Workspan Daily News Bytes for Oct. 10, 2025

Poll: Workers Truly Prefer Human Support in Benefits Guidance

With open enrollment season underway, a report released Tuesday, Oct. 7, by New York Life Group Benefit Solutions showed American workers value human-centric, technology-enabled benefits guidance to meet their needs and close the benefits knowledge gap. 

Sixty-two percent of the 858 U.S. workers surveyed by the insurance provider said they have an especially strong preference for human support when discussing sensitive life events. Examples include bereavement, caregiving, childcare, mental health and pregnancy. Fifty-four percent expressed a notable preference for human support when working to resolve a billing or claim matter.

Other findings suggest workers want options, with human support consistently ranking at the top:

• Toward understanding time-off policies, 70% favor either “human support only” (39%) or a hybrid combination of artificial intelligence (AI), digital and human support (31%).
• When enrolling in new benefits, 68% favor only human support (37%) or a hybrid combination (31%).
• In seeking to address their various benefits-related needs, less than 10% are interested in AI-only support.

“These results make clear that despite the proliferation of AI and digital benefits tools, when it comes to life’s most personal and sensitive moments, people want to feel supported by another human being,” said Orla Nixon, the head of claim operations at New York Life Group Benefit Solutions. “Technology plays an important role in creating efficiency and expanding access, but it should not replace the compassion and empathy employees rely on during critical times.”

ADP: Private-Sector Job Creation Slow, Pay Up 4.5% YOY

Private-sector employers in the U.S. shed 32,000 jobs in September and pay to their workers was up 4.5% year-over-year, according to two reports released Oct. 1 by payroll services firm ADP.

The monthly National Employment Report is an independent measure of the labor market based on the anonymized weekly payroll data of more than 26 million private-sector employees in the United States. The monthly Pay Insights Report captures nearly 14.8 million individual pay change observations each month.

Job creation continued to lose momentum across most sectors, according to the employment report.

Changes by industry included:

• Education/health services, +33,000
• Natural resources/mining, +4,000
• Information, +3,000
• Manufacturing, -2,000
• Construction, -5,000
• Trade/transportation/utilities, -7,000
• Financial activities, -9,000
• Professional/business services, -13,000
• Other services, -16,000
• Leisure/hospitality, -19,000

Year-over-year pay growth for job-stayers changed little in September. Pay gains for job-changers slowed to 6.6% from 7.1% in August, led by leisure and hospitality and financial activities.

The median change in annual pay was 4.5% for job-stayers and 6.6% for job-changers.

Based on industry, the median annual pay for job-stayers showed:

• Financial activities, 5.2%
• Manufacturing, 4.7%
• Construction, 4.5%
• Leisure/hospitality, 4.5%
• Education/health services, 4.4%
• Information, 4.3%
• Natural resources/mining, 4.3%
• Trade/transportation/utilities, 4.3%
• Professional/business services, 4.2%
• Other services, 4.1%

To view the data on employment and pay based on U.S. state, gender, age and firm size, see their full reports.

Most Organizations Unprepared for EU Pay Transparency Directive

Fewer than 1 in 5 organizations are ready to meet the requirements of the European Union Pay Transparency Directive (EUPTD) based on their current pay equity practices, according to new research from Trusaic, a pay equity and regulatory compliance software company.

Set to take effect in June 2026, the EUPTD is designed to combat pay discrimination and address persistent gender pay disparities across the EU.

Key findings in Trusaic’s “2025 Pay Equity Policies and Practices Report: EUPTD Lens” include:

• Organizations are not analyzing all required components of pay. Just 16% of surveyed organizations are ready to meet the requirements of the EUPTD using base pay. This figure drops to 3% when using total cash compensation, which includes short-term incentives such as bonuses for achieving immediate goals like sales targets, and to 2% when using total direct compensation, which includes long-term incentives like stock-based rewards. Excluding these can obscure actual gender pay disparities and undermine the intent of the EUPTD.
• Internal and external pay transparency is limited. Most organizations are only disclosing pay information with internal leadership or their HR and legal teams. Few organizations make pay equity results public or disclose full salary ranges to their employees, limiting accountability and trust.
• The methods for analyzing pay equity lack rigor. Fifty percent of surveyed organizations analyze pay equity using basic statistics, which fail to account for factors like education, experience or job responsibilities. Fewer (37%) use multiple regression analysis, the method best aligned with EUPTD’s requirements for justifying pay differences using objective, gender-neutral criteria.
• Financial services leads, while healthcare lags. Financial services organizations are more advanced in their pay equity practices, in terms of the types of compensation they analyze, the methods they use, how often they conduct pay equity analysis and remediation, and their level of transparency. Conversely, healthcare organizations are most likely to lag in these areas.

“More than 50,000 companies are affected by the directive, yet this study shows how few are actually ready,” said Robert Sheen, Trusaic’s CEO and founder. “Organizations must take action immediately to prepare for these changes. Delaying can cost organizations both reputationally and financially.”

Federal Judge Issues Final Ruling in 401(k) ESG Lawsuit

As reported by retirement news website PLANADVISER, a federal judge has ruled that American Airlines was liable for fiduciary misconduct and had breached its duty of loyalty under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) by allowing BlackRock’s pursuit of environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors to influence the core index portfolios within the retirement plan, rather than acting solely in the plan’s best financial interest.

In Spence v. American Airlines Inc., et. al, Judge Reed O’Connor in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas ruled that American Airlines must:

• Allow for any proxy voting, shareholder proposals or stewardship activities for the plan that are motivated by nonfinancial goals, such as ESG investing;
• Appoint at least two independent members to its employee benefits committee for five years, ensuring these members have no connections to BlackRock, Aon or any administrator, adviser or investment manager related to the plan;
• Certify in writing to each plan participant that its committee, administrators, advisers and investment managers will only pursue investment objectives based on “provable financial performance”;
• Maintain accessible information on its website regarding its membership in and affiliation with organizations focused on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI); ESG factors; and/or climate investments. This site will link to membership terms and will be subject to review by the independent committee members for compliance; and
• Be prohibited from using BlackRock or any other major shareholder of the airline to manage plan assets unless policies are in place to prevent individuals with corporate ties to the asset manager from being involved in plan fiduciary roles or management.

O’Connor denied the plaintiff’s request for monetary damages “because plaintiff has not sufficiently established that the plan suffered actual, compensable financial losses as a result of defendants’ breach,” and also denied the plaintiff’s request for disgorgement, fee reimbursement and other monetary equitable relief “because such relief is not supported by the trial record.”

The case was originally filed in June 2023, and O’Connor previously ruled in January 2025 that the airline failed to protect its participants because of its ESG considerations.

Report Reveals What Drives America’s Healthiest Workplaces

According to Mental Health America’s new Workplace Mental Health in 2025 Report, disclosing pay ranges, enforcing fair performance reviews and providing flexible work arrangements topped the list of meaningful and strategic investments in employee well-being.

Based on an analysis of 360 U.S. employers representing more than 5 million workers across 21 industries and 40 states, the report revealed the top five employer actions driving mentally healthy workplaces. They include:

1. Transparency and Fairness

• 98% of responding organizations enforce fair performance reviews.
• 96% provide clear pathways and guidance for professional development.
• 95% run mental health awareness campaigns.
• 94% publish transparent pay policies.
• 94% maintain internal plans to communicate major transitions.

2. Flexibility and Responsive Benefits

• 99% provide hybrid, remote or flexible schedules.
• 97% help employees navigate complex benefits.
• 91% changed a policy based on employee feedback.

3. Embedding Mental Health into Strategy

• 99% integrate mental health into organizational priorities.
• 95% encourage employees to take part in decision-making.
• 78% of leadership teams investigate structural causes of stress.
• 77% of leaders share lived experiences to reduce stigma.

4. Tackling Financial Stress

• 83% provide financial education and planning resources.

5. Building Inclusion and Belonging

• 96% review hiring practices for fairness for people with mental health or substance use conditions.
• 86% ground their well-being strategy in fair and inclusive practices.

Editor’s Note: Additional Content

For more information and resources related to this article, see the pages below, which offer quick access to all WorldatWork content on these topics:

• Employee Benefits
• Employee Compensation
• Equitable and Diverse Workplaces
• Well-Being