Is the company picnic dead? Long a staple but in recent years fading, company picnics have been a morale booster and networking opportunity for employees.  Work picnics go beyond a simple lunch outdoors, delivering real value for your teams and your company's culture. At a company event, employees leave their usual work environment and feel more comfortable engaging in conversations, sparking friendships, and forming supportive relationships. Studies show friendships at work drive innovation and decrease turnover. Informal settings like picnics also allow team members to relax, leading to open dialogue and organic problem-solving. The more connected and supported your employees feel, the sooner fresh ideas start flowing across teams.  A great work picnic isn't just about food and fresh air. Ignite friendly rivalries with competitive team-building activities like relay races, cornhole, or team-based games. When you encourage competitive team building, you break down barriers and reveal hidden strengths. Employees bond as they strategize, solve problems, and celebrate victories together. Introducing games with unique twists or creative storytelling can add excitement and engage and inspire participants. By establishing a culture of camaraderie, you'll create a sense of trust that's sure to pay off during high-pressure work projects.  Source: EBN 6/25/25

New benefit – telehealth for pets: Pet benefits may seem trendy, but access to convenient, affordable vet care is high on employees' lists of supportive offerings. For Synchrony, a consumer financial services company, employee input on the most impactful benefits prompted a partnership with global veterinary telehealth platform Airvet in January 2024. Employees have free, 24/7 digital access to expert vet care. They can even have medicine prescribed for their pets.  While an in-person vet office may be good about returning calls, the recommendation is almost always to come into the clinic. According to CareCredit, the average emergency vet visit for a dog ranges from $96 to $236. If the emergency happens on a weekend, the cost can climb into the thousands. While Airvet will recommend in-person services if necessary, by using its vet telehealth services, 70% of unnecessary in-person visits are avoided and members save an average of $1,000 a year.  Source: EBN 5/28/25

RTO not a barrier for employees: Randstad USA's latest Workmonitor Pulse survey revealed that 70% of employees prefer greater employability over the ability to work remotely.  In fact, 63% of the respondents said they are unlikely to leave their jobs if asked to come on-site three or more days a week. The findings indicate a shift in employees' mindset on office returns, which the report attributed to lingering uncertainty in the market.  Organizations, such as Intel, Volvo, Nissan, Panasonic, among others, have been implementing layoffs to streamline their workforces in the wake of external challenges.  LinkedIn also revealed that 37% of jobseekers said they are hearing back less from organizations, despite applying to more jobs than ever.  But employees don't plan on coming to the office without expecting anything from their employers, according to Randstad.  It found that 63% of employees would expect more flexibility with their work hours when they return on-site. Another 62% said they expect more annual leave days and a higher salary.  The findings underscore the importance of making office returns "commute worthy" for employees. In fact, a poll from Ringover last year revealed that 96.3% of employees in the U.S. would be willing to return on-site if it came with a variety of benefits. Source: HR Director 6/3/25

Cryptocurrency in 401(k)s: On May 28, 2025, the Department of Labor (“DOL”) issued Compliance Assistance Release No. 2025-01 which rescinds the DOL’s prior Compliance Assistance Release No. 2022-1 which had warned 401(k) plan fiduciaries against adding cryptocurrencies as direct investment options under their plans. In the 2022 guidance, the DOL noted that these types of investments “present significant risks and challenges to participants’ retirement accounts, including significant risks of fraud, theft, and loss” due to (among other things) the evolving regulatory environment surrounding these investments, their speculative nature, valuation concerns, and the likely inability of the average participant to be able to sufficiently understand the investment and make an informed decision. The 2025 guidance does not change a plan fiduciary’s duties of prudence, loyalty, and diversification when considering whether to add an investment option (cryptocurrency-related or otherwise) to their plan’s investment lineup. Notwithstanding the seemingly warmer approach towards allowing cryptocurrency investments in 401(k) plans, without a safe harbor protecting plan fiduciaries who offer such an investment option, it remains to be seen whether this guidance will actually impact the offering of cryptocurrency in defined contribution plans.  Source: Proskauer 5/29/25

ESG consideration in 401(K) management is prohibited: The U.S. Department of Labor informed the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that it will abandon the Biden administration’s rule allowing pension plan fiduciaries to consider ESG factors and other “collateral benefits” in tiebreaker situations, according to court documents.  A lawyer with the Department of Justice’s civil division appellate staff said in a letter that “the Department has determined that it will engage in a new rulemaking on the subject of the challenged rule.” The new rulemaking process will be included in the Trump administration’s spring regulatory agenda, according to the May 28th letter.  The Biden administration’s rule was challenged by a coalition of 26 Republican-led states, though had thus far held up in the face of litigation. The Labor Department asked for a temporary pause in the legal proceedings last month as it weighed rescinding the rule. A judge granted a 30-day pause, directing the agency to provide an update on what further actions it planned to take, with Wednesday’s filing representing the government’s response.  Source: HR Dive 5/29/25