Money is still the draw for applicants: If you want to hire someone new, you've got to show them the money. Workers say they want more money than ever for a new job. The latest data from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York shows that the reservation wage — the average lowest wage a respondent would be willing to accept for a new job — hit a series high in July 2026. Workers say their asking price is now $88,387, up over $10,000 from March 2025. It's a stark figure in a labor market that's shown signs of weakness. Why are workers demanding more in a market that wants to offer them less? The soaring reservation wage shows how strongly workers may be clinging to their current roles and how risk-averse they've become. In a weak labor market, expecting a hefty pay hike might feel like a big ask.  Despite the results of the NY Fed survey, workers actually on the job hunt have signaled that they're willing to take a pay cut just to get hired post-layoff. "What this signals about the economy is workers and job seekers know their value and believe inflation will continue to be elevated. That said, while this is what workers want, they aren't necessarily getting it," Heather Long, chief economist at Navy Federal Credit Union, said.  Source: Business Insider 8/31/26

Open enrollment coming up. What do employees want: Just 38% of employees say they feel confident navigating open enrollment, according to a new study, highlighting an opportunity for benefit leaders to use AI-enabled decision-support tools to make those choices easier. The research from Prudential’s 2026 Benefits & Beyond study suggests that employees are more likely to value their benefits when those offerings feel relevant to their lives. That personalization can also make workers more confident in their benefit choices and more likely to feel connected to their employers. While 89% of employers say their benefits package demonstrates that they care about employees, only 66% of employees agree. That gap narrows from 23 percentage points to 8 percentage points when employees believe their benefits help them meet their current challenges. Accommodations for employees with disabilities can also strengthen company culture and signal a commitment to equity and respect. Both employers and employees say providing reasonable accommodations has a positive impact, but employers are 14 percentage points more likely to say so (89% versus 75%). Personalization of benefits may not be easy and may be very costly. Source: EBN 9/1/26

Attitude more important for hiring than other factors: Worker personality may matter as much if not more than worker skills, according to survey results published Wednesday by Express Employment Professionals and The Harris Poll. In fact, 86% of the more than 1,000 U.S. hiring decision-makers surveyed said the right personality could outweigh a candidate’s skills gap, potentially pointing to the power of soft skills in the workplace.  Hiring managers typically assess personality through informal interactions, situational questions, behavioral interview questions, and reference checks, survey results showed. Hiring managers and job seekers agreed that the traits with the highest value are reliability, honesty, adaptability, flexibility, and self-motivation — skills that play a large role in the recent technological shifts taking place at work. Per a TestGorilla report released last year, most employers surveyed said evaluating the whole candidate leads to better results; 78% of those surveyed said they’d hired a candidate with strong technical skills who ultimately did not fit well into the company due to a lack of soft skills. Source: HR Dive 9/1/26

HSAs balances getting healthier: The average health savings account (HSA) balance reached $6,477 in 2025, according to recent research from the Plan Sponsor Council of America (PSCA). The 2026 Health Savings Account Survey attributed this to increased participation: 83% of employees with an HSA contributed to their account, up from 73.4% in 2024. The average employee contribution was $2,829 in 2025. The majority (77.2%) of employers also contributed to employees’ HSAs, with 61.3% providing a set contribution based on coverage level, up from 54.9% in 2024. The survey, sponsored by HSA Bank, found nearly two-thirds (65.5%) of employers cite employee education as the most common HSA concern while just half provide HSA education only during open enrollment. Investments like 401(k) are available in many HSAs. According to the survey 22% of participants invested their HSA savings, up from 20.3% in 2024 and 18.9% in 2023. Meanwhile, 68.5% of employers now offer HSA investment options, a 12.8% increase from 2022. Further, nearly 46% of all organizations surveyed automatically enroll employees in an HSA when they enroll in an HSA-qualified health plan, up from 43.1% in 2024 and up from 35.1% five years ago. Finally, 35% of organizations reward employees for health and wellness program participation, up from 32.0% the year before. Source: PSCA 8/24/26

Another day another AI warning: A group of more than 200 economists and AI researchers, including over a dozen Nobel laureates, released a statement Monday warning that AI could drive an economic transformation larger than the Industrial Revolution on a far shorter timeline, with large-scale job displacement among the key risks. The brief letter, “We Must Act Now,” calls on economists, policymakers, and technology leaders to build the institutions needed to steer AI toward complementing human workers, rather than displacing them. How fast the transformation will be is unclear but will be extremely disruptive per the letter. Source: HR Executive 7/16/26

OSHA releases opioid guidance: OSHA has issued new guidance advising employers how to prepare for and respond to opioid-related overdose emergencies in the workplace, framing overdose preparedness as part of a broader workforce recovery strategy. The guidance, titled Opioid Overdose Rescue with Reversal Medications, encourages employers to maintain overdose reversal medications, train workers to recognize overdose symptoms, and establish emergency response procedures. Specifically, OSHA’s fact sheet highlights key opioid overdose preparedness strategies, including:

• Keep lifesaving FDA-approved reversal medications – such as naloxone or nalmefene – on hand. These safe, life-saving medications quickly restore normal breathing and generally have no effect if opioids are not present.
• Treat overdose kits like first aid by storing them in highly visible, easily accessible locations, just like automated external defibrillators or standard first-aid kits.
• Educate workers on how to identify critical symptoms of an overdose, such as slow or stopped breathing, blue lips or skin, pinpoint pupils, or unresponsiveness.
• Prepare for rapid action in an emergency by training workers to administer the medication, safely position the individual, and provide supportive care while waiting for first responders.

OSHA’s guidance emphasizes that while these medications are critical, workplace responders should always call 911 immediately because the medication’s effects are temporary, and professional medical care is still required. Source: USDOL 9/24/26