September 09, 2026

Presented By

Hi there! It’s hump day. That’s the whole pitch. But since you’re here, tickets to The Total Rewards Equation are 25% off with code MIDWEEK25, Sept. 17 in New York.

In today’s edition:

💸 Just drop it

🤖 Am (A)I the problem?

📊 Data wanted

—Courtney Vinopal, Mikaela Cohen, Adam DeRose

TOTAL REWARDS

Weighing options

Stack of GLP-1s from Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk

Getty Images

GLP-1 medications for weight loss are biting into large employers’ budgets, and in some cases coverage has become financially untenable, recent examples suggest.

Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan recently said that the company is spending more than $250 million annually on GLP-1s, representing 13% of its total healthcare spending. BofA has no plans to drop coverage, though, as Moynihan cited both short- and long-term benefits for the workforce and the bank, which anticipates spending less on healthcare for obesity-related conditions, such as cardiovascular events.

Starbucks, on the other hand, recently stopped covering GLP-1s for weight loss, Business Insider reported on Aug. 7. The coffee chain isn’t the only high-profile employer to do so—PwC told US staff they would no longer cover the medications for weight loss back in the spring, according to the Financial Times. Though neither company disclosed their GLP-1 spend, a recent survey indicates that the costs of this drug category are prompting some large employers to reconsider coverage. Nearly 8 in 10 employers surveyed by the Business Group on Health, whose members include large organizations, said GLP-1s were driving an increase in their company’s health costs, and 10% say they likely wouldn’t continue coverage in 2027.

Such examples show how the rising popularity of GLP-1s are affecting decision-making around benefits, even as policymakers seek to lower the cost of the medications.

For more on the employers grappling with the high costs of GLP-1s, and where the market is headed, keep reading here.—CV

Sponsored By Workday

The potential cure for your talent shortage

Hiring for one open role is hard enough. But having 100 new hires join in a single week? That’s the tough task BeOne Medicines faced—so they turned to Workday HiredScore AI for help.

With Workday HiredScore AI, BeOne Medicines was able to keep up with their super-fast growth, thanks to:

10.4 days saved in candidate screening time
a nearly 70% reduction in manual recruiter reviews
the surfacing of top candidates who were 2.5x more likely to reach the offer stage

Even though HiredScore helps find and prioritize candidates, human recruiters and hiring managers still get the final say.

Read more of BeOne Medicines’ story to see how automation can help streamline hiring efficiency.

RECRUITMENT & RETENTION

Mo’ AI, mo’ problems

Francis Scialabba

AI is creating mo’ solutions, and maybe problems.

Many recruiters use AI tools to sift through résumés and source candidates, but more and more HR pros are growing concerned about the rise of AI application fraud.

While 78% of people pros say AI increases hiring and onboarding efficiency, 36% report the rise of AI-generated candidate information has reduced their confidence in hiring decisions, an Equifax report found. Nearly three-fourths (73%) of HR pros have seen “fabricated or misleading candidate information.”

“What we’re seeing is there’s more efficiency. It’s a faster process…The challenge is the stories of the folks who slip through,” Chris Johnson, a SVP and general manager of employer services at Equifax, said. “They’re stories both of human error in the process, but they’re also stories of opportunities for us to incorporate AI into the process, so we can check for fraud along the way.”

For more on what HR can do to reduce the risk of AI-related applicant fraud in the hiring process, keep reading here.—MC

Sponsored By Scribe

Add ease to your SOPs. There’s an easier way to document your workflows. Scribe captures workflows as employees perform them and automatically turns them into step-by-step guides, complete with screenshots and instructions. It already helped New York Life employees save an average of 41.6 hours per month on documentation. See what it can do for you.

work perks

A desktop computer plugged into a green couch.

Francis Scialabba

Today’s top HR reads.

Stat: Since 2025, 12% fewer employers are covering GLP-1s as a treatment for obesity. (Business Group on Health)

Quote: “The Trump administration is systematically weakening policies and institutions that give workers a voice, that give workers protections and that hold employers accountable. He’s been doing that from day one, and since then it has absolutely continued and accelerated. You see attacks on every kind of worker protection from safety and health to wage and hour protections. Policy after policy after policy goes directly against the interests of workers.”—Heidi Shierholz, president of the progressive think tank the Economic Policy Institute, on the growing criticism from organized labor claiming President Trump is “the most anti-union president” (the Guardian)

Read: Nike is again bracing against pushback from conservatives, this time from a group of investors urging the athletic apparel and footwear company to abandon in its employee health plans gender affirming care for minors, claiming the benefit puts the company at legal risk after the Supreme Court last year cleared the way for states to ban puberty blockers and hormone therapy for minors seeking to transition. (Bloomberg)

Less reading, more treating: That’s the deal BeOne Medicines got when they started using Workday HiredScore AI to keep up with their rapid growth. Read their story to see how HiredScore helped them find the right talent faster.*

^{*A message from our sponsor.}

Music-to-HR career pivot

Illustration: Morning Brew Inc., Photo: Allie Shulman

Allie Shulman didn’t plan to become a people leader. Her path from music into HR shows how an unconventional route can still lead to “using power for good” in the role.

Check it out

Share the Brew

Share the Brew, watch your referral count climb, and unlock brag-worthy swag.

Your friends get smarter. You get rewarded. Win-win.

Your referral count: 0

Click to Share

Or copy & paste your referral link to others:
hr-brew.com/r/?kid=9196cb13

Written by Courtney Vinopal, Mikaela Cohen, and Adam DeRose

Was this email forwarded to you? Sign up here.

Get smarter in just 5 minutes

Business News: Morning Brew
Tech & AI News: Tech Brew
Markets News: Brew Markets
Real Estate News: The Playbook
Money & Career: Bossy

Take The Brew to work

Interested in podcasts?

Check out People Person on Apple, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts.

ADVERTISE//CAREERS//SHOP//FAQ

Update your email preferences or unsubscribe here.
View our privacy policy here.

Copyright © 2026 Morning Brew Inc. All rights reserved.
22 W 19th St, 4th Floor, New York, NY 10011

☕ It’s weighing on me