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Compensation & Benefits

Share facilities and employees? DOL opinion says add hours together

10/20/2025
Ordinarily, working a second job for a separate employer doesn’t trigger overtime based on the total hours worked for both employers. But if the employers are closely affiliated, they may be joint employers.

Rethinking compensation: Can higher salaries drive RTO initiatives?

10/20/2025
When leaders start dangling higher pay to entice remote workers to return to the office, HR teams must reassess how they position compensation.

GLP-1 drugs are reshaping benefit budgets and premium prices

10/20/2025
Employer health plans are feeling the ripple effects of one of today’s most talked-about medications. Once prescribed mainly for Type 2 diabetes, GLP-1 drugs such as Ozempic, Wegovy and Zepbound are now widely used for weight management—and increasingly covered by employers.

Protect your company by getting wage-and-hour rules right

10/14/2025
At the 2025 HR Specialist Summit, Carrie Hoffman reminded attendees that the Fair Labor Standards Act doesn’t grant employers much leeway. Exemptions are narrowly construed, the burden of proof is on the company and even small oversights can snowball into class claims.

New Mexico to offer universal free day care

09/29/2025
For parents of preschool-age children, finding day care is difficult and expensive. Now one state has taken a big step towards solving the problem by starting up universal free day care. New Mexico’s plan may serve as a model for other states.

Employers brace for steepest health insurance cost surge in 15 years

09/22/2025
Employers are staring down a projected 9–10% jump in health insurance costs for 2026—the sharpest annual increase in at least 15 years. After several consecutive years of already heavy hikes, the average annual cost for family coverage now hovers around $25,500.

Pay transparency takes root as employers prepare for stricter standards

09/15/2025
A majority of U.S. employers are taking deliberate steps toward greater pay transparency—even when not legally required—according to WTW, a global advisory and consulting firm, in its 2025 Pay Transparency Survey.

DOL hints new overtime rules may be coming

09/15/2025
The Department of Labor’s delayed spring 2025 regulatory agenda includes a separate item on long-term regulatory plans, which includes working on overtime rules.

New benefit trend trades PTO for cash or other benefits

09/08/2025
There’s a new benefit trend some employers are trying—but like anything, it comes with tradeoffs.

Cutting HR’s leave workload with self-service tools

09/08/2025
Managing employee leave has become one of HR’s biggest administrative burdens—complex laws, rising requests and endless manual tracking eat away at already limited bandwidth. At SHRM 2025, Susan Stowell, Marci Cyr and Angel Bennett of the insurance company Unum argued that digital self-service portals can change that equation, reducing compliance headaches, cutting down on employee inquiries and giving HR more time to focus on strategy.