September 21, 2026

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Welcome back! Football season is in full swing, but you don’t have to actually watch the games to know what’s going on. Just ask a few of your colleagues “How was your weekend?” Their responses will do the work for you.

In today’s edition:

💰 401(k) 411

⚖️ Settle down

📈 Behind the numbers

—Courtney Vinopal, Adam DeRose, Eoin Higgins

TOTAL REWARDS

401(k)s aren’t retiring

Getty Images

If HR leaders are holding onto any notion that only full-time, salaried workers are interested in contributing to a 401(k) plan, it’s safe to say they can retire that belief.

New research from payroll and benefits platform Gusto finds that the share of small businesses offering a retirement plan has grown steadily over the last seven years, with a notable pickup among those in sectors with high shares of hourly workers.

Some 31% of small businesses now offer a retirement plan to their employees, up from 19% in 2019, according to Gusto. Industries where retirement plans were rare prior to the pandemic, such as hospitality, recreation, and agriculture, saw adoption grow by more than 100% during this time period (hospitality alone saw a 200% increase). Unsurprisingly, more hourly workers now have access to a retirement plan as well, with the share of employees in this category rising to 38%, up from 21% in 2019.

What’s more, “most of that growth has been happening at very smallest employers,” with fewer than five or 10 employees, Nich Tremper, head of Gusto Insights and a senior economist with the company, told HR Brew.

For more on how SECURE 2.0 legislation has encouraged small employers to offer retirement plans, keep reading here.—CV

Sponsored By Workday

AI that gives recruiters some breathing room

Global oncology leader BeOne Medicines had a problem most companies would love: explosive growth. At their peak, 100 new hires walked through the door in a single week—a lot of volume that’s difficult to screen manually.

Fortunately for BeOne Medicines, they found Workday HiredScore AI, which was able to prioritize candidates aligned to specific role requirements. That cut screening time by 10.4 days on average, a 46% reduction in candidate screening.

Manual recruiter reviews dropped nearly 70%, and top candidates were 2.5x more likely to reach the offer stage.

One director-level role drew 3,300 applicants. Any company could have a hard time sorting that number on their own.

The AI doesn’t do the hiring but rather surfaces, prioritizes, and recommends. Human recruiters and hiring managers make every final call.

Hiring made efficient. Find out more.

DEI

Let’s settle

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The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) will limit its enforcement of certain gender-identity discrimination claims against the Christian Employers Alliance (CEA) and its members following a settlement agreement last month.

The settlement agreement ends a lawsuit that the CEA filed against the EEOC in January 2025.

The group of Christian employers argued that the EEOC “improperly applied Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to force employers to affirm and accommodate” transgender employees with mandated guidance on pronoun use, gender-affirming care, and access to sex-specific facilities, and that following the EEOC guidance could conflict with the religious beliefs of its member organizations.

The agency’s Biden-era guidance of Title VII’s ban on sex discrimination included discrimination based on gender identity and transgender status, following the landmark Supreme Court decision in Bostock v. Clayton County. The agency last year—under the current administration—began upending policies aligned with “the Biden administration’s gender identity agenda.”

For more on the settlement and what it means for EEOC enforcement of gender-identity discrimination, keep reading here.—AD

Sponsored By Leapsome

People skills 🤝 AI skills. According to Leapsome’s 2027 Workforce Trends Report, 4 in 5 companies already expect AI skills in their people teams. Their analysis of 5,000+ data points across 100 growing tech companies reveals how those HR teams operate, how big they are, and more. Get all the insights.

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Learn how companies are offering flexible pay without disrupting their regular payroll process

Check out these salary benchmarks to help inform your hiring strategy

Learn how to use benefits packages as an employee retention tool

See why the total rewards system could be a game changer for your compensation strategy

work perks

A desktop computer plugged into a green couch.

Francis Scialabba

Today’s top HR reads.

Stat: The majority (95%) of employers said they use, or plan to use, AI in HR functions. (PNC Bank)

Quote: “Relationships aren’t built through networking. They’re built through repeated evidence that you care, that you understand someone, and that you can be trusted, and that takes time.”—Lindsey Coleman, head of fixed income client coverage for the Americas at Morgan Stanley, shares her perspective on building relationships in business (Business Insider)

Read: Parents are getting involved in their teenagers’ first jobs; employers say it can cause problems. (CNBC)

Faster hiring for the humans in charge: Workday HiredScore AI helped BeOne Medicines cut candidate screening by 10.4 days on average. It surfaces and prioritizes applicants aligned to role requirements. Prioritize your hiring.*

^{*A message from our sponsor.}

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Written by Courtney Vinopal, Adam DeRose, Eoin Higgins, and Kristen Parisi

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