New federal minimum wage? Republican Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Missouri) on Tuesday introduced legislation that would increase the federal minimum wage to $15 per hour from the current $7.25 per hour.  If adopted, the bill, dubbed the “Higher Wages for American Works Act of 2025,” would increase the hourly standard wage to $15 starting Jan. 1, 2026, and would also include subsequent annual increases to index with inflation. The federal wage has not seen an increase since 2009. The bill is being co-sponsored by Democrat Sen. Peter Welch (D-Vermont), who on his website indicates he would like to see the federal wage go up even further to $17 per hour.  For Hawley, supporting a $15 per hour wage runs counter to conservative ideology. But the move is reportedly reflective of a Trump-era attempt to shift working-class voters away from Democrats and toward the Republican Party. President Trump, in an interview with "Meet the Press," in December indicated he was open to the idea of some kind of increase in the federal minimum, though he did not indicate a target. With a republican leading this charge, there is a strong possibility of passage.  Source: Restaurant Business 6/10/25

No raise – maybe I will find another job: Organizations delaying pay rises are reporting higher turnover and disengagement in their workforce, according to new research.  The latest findings from Robert Walters revealed the consequences of pushing back salary hikes for professionals and white-collar workers, even if it stems from difficult financial positions.  It found that 49% of organizations that delayed pay hikes reported an increase in employee turnover. Another 36% said delaying pay raises led to disengagement within their teams. The report further found that 57% of employees who didn't receive a pay rise this year are now actively looking for a new job. This is also the case for 65% of employees who received a lower-than-expected pay hike. According to the report, 53% of business leaders said budget constraints and business performance were the reasons why they delayed or reduced employees' pay rises.  Source: HR Director 6/10/25

AI is breaking the pipeline for entry level employees: AI is redefining work as we know it, and implementing it company-wide is one of the major challenges that HR leaders are currently facing. On one hand, the new tech holds the promise of taking rote tasks and generally drudgery out of employees’ workflow. But because those tasks are often done by entry-level workers, it has the potential to create another problem: Breaking the talent pipeline for young people entering the workforce. “I think there’s a small, short term, realistic thing that’s happening as people are saying, we don’t know what these entry-level hires will do, because with our old programs, we don’t need them to do those things anymore,” said Nickle LaMoreaux, the CHRO of technology giant IBM at Tech Week 2025 in New York City on June 6.   But she urges companies to take a wider-lens approach to how the tech can contour work, not kill it altogether. At IBM, she says that her department now uses an AI bot to assist with basic HR tasks like locating benefit information. While entry-level HR workers might have been tasked with doing that in the past, they now do things like analyze the feedback around AI processes and troubleshoot ways to improve.  Source: 6/9/25

Colorado extends paid leave for NICU: Colorado workers will be entitled to an additional 12 weeks of paid family and medical leave starting next year if they have a child being treated in a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). Gov. Jared Polis signed a bill into law amending the state’s Family and Medical Leave Insurance (FAMLI) program on May 30. Colorado is the first state to offer extended leave to parents with babies in the NICU. Starting Jan. 1, 2026, workers with children in the NICU may receive double the amount of leave, a total of 24 weeks. The additional 12 weeks of leave should be taken for the duration of time a child is receiving treatment in the NICU, according to the bill’s text. Though Colorado is the first state to extend paid leave for NICU parents, some states have found other ways to enhance their benefits for workers with families in recent years. New York, for example, now requires employers to offer 20 hours of paid prenatal leave to pregnant workers annually.  Some employers have incorporated enhanced leave offerings into their total rewards, as well. Both Pinterest and Morgan Stanley offer NICU leave to their employees.  Source: HR Brew 6/11/25

Too little resources for L&D: Employers may be struggling to invest in training beyond that required to keep their businesses running, according to a report from RedThread Research released April 24. Schoox, a front-line workforce training company, licensed the report.  The report sorted front-line worker development into three domains: keeping the lights on, improving the work, and planning for the future. Most organizations are fully invested in what RedThread referred to as “license-to-operate” training efforts which includes safety training and compliance measures. While that development is critical, the report said, companies are leaving “too little time, budget, and other resources” to invest in not only future-proofing but improving current performance.  Balance does not mean an equal investment in every area, however, RedThread emphasized. Instead, leaders need to pick priorities in each domain.  For example, license-to-operate efforts can be distilled to focus on the absolute essentials. To do so, employers may focus on tightening up proficiency requirements or reducing inconsistency in training content, the report said. Preparing for the future may involve efforts such as building career frameworks and offering coaching, the report said.  Source: HR Dive 4/29/25