.

Mary A. Burke: It also matters to how our children see mom and dad or two partners work. And so I think that's really important. You don't see the effect of it. You think, okay, it's a generous benefit, sure. But it really influences how families work.

The second piece, which I think is unique, is this is also a benefit that reinforces our belonging. So most companies have bereavement leave. So if you lose a loved one, you are able to take three days off. So for Experian here in North America, we actually offer 10 days and we do so for your chosen family, which is very different.

So oftentimes companies will say bereavement leave will apply to certain members of your family. But that is different for everyone. People who live alone and there are people who have pets. And so we wanted to open that up and say whoever your chosen family is, and if you need time to bereave the death of a loved one, you have 10 days to do so.

And we're very proud of that benefit as well. And so it's these little things that we do that really reinforce our values of inclusion and make our culture the best kept secret. I don't get to talk about this.

Jena Dunay: Yeah, you should talk about it.

Mary A. Burke: I know. And there's plenty more around that, and those are just the two things that really hit home for me.

Jena Dunay: Yeah, you had mentioned career development as well. Tell me a little bit about how that plays out at your organization.

Mary A. Burke: Well, career development at Experian. So you can imagine how heavy of a lift this can be for a large enterprise. And so I'm super proud to share that we actually have a global AI platform called My Career that is AI enabled and highly personalized to each employee.

And so what this means is that you can create your own development plans depending on where you want to go. And it's almost like a AI GPS for your career. And so how it works is that I'm an engineer and I'm going to take a self assessment to gauge my strengths in terms of the skills that I have for my current role. And my manager will take an assessment as well, not to really measure performance, but to have an active dialogue on where I can continue to grow.

And then from there, if I want to be an engineering manager, My Career will curate a personalized learning plan that includes career pathways, learning plans, and internal opportunities based on where I want to go. Now, if I'm an engineer and I say people management is not for me, then it will take me to a different path.

And it will show all the internal opportunities as well so that you can navigate the world of Experian and understand your growth and career within Experian through our My Career platform.

Jena Dunay: Yeah, so I'm assuming this was something you really championed internally to get done. Why was this so important for you?

Mary A. Burke: I think it's important for me because especially now in the age of generative AI, learning is very key and critical to how we evolve the business and how we make sure everybody is included. Tomorrow I'm actually going to be doing a panel around Gen AI and the inclusion gap.

And we have to make sure that we are inclusive on how we roll out this technology and how we bring everybody along in the Gen AI journey. And so I think for me that's most important because the platform enables direct access to all employees on learning.

And with generative AI or with learning, accessibility is number one, the number one thing a lot of companies are trying to solve for. The second is trust around that. And so it really fosters that when you open it up, open up opportunities for all.

And again, just another way to drive more inclusion as part of our mantra of making everything the best job ever.

Jena Dunay: Tell me what are some, you had mentioned some values earlier in our conversation. What are some of the values that Experian has that we can kind of hold onto and grab onto if someone is thinking about, I'm interested in potentially working for them. What are the values that they have?

Mary A. Burke: We have values where we call the Experian way. And they are all about how we work together. So for example, one of the values is collaborate to win. In large organizations, sometimes working across becomes a key capability. And so it's really important that collaborating to win across is very important. We also have a value called safeguarding our future. Now as a data and technology company, protecting data and the integrity of how we manage people's data is also the fabric of how we work. And what I love about our values is that it is embedded in how we manage performance. And so what we always say is not just the what on what you accomplish, but it's also the how. And our performance management system counts the how just as much as what you achieved. And in order to be a high performer, you have to be able to deliver on your goals, but also do it in a way that exemplifies the Experian way.

Jena Dunay: Yeah, tell me, you'd kind of mentioned this, so I think it's a great segue. Who does really well at your organization and who's maybe not a great fit?

Mary A. Burke: That's a really great question. And I think it's different for different job families.

Jena Dunay: I think that's important though to say because just to pause on that really quickly, like there is an overall culture of an organization and then there are subcultures within departments and kind as you mentioned, job families. So I do think that's important for me just to note for anyone that's listening that as a, if you're a job seeker, whenever you're trying to discern like, is this company a good fit for me, especially for a large organization, is the subculture good for me as well.

Mary A. Burke: Yes. I think the number one skill that would make you successful at Experian, one and two, I guess there's plenty, but for me at this time, it's around getting comfortable with ambiguity. Because especially in the age of generative AI, there's so much we don't know. And there's a lot of experimentation that the teams are doing and getting comfortable with what could be is something that's really important. And that sort of speaks to the second value around curiosity. Curiosity drives innovation and the potential for Experian to drive innovation in the age of generative AI, owning the data, having access to the data, which data is the moat in generative AI. The opportunities are endless. So that curiosity factor is really important. And I think the third is really being able to work in complex organizations. Because I'm not going to deny the complexity of Experian. We operate in highly regulated industries. Compliance is really key. Safeguarding our future is really key. And I think living the value of safeguarding our future is going to be very important in what makes you successful at Experian.

Jena Dunay: Yeah, that's really good. And I think it's important to know, right? So we interview companies of all different sizes on our podcast. Sizes, industry, shapes, all the different things, right? And I think for a large organization, you have to be comfortable with the complexity. Because if you're not and that annoys you, it's not a good fit. We talked a lot about the great parts about your organization and no company is perfect. So tell me what's an area that you feel like is an opportunity for your team or just your organization to grow in as it relates to culture.

Mary A. Burke: That's a really good question. And I know companies are not perfect. And if I were to reflect, I think Experian could probably be better at moving at speed. And the decision point we have to make all the time is that we are a large complex organization and we need to also move fast, but it doesn't have to be an either or. Because we are known as the data stewards and that consumers trust us with their data and businesses trust us with their data, we want to make sure that we're safeguarding the data and our processes and governance need to uphold the integrity of that expectation. And with that, sometimes we don't move as quickly. And so it's always a tension point in how we want to move forward. And I think as time goes on, we do get better. We have to move faster, but we also can't take any shortcuts and need to ensure that we are safeguarding our data as companies and businesses and consumers expect us to do.

Jena Dunay: So let's transition. We've kind of been talking and speaking to the job seeker, but I'd love to also, we have people leaders that listen to this podcast. So if they are a people leader who is maybe either rising through their organization or a part of a very complex organization, what advice would you give to them as they navigate their career as a people leader?

Mary A. Burke: As a people leader and you are part of a complex organization, there's a concept that I always talk about, it's called leading across. So as leaders, we lead down to our teams, which is natural for us because that's how we evolve as people leaders. But the leading across becomes a craft, and that's basically trying to create win-win situations with peers that don't report to you, but you have shared goals and objectives. And so in complex organizations for people leaders, especially like Experian, the leading across becomes maybe more than half of their leadership responsibilities. It becomes equally important as much as leading down. And so that sort of plays into the value we have around collaborating to win because it is so important to be able to work across business units, work across functional organizations to get work done. And so that concept of leading across, getting good at that, is a key competency to navigate large organizations for a people leader.

Jena Dunay: Yeah. And then also in a large organization, I would imagine that being able to communicate what culture is, to have that play out on a day-to-day basis, it's got to be hard. I find that for larger organizations, because with a smaller organization, it's like I'm going to throw something over there, I'm going to hit my friend, and we're going to feel the culture because we're right next to each other. But for a really large organization, what are some advice or practical tips that you would even give other people leaders on how to do that in a really big large organization?

Mary A. Burke: Well, culture in simple terms is how we work. And for employees, it's how they experience work. And when I think about culture and what really shapes it, I would ask people leaders or leaders of any organization to think about how they make decisions, who they recognize, and what behaviors they tolerate in times of crisis. And I put that in times of crisis because often that's the time where behaviors sometimes are misaligned. People take shortcuts, but the best cultures stay grounded to their values and make sure that even in those situations, they make decisions carefully, they recognize good work, and they make sure they don't tolerate behaviors that sometimes come through in high stress situations. And so you can come into Experian knowing that there are projects that are high stakes, but you will always have a safe space. You will always feel like you're listened to and you trust leadership to make the right decisions. And I think that's basically, for me, a litmus test for culture. How you make decisions, who you recognize, and what behaviors you tolerate in times of crisis. And so I'm pretty proud that Experian continues to live its values in times of stress and crisis. And I think our employees see that also.

Jena Dunay: Yeah. So going back to the job seeker, if they're interested in learning more about your organization, the number one question I always get from people is that they're like, that sounds like a great company to work for. Now how do I get my resume seen? What advice would you have to job seekers to stand out and to make sure that they are getting noticed? Because it is hard in today's day and age.

Mary A. Burke: It is really hard to get noticed, but first of all, if you want to learn about Experian, feel free to follow us on our LinkedIn page, our website, and we have social media handles on Facebook and also on Instagram. But when I am recruiting and looking at resumes and where I think resume review is evolving is I'm trying to understand how candidates are augmenting themselves with generative AI. Because as we drive adoption on generative AI and we work to upskill our employees, I want to make sure that every employees that we come in are GenAI natives. And so I think there is a way to do that, and I'm sure many candidates are already GenAI natives, but how does that come through in your resume and how does that come through in how you interview?

Jena Dunay: Yeah, just to pause on that, how would you show off that you are AI forward?

Mary A. Burke: I think it's how you describe the accomplishments on how you get work done. Being very intentional on how you leverage the GenAI tool to accomplish a goal in a previous organization.

Jena Dunay: That's actually really good feedback. Anything else that you would suggest just to make sure that you're seen?

Mary A. Burke: Also on the other side, ask hiring managers to revise their job descriptions so that it shows there's an expectation to augment themselves with generative AI. It's very easy to just use an old job description and post, but it's not a real reflection of the future. And then I think for candidates also is communication is really key and high levels of EQ and empathy. In the world of GenAI, the smartest person is probably an agent. So how do you differentiate yourselves? And so there's a view that, in my opinion, the better you communicate, the higher levels of emotional intelligence you have can be a differentiator. Because we know work gets done now using agents. And so the differentiator is how you come off to people, what you stand for, how you communicate, how you work together. And it's so true, humanities and understanding human behavior is going to be really important in the next few years.

Jena Dunay: Yeah. Mary, I've so loved talking to you about just even your own career journey, how you look at culture. I think it's super valuable. And I think that anybody would be lucky to work underneath your leadership, but just in general your organization. I feel like it's definitely a company that people may not think about necessarily as a great employer, but you guys have a lot of cool benefits and a lot of great features. So I'm so glad that I got to talk to you today a little bit about your organization. If you're interested in learning more, we will have all the details in the show notes to get to their careers page, LinkedIn, and also Mary's profile. So thank you, Mary.

Mary A. Burke: Thank you, Jena.

Jena Dunay: Hey there, thanks for listening to this episode of Culture Uncovered. If you enjoyed this episode, we want to shamelessly ask you to number one, subscribe and leave us a review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, number two, share this podcast on LinkedIn or with a job seeker friend, or number three, shoot us an email if you think your company should be featured at hello@recruittheemployer.com. We will see you next week on another episode of Culture Uncovered.