GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic gained traction in the press for helping many, including celebrities, lose significant amounts of weight quickly.

But today, Ozempic and other semaglutide drugs, first approved for treating diabetes in 2017 and for obesity in 2021, are no longer just the favored (off label) weight loss method of Hollywood stars. Spending on GLP-1s rose to nearly $72 billion in 2023, up 500% from five years earlier. Employers are also increasingly covering GLP-1 drugs for weight loss, though the high price tag has prompted some to pull back on the benefit.

Aflac is one such employer. Last year the insurance company stopped covering GLP-1 drugs for weight loss over cost concerns, Tricia Griggs, Aflac’s manager of wellness and safety, told HR Brew. Around the same time, it expanded access to gym memberships through Wellhub for its 6,000-person US workforce.

For more on why Aflac no longer covers GLP-1s, keep reading here.—CV

The worst hiring practice Kasey Harboe Guentert has witnessed is lacking a clear hiring plan.

Harboe Guentert is an executive consultant at HR consultancy APTMetrics, where she helps employers make “smart, fair, and data-driven decisions when building their teams.” She is also the co-author of The Hiring Handbook, which helps employers better recruit, assess, and select candidates.

“Every new requisition shows up and the hiring manager just does it all by themselves, without any support necessarily,” Harboe Guentert said. “The way they actually conduct the interview and the questions they ask and how they evaluate the capabilities of the candidate, it's just completely random.”

It’s a practice she says is “unfortunately still common,” and one that ultimately hurts hiring managers and their teams. Inarticulate hiring processes can be time consuming, Harboe Guentert said. Even if hiring managers ask good questions, without objective criteria to evaluate candidates, they can end up choosing candidates based on personal feelings (aka, hiring based on vibes).

For more from our conversation with Harboe Guentert, keep reading here.—PM

Companies are looking to AI’s potential in solving efficiency issues and expanding their digital capacity—but that doesn’t necessarily mean the technology is coming for your job.

A recent Deloitte survey of more than 600 US-based tech C-suite leaders found that 69% said GenAI is the primary reason they expect head count to increase. And 58% will or plan to establish a global capability center aimed squarely at that aspect of hiring.

Deloitte’s Anjali Shaikh, the firm’s CIO and chief data and analytics officer programs US leader, told IT Brew that “organizations are going to have to think about their talent strategies in order to meet the opportunities that GenAI clearly provides.”

For more on AI’s effect on the workforce, keep reading on IT Brew.—EH

Join us for Design Smarter, Not Harder: Building Benefits Packages That Work Across Generations on Aug. 27 and discover how to satisfy every generation’s needs—from loan repayment to retirement planning—without overcomplicating your benefits program. Learn practical strategies from HR experts to balance flexibility, personalization, and retention. Register now.