Karan Ferrell-Rhodes has two passions: People and business.

She’s always had a curiosity about what makes people tick, and had a knack for business, passed down from her father, who ran several small businesses throughout his life.

Perhaps it’s no wonder, then, that in March 2013, she founded Shockingly Different Leadership, an Atlanta-based consultancy that specializes in HR, talent development, and organizational effectiveness. Ferrell-Rhodes serves as the firm’s CHRO and leads a team of roughly 30 employees and 350 consultants, who work with roughly 15 to 20 US- and globally-based clients at a time.

But running her own consultancy wasn’t always Ferrell-Rhodes’ endgame. She shared with HR Brew how her experience in corporate America led her to break out.

Keep reading here.—MC

While inflation in the US slowed to its lowest rate in three years this September, medical care remains an outlier, with costs in this category rising faster than those of overall goods and services.

Inflation’s impact on the healthcare sector is reflected in projected health plan costs for the next year, according to recent reports from HR and benefits consulting firm Segal and WTW, a global advisory, broking, and solutions firm.

In 2025 medical plan cost trends are expected to rise by a median of 8%, according to Segal’s projection, representing the highest increase in 15 years apart from 2021, when prices were affected by the rebound of the Covid-19 pandemic. US employers surveyed by WTW similarly anticipate healthcare costs will tick up by 7.7% next year, up from 6.9% in 2024.

The cost of outpatient prescription drugs is expected to rise by a rate of 11.4%, the highest of any trend Segal analyzed in health benefit plan costs. Employers are continuing to keep a close eye on GLP-1 weight loss drugs, as they’re a major driver of higher prescription drug costs, said Eric Miller, a VP and consulting actuary with Segal’s National Health Practice.

Keep reading here.—CV

Several countries have trotted out four-day workweek trials in recent years. Another just ended, and workers say they want to keep the shorter workweek.

Where in the world? Germany, in partnership with Four Day Week Global, began a six-month trial of a four-day workweek in February with 45 participating companies, HR Brew previously reported. Following its conclusion, 73% of organizations said they planned to keep the schedule, according to a new report from Four Day Week Global. Another 20% of companies will return to the five-day workweek, and two companies ended the trial early citing economic difficulties.

Germany’s program was the second-largest pilot to date, and each company implemented the system to fit its business needs, with some employers limiting the four-day workweek to specific departments. While employees worked less, including overtime, employers did not experience a notable change in absenteeism, financial performance, or productivity, which the authors believe are positive indicators of a successful trial. Participating organizations also said that while job satisfaction and turnover were minimally impacted, they had an easier time recruiting talent.

Satellite view. Some experts believe that a four-day workweek could be the future of work, as technology changes the workforce.

Keep reading here.—KP