Senior HR and C-suite leaders are finalizing their 2026 plans in the middle of rapid change in AI, compliance, and employee wellbeing. These eight questions are designed to help you thoughtfully pressure-test your readiness, surface gaps in total rewards, and better align your culture, skills, and governance. You’ll also find clear to-dos and helpful links to make it easier to turn well-intentioned plans into real progress for your people and your organization.

A practical, people-first career development strategy is one of the most effective ways to close today’s AI-era skills gaps while boosting retention and performance. By building and maintaining a clear skills library, conducting regular skills audits, and creating individualized development plans supported by multimodal learning options, HR and business leaders can provide employees with a transparent path to growth. When all of this is reinforced with thoughtful change management and continuous employee feedback, career development becomes a true competitive advantage.

Tracking employee beneficiaries is essential for benefits compliance and risk mitigation. Beneficiaries designate who receives monetary benefits from retirement plans, life insurance, and similar programs upon an employee's death. Proper beneficiary management protects organizations while helping employees prepare their families for unexpected events. As an HR Business Partner, I am often working with clients to ensure their benefits and 401(k) administration is both in compliance and following HR best practices. One key aspect of benefits and 401(k) administration is tracking your employee beneficiaries. Ensuring that your employees have designated and up-to-date beneficiary information is both a way to mitigate risk for your organization and help your employees be prepared to protect their plans and help their families in the event of an unexpected tragedy. Below are five common questions that I hear from clients and employees about beneficiaries:

Employee expectations around mental health benefits have shifted from "should we offer them?" to "how do we do this well?" Employers that move beyond compliance to provide accessible, stigma-free mental health support gain a measurable edge in retention and engagement. This article outlines five actionable steps to transform mental health programs into true talent retention tools — from assessing current offerings and removing access barriers to empowering managers and integrating wellbeing into your employee value proposition.

Most mid-market employers will hold 2026 salary increase budgets near 3.5% while health benefit costs are projected to rise about 6.5%. Stay competitive by reallocating toward market and equity fixes, rewarding performance and critical skills, keeping a mid-year reserve, refreshing ranges, and clearly communicating total rewards.

Mid-market employers face rising complexity in leave administration as laws evolve, and employee expectations grow. New data from NFP’s 2026 U.S. Leave Management Report highlights five trends: sick leave harmonization, uneven PTO usage, redesign of admin models, parental-leave equity, and expanded holiday calendars.