HR Mgmt
Summer is not over yet, and HR Dive has compiled a summer reading list for HR professionals, featuring fiction and non-fiction works that explore the world of work and the workplace, ranging from a robot with near-human intelligence opening a noodle shop to how direct management empowers employees, with diverse book themes.
Insperity and HR Dive's Studio by Informa TechTarget surveyed 150 HR leaders and 200 C-suite executives, finding broad agreement on HR's purpose but significant misalignment on its practical role, executive support, and strategic impact. Only 14% of executives view HR as a strategic growth partner, while 51% expect HR to propose solutions when performance declines. The survey highlights six critical questions—from defining HR's function to valuing its perspective—that must be aligned to unlock HR's full potential.
Over the past decade, the workplace has undergone dramatic changes, with enterprises facing multiple pressures including labor shortages, compliance evolution, cross-state employment, rising benefit costs, and rapid technological iteration. Although the one-stop services provided by traditional Professional Employer Organizations (PEOs) still hold value, more and more employers are beginning to ask: do the solutions truly fit their own operational methods? Flexibility is becoming a key factor in procurement decisions. From retaining existing benefit plans to supplementing specialized services such as risk control, SUTA management, or instant wage access, enterprises want to combine services on demand rather than accept bundled offerings. This trend is reshaping next-generation PEO products—for example, CoAd, launched after the merger of PrimePay and CoAdvantage, advocates building workforce solutions on demand.
Growth is an important milestone for small and medium enterprises, but it also brings operational complexity and cultural challenges. Drawing on data from Gallup and HiBob, this article explores how to maintain employee trust and corporate culture during expansion through reliable compensation systems, transparent communication, and manager empowerment.
For years, employers have responded to employee needs by continuously adding benefit programs, but the more benefits there are, the more fragmented the healthcare experience becomes. Faced with numerous entry points, employees often struggle to answer basic questions. Elevance Health proposes that the next step is not to add more programs, but to create a clear, coherent, and easy-to-use healthcare experience that enables employees to confidently use existing resources.
On August 4, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit ruled that employers are not necessarily required to allow employees to first correct authenticity issues with FMLA certification before contacting the medical provider. The ruling reversed a lower court's decision in favor of the employee and remanded the case for further proceedings.
Julie Hocker, Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Department of Labor for Disability Employment Policy, stated at the 2026 Disability Management Employer Coalition Annual Conference in Nashville that successful return-to-work programs should feature three key characteristics: 'early, coordinated, and continuous.' She cited data showing that the probability of an employee returning to work after 12 weeks of absence is about 50%, and declines significantly thereafter. Hocker believes that work itself is part of recovery, and employers should proactively build pathways for return. DMEC CEO Bryon Bass noted that only about 40% of employers have formal workplace support programs, a 7-percentage-point decrease from two years ago, which is concerning.