Artificial intelligence (AI) has made its way into many workplaces nationwide and is rapidly changing how organizations operate and make decisions. In some cases, employees may be using AI tools without their employers’ permission or knowledge.

While today’s HR professionals are tasked with many organizational goals ranging from improving employee engagement to attracting and retaining talent, such initiatives take time, resources and continuous effort. As such, building and maintaining successful HR initiatives can be challenging without support from the overall organization and leadership.

With today’s tight labor market, employers are looking to strengthen their attraction and retention efforts as much as possible. One way to aid this is by creating accurate job titles. However, some employers put an excessive focus on making the titles unnecessarily attractive for potential candidates with a practice called title inflation.

In 2020, the U.S. Congress passed the Families First Coronavirus Response Act in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. This act required states to maintain Medicaid coverage for most enrollees and barred disenrollment for Medicaid recipients during the public health emergency (PHE) to help ensure that individuals had health coverage during the pandemic.

According to a recent poll from management consulting company Gallup, less than 25% of U.S. employees feel strongly that their employer cares about their well-being—the lowest percentage in nearly a decade. Even though employers are increasingly focusing on workplace wellness, there are ways to ensure that employees actually feel as though their overall well-being is being supported and cared for.

The introduction of artificial intelligence (AI) tools such as ChatGPT, Eightfold and HireVue is forever changing the HR landscape. Leveraging this new technology can help organizations enhance several HR functions and may be particularly helpful to many small employers without HR departments or personnel by saving them time and resources they would normally put toward such functions to focus on growing their businesses.

Minimizing financial exposure to catastrophic health care claims is a priority for employers with self-funded health plans, especially as these types of claims become more common due to rapid cost increases. Stop-loss insurance helps self-funded employers protect themselves from higher-than-anticipated health claim payouts by limiting their exposure to employee medical claims that exceed a predetermined amount.

Developing and conducting employee surveys can help employers understand vital aspects of their organizations, such as worker satisfaction and company culture, as well as learn more about the employees who work there. It’s important to take note of how employees view their organizations because it can provide information on how to make the workplace more enjoyable, thus strengthening retention rates, improving morale and increasing productivity.

Today in the United States, workers are not guaranteed paid leave by federal law, and many aren’t entitled to unpaid time. To address this issue, President Joe Biden released a budget plan earlier this year, allocating $325 billion to a permanent paid family and medical leave program.

Small businesses often don’t have the resources or expertise required to conduct every necessary function. That’s where vendors come in; they provide access to expertise, products and services that help a business run.

A report from the National Council on Compensation Insurance (NCCI) found that the current inflationary environment has contributed to rising medical costs and workers’ compensation expenses across the country.

The cost of prescription drugs in the United States is the highest in the developed world and is rising quickly. In fact, Americans often pay more for prescription drugs than individuals in comparable countries. According to a 2021 RAND Corporation study, U.S. prescription drug prices were 256% of those in the combined 32 comparison countries.

As health care costs continue to rise, many employers are searching for ways to control costs while keeping benefits affordable and attractive to employees. For some employers, self-funded plans can be an effective strategy for lowering health care costs. Many employers have adopted these plans in recent years.

In its spring regulatory agenda, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) shared that it intends to issue a proposed overtime rule in May 2023. According to the regulatory agenda, this proposed rule is expected to address how to implement the exemption for executive, administrative and professional employees (EAPs) from the Fair Labor Standards Act’s (FLSA) minimum wage and overtime requirements.

Many employers experience a growing need to upskill or reskill their workers to address talent shortages. As such, a skills gap analysis can be an important tool to drive and shape workforce planning. Such an analysis sheds light on talent opportunities and allows employers to examine and optimize business priorities.

A recent study from Metlife found that an increasing number of employees feel they are not receiving the benefits they need from employers. Employee satisfaction with benefit offerings has fallen to 61% in 2023 from 64% in 2022, reaching its lowest point in the past decade of the study’s history.

Having a primary care physician is one of the most important things an individual can do for their health, as it helps ensure they receive regular check-ups, aids in preventive care and allows for intervention before more intensive treatment is required. However, according to a recent study by nonprofit organization Kaiser Family Foundation, 17% of women and 28% of men in the United States don’t have a primary care physician.

A recent survey conducted by Forbes Advisor found that nearly 40% of employers reported that employees leave their jobs to find an opportunity that offers better employee benefits. A higher salary is an important reason employees reported leaving their jobs (32%), yet other reasons, including better benefits (26%), better advancement opportunities (22%) and flexible work-from-home options (20%), are also driving factors.

Employers struggling to attract and retain workers may be overlooking a leading driver of turnover: inclusion. In fact, nearly 40% of American employees would switch jobs to be part of a more inclusive workplace culture, according to a survey by QuestionPro Workforce and EQ Community.

A recent survey from Maven found that 87% of surveyed employers believe family benefits are highly valued by employees. The survey consisted of 1,100 employees and 600 HR professionals. According to the findings, nearly two-thirds of employers plan to expand family benefits offerings within the next three years.