From recruiting and retention to company culture and the latest in HR tech, HR Brew delivers up-to-date industry news and tips to help HR pros stay nimble in today’s fast-changing business environment.

HR Brew

Kristen Parisi

hr-brew.com

four babies, around six months old in a daycare setting. three have bows on their heads, all looking content

The US birth rate increased by 6.2% in 2021, as workers got lucky with WFH benefits.

What the country’s rising birth rate means for parental leave

Aman Kidwai

The Nylas Alumni Fund is a unique employee benefit

The Nylas Alumni Fund is investing in employees who leave to start their own business.

How one tech company is experimenting with a unique employee benefit

Black graduation cap, a diploma, white ladder, a small book on a table, depicts an attempt for students to achieve the goal or gain success in higher education.

Talent attraction consulting firms

Andersen consulting is the latest to enter the fray, with its own MBA program.

Consulting firms use higher ed perks to attract, retain talent

Benefits guide text on pamphlet next to cup of coffee

Benefits

An illustration of reporter Courtney Vinopal's headshot.

Courtney Vinopal

GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic gained traction in the press for helping many, 

, 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 

 in 2023, up 500% from five years earlier. Employers are also 

 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.

Why Aflac says it no longer covers GLP-1s. 

In the summer of 2023, Griggs says she started having conversations with her team about ending coverage of GLP-1 drugs for employees seeking weight loss treatments. Aflac had covered the drugs for as long as they’d been on the market (the FDA first approved a GLP-1 precursor to semaglutides for obesity in 2014), and in 2022 they started seeing a major increase in workers seeking them out, Griggs said.

The decision was “strictly financial,” Griggs said, and had nothing to do with the efficacy of the drugs. Some studies have shown GLP-1 users 

 of 10% to 15% of their body weight in the course of a year, with more effective GLP-1 medications even leading to a 20% reduction. The drugs have a hefty price tag, though, as out-of-pocket costs 

 to be around $1,000 a month. More than one-quarter of employers reported GLP-1 drugs for weight loss represented more than 15% of their total annual claims in 2024, 

 from the International Foundation of Employee Benefits Plans.

“Unfortunately, the spend was outrageous,” Griggs said, estimating Aflac was spending “millions of dollars a year” on GLP-1s. She expressed concern about GLP-1 spending potentially affecting Aflac’s ability to pay for other medical coverage, such as a cancer claim. Aflac still covers GLP-1s for diabetes.

Around the time Aflac discussed dropping GLP-1 coverage in 2023, Griggs and her team realized they were already paying for about 300 people to be on a starter gym plan through Wellhub, the corporate wellness platform that was formerly Gympass.

“What would it look like if we just paid for all Aflac employees to have access to the starter plan for free?” she recalled asking. “It wasn’t bad. So that’s what we did.”

About 44% of Aflac employees use Wellhub, according to Griggs, which offers access not only to gyms and fitness studios, but also apps geared toward financial health, meditation and sleep, as well as therapy.

Since Aflac began covering starter plans for gym memberships through Wellhub in 2023, about 1,300 employees have signed up for it, Griggs estimated. She said not all employees see the fitness offerings as a substitute for GLP-1 coverage, and some even email her to inquire about when Aflac might start covering the medications for weight loss again.

“We have that small group who are just determined that [a GLP-1 is] the only answer, and they’re not going to attempt anything else,” she said. A larger share of employees, though, are open to pursuing other methods for weight loss, like a gym membership, she added. (Medical experts say the drugs are most effective 

 with dietary changes and exercise, and as such some employers are incorporating these offerings into their benefits plans alongside GLP-1s.)

, they’re also experiencing “pressure around pharmaceutical interventions,” said Carolee Gearhart, Wellhub’s chief revenue officer. Platforms like Wellhub may appeal to employers who want to promote exercise and healthy lifestyles.

Some research suggests employers may eventually see a return from investing in GLP-1s for their workers, despite the high costs. An 

 of US commercial health claims conducted by Aon found that while costs jumped during the first year GLP-1 medications were prescribed, cost growth rates for GLP-1 patients trended downward the second year, averaging half of the growth rate for patients who weren’t taking the drugs.

“We thought that was encouraging, because what it tells us is that there is a bending of the cost inflation,” said Anthony Scattone, deputy chief people officer with Aon. He noted that GLP-1 users saw their risk of hospitalization from “major adverse cardiovascular events,” such as strokes or heart attacks, drop by 44%.

Griggs said she’ll be keeping a close eye on research related to GLP-1s and how they might affect Aflac’s spending on other conditions, like high blood pressure or chronic diseases. “It is a topic that is not completely off the table,” she said.

A photo composite of two hands hold a semaglutide pen next to a woman exercising with a kettleball.

Inside Aflac’s decision to drop GLP-1 coverage 

The insurance company stopped covering GLP-1 medications for weight loss due to cost concerns, and now offers all US employees free gym memberships. 

Why Aflac dropped GLP-1 coverage and expanded its wellness offerings 

An illustration of a photo of HR Brew reporter Paige McGlauflin.

Paige McGlauflin

Navigating benefits strategy is tough for any HR pro in today’s business environment.

 and niche, organizations must juggle providing a competitive total rewards package while managing challenges like 

. For Kate Phillips, Bank of America’s global head of benefits, one key part of her team’s multi-pronged approach to crafting offerings for the bank’s over 200,000 employees is simply through feedback.

“An important part of my job is making sure I’m staying connected to: What are our teammates’ needs? What do they want? How are those needs and priorities evolving for them?” Phillips told HR Brew.

For example, her team sources feedback via an enterprise-wide employee survey. They parse through the comments to gauge what workers’ needs or wants are, how priorities are changing, and incorporate that into their strategy planning. Last year, employees responded with more than 40,000 benefits-related comments on the survey.

One example of a successful offering coming from this approach is the firm’s sabbatical program, launched in 2023, which is eligible to employees after 15 years of service.

“We were listening to our teammates, looking for a way to recognize them,” Phillips said. “It’s been incredibly rewarding to hear and see the feedback from our teammates. I get letters, notes, emails all the time from teammates who go on sabbaticals, talking about what a really life-changing experience, for some of them, it has been to take time away really focused on whatever it is that they want to do.”

This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

What’s the best change you’ve made at a place you’ve worked?

In 2023, we launched our sabbatical program which has become one of our most popular benefits. The program provides four-to-six weeks away from work after 15 or more years of service. By the end of 2024, more than 21,000 employees had taken a sabbatical, including me! We expect an additional 14,000 teammates to take their sabbatical by the end of 2025.

What’s the biggest misconception people might have about your job?

People may think of HR as a department that’s siloed off from the rest of the organization, but our team can’t and doesn’t work that way. We’re embedded across the company with an ear to the ground and a seat at the table because being a great place to work isn’t just something we like to say, it is core to our business strategy.

What’s the most fulfilling aspect of your job?

The most fulfilling part of my job is the ability to speak daily with teammates about their experiences working here. I love being able to connect with them individually and understand what their needs are, while gathering feedback on programs that are working well. That is extremely rewarding.

One of the best parts of my job is receiving notes from people when they come back from a sabbatical telling me about the amazing things they were able to do with their time off. It ranges from “I went on the trip of a lifetime” to “I paved my driveway and reorganized my closets” or “I got to spend more time with my grandchildren.” It’s pretty special to lead a program that’s enabling wonderful experiences and creating lifelong memories for tens of thousands of people at the company.

What trend in HR are you most optimistic about? Why?

We’re at an interesting inflection point in the industry right now, but I think one trend that I’m excited about is more personalization for teammates. As consumers, we’re used to having incredibly personalized experiences. We’ve been trained to want things to look good, to feel good, to be easy to navigate—and our teammates want the same things from their benefits. Figuring out how we can personalize our offerings and adapt to what our teammates need is something I spend a lot of time thinking about. Another trend I would be remiss not to mention is AI and HR automation. Evaluating ways in which AI can enhance and support us as HR professionals— see a lot of opportunity here, and that is exciting.

What trend in HR are you least optimistic about? Why?

I wouldn’t say there’s any one thing right now that leaves me lacking a sense of optimism. In fact, I view a core part of my role as being intellectually curious and ensuring I understand what is happening in the marketplace. But like some things in life, there are times when trends or focus areas can feel like a phase—or everyone is just using the same buzzword.

I try to look at each phase or trend and find the opportunity to learn something and hopefully grow or be better. Whether that’s skills-based hiring, people analytics, holistic wellbeing, workplace flexibility, or AI, I am always optimistic about potential opportunities.

Kate Phillips, Bank of America's global head of benefits

Bank of America HR leader on crafting a benefits strategy for 200,000 workers

Kate Phillips shares a key approach to figuring out the benefits most sought after by the firm’s 200,000 employees.

What workers actually want, according to Bank of America’s global head of benefits

The Supreme Court has barred a retired firefighter from continuing a lawsuit against her former employer under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). In a June 20 ruling, the justices held 8-1 that the retiree, Karyn Stanley, lacked standing to sue over the employer’s decision to discontinue a post-employment healthcare benefits program.

Why the plaintiff sued over retiree benefits. 

Stanley started working as a firefighter for the city of Sanford, Florida in 1999. By the time she retired in 2018 at age 47 due to complications from Parkinson’s disease, a program that would’ve covered most of her health insurance premiums until she was 65 years old had been cut back by the city.

The post-employment benefit in question previously extended to workers who spent 25 years with the department, as well as employees like Stanley, who had to retire early due to a disability. In 2003 the city narrowed the policy to only cover workers with 25 years of service. That left early retirees like Stanley limited to receive the benefit for two years, or until they become eligible for Medicare.

Stanley—who wasn’t yet disabled when the 2003 change took effect—sued the city in 2020, alleging it violated the ADA by offering firefighters with 25 years of service different health insurance benefits from those who retire as a result of a disability.

But two lower courts dismissed Stanley’s case, finding she wasn’t considered a “qualified individual” under the ADA, since she had already retired and was no longer employed by the fire department when the alleged discrimination occurred. The Supreme Court affirmed this ruling.

In order to bring a Title I lawsuit under the ADA, “a plaintiff must plead and prove that she held or desired a job, and could perform its essential functions with or without reasonable accommodation, at the time of an employer’s alleged act of disability-based discrimination,” Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote in 

It’s generally understood that in order to be covered by the ADA, you have to be a “qualified individual”; i.e. someone who is able “to do the job that either they’re in or that they’re applying for, either with or without reasonable accommodation,” said employment attorney James Paul, co-chair of the Disability Access practice group for Ogletree Deakins and a shareholder with its St. Louis office. “Someone who’s retired is not going to fit that definition or even that concept.”

The Supreme Court similarly failed to see how Stanley would meet the criteria of “qualified individual.” Provisions of the ADA that prohibit workplace discrimination “focus on current and prospective employees—not retirees,” Justice Gorsuch wrote in the majority opinion. He also noted that it was up to Congress to change the law if it wished.

This ruling doesn’t change much for employers when it comes to ADA compliance, Paul said. Benefits programs are still subject to Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, and thus can’t discriminate against individuals based on protected characteristics including race, religion, or sex.

In light of that, “we still need to be careful with how we create, modify, or adjust coverage and the terms of those plans,” Paul said. The decision “just means that a retired employee is not going to have an ADA claim” over a potentially discriminatory benefits decision, he added.

Justice Gorsuch did note that other employees “who happen to be retired at the time they sue” might be able to bring a claim like Stanley’s, “if they can plead and prove they were both disabled and ‘qualified’ when their employer adopted a discriminatory retirement-benefits policy.”

Legal experts told other media outlets that they expected the ruling to give employers some leeway when making changes to retiree benefits.

“Employers all the time are very hesitant to make changes to retiree benefits because there are a bunch of different legal landmines you could step on when you do that type of thing,” Caroline Pieper, an employee benefits attorney with Seyfarth Shaw LLP, 

. “This case will help give employers a little bit of comfort, at least under the ADA, from a litigation risk standpoint.”

Retiree lacks standing to sue under ADA, Supreme Court rules

This ADA ruling might give employers more leeway when making changes to retiree benefits.

Supreme Court rules against retiree who sued over healthcare benefits

This is a question that’s weighed heavily on the minds of HR professionals in recent years, as the field is considered ripe for disruption due to technologies like ChatGPT. Already, HR teams in some companies are getting insight into how their roles can be at least 

 replaced by AI, particularly when it comes to areas like total rewards.

How Moderna and IBM are using AI in total rewards. 

IBM has seen a number of promising use cases for incorporating AI into the HR function and is now using those stories to help attract new customers, according to Steve Moss, director with watsonx Americas, the company’s AI portfolio.

 called “AskHR” that fields questions from 270,000 individuals on a daily basis about everything from IBM’s maternity leave policy to employment verification letter requests, Moss said during a May 20 presentation at WorldatWork’s Total Rewards conference in Orlando, Florida. Among the total rewards functions the agent can perform is compensation guidance, as the tool can suggest how managers should spend their salary budgets across a certain number of people, and troubleshooting expense reports.

Assigning expense-related tasks to the AI agent has freed up IBM’s expense team to work on other things, like policy-setting or vendor selection. Moss said, “They’re spending their time differently as a result of this, and feeling like they’re covering a lot more bases.”

IBM also uses AI for employee recognition. When an employee wants to leave positive feedback for a colleague, they can answer a series of questions about what they did, which will then prompt IBM’s watsonx software to generate “a meaningful recognition message,” said Beth Sundberg, VP of technology solutions at BI Worldwide, which partnered with IBM on the tool. Employees earn points for the recognition they receive and can redeem them for goods in a rewards marketplace, a process that is all integrated with IBM’s AI agent.

The biotech company Moderna has built thousands of GPTs to perform tasks specific to the company, 

. For total rewards, the HR team leans on AI-powered tools that aid with benefits selection, navigating equity compensation, and job leveling, according to Hem Patel, Moderna’s VP, HR business partner for research and executive compensation.

While Patel’s team isn’t yet using agents akin to what IBM described, he said that’s the vision for the near future. The GPTs have helped Moderna’s HR team cut down on email traffic and service tickets, but what his team would really like to start doing is focusing on, “some of the repetitive things that we already do, that don't need a human….that's what an agent is perfect for,” he said. “That’s kind of the next piece for us, is can we get agents actually doing work as opposed to just answering as an interface?” Patel added.

Though both Moss and Patel were optimistic that their firms’ investments in AI will be a net positive for HR leaders, it also seems likely these investments will result in at least some roles going away.

 in February that it was laying off 10% of workers employed in digital roles. Tracey Franklin, who now leads both the HR and tech functions at Moderna, said the decision to merge these departments will result in certain positions being nixed, and others being reimagined, 

 in May. She declined to share exactly which roles would be eliminated.

 that the work of a couple hundred HR workers had been replaced with AI agents, resulting in increased hiring of programmers and salespeople.

IBM’s Moss admitted asking himself, “is this going to replace me?” when the company first rolled out AskHR in 2017. “We really had to do a lot of thinking and discussion inside the organization of being able to elevate the HR professional,” he told conference-goers. Moss also said he’d seen examples of HR roles with IBM being “elevated,” such as a Philippines-based employee who previously fielded HR questions via phone, and now works as a “conversational AI specialist,” doing prompt engineering for AskHR.

To stay relevant in an AI-focused future, it seems HR pros will have to focus on developing skills that may not have been on their radar just a few years ago, a

 commissioned by IBM suggests. Over one-half of CEOs reported they were hiring for AI-related roles that didn’t exist a year ago, and those surveyed estimated one-third of the workforce will require “retraining and/or reskilling” over the next three years.

Two people sit across from each other at desks, separated by chatbot text

IBM, Moderna use AI in HR as companies cull workers 

Leaders are optimistic that AI will be a net positive for HR pros, though it also seems likely some roles will disappear due to the technology.

IBM and Moderna tout use cases for AI in total rewards 

Mikaela Cohen

The report card for employee financial well-being is in, and it’s bad. (Like you’re about-to-get-grounded bad.)

Some 66% of employees said financial stress impacts their professional and personal lives, and 83% of HR pros see this stress harming productivity, according to a recent 

. Also, 90% of employees think more employer-provided financial benefits would help achieve their goals.

“Overwhelmingly, employees said that due to the current economic instability, they feel employers should be more involved in helping employees to navigate these specific financial needs,” said Rodney Bolden, executive director and head of industry engagement and learning at Morgan Stanley. “But...it’s important for employers not to think there’s going to be a one-size-fits-all solution when it comes to employee benefits.”

Different groups of employees want help with various financial aspects, Bolden told HR Brew, like how older workers may want more retirement investment while younger workers could use help with emergency savings. Older millennials and Gen Xers would likely benefit from caregiving assistance funds as they simultaneously care for parents and kids, Bolden added.

“It’s important that if you’re thinking about how we’re going to tackle that engagement challenge, that burnout challenge, and the fact that employees feel that they want us to demonstrate care about them and respect them, doing that through an intentional [financial] benefit strategy,” he said.

People teams can start with collecting both qualitative and quantitative data about the financial health of their workforce, Bolden suggested. Whether through polls or surveys, HR pros should know which financial pressures are plaguing workers.

“If you go to the doctor, you want to know what’s ailing you. Is he or she going to run a test or several tests? You say you want to know the financial well-being challenges of your employees…You have to start by asking the question, ‘What’s going on?’” he said. “Then, disaggregating that data across the different demographics in the workforce.”

Data collection shouldn’t stop there, Bolden added, because HR leaders need to “back up that data with qualitative information,” and ask employees and employee resource groups (ERGs) if the reported financial pressures match what they’re experiencing and hearing from other employees.

Financial well-being can also improve when companies designate “benefit ambassadors,” Bolden said, or someone who’s used a company benefit and encourages other employees to use it too. One example, he mentioned, involved a colleague of his who used a Morgan Stanley benefit that provides college coaching services. After his colleague used this benefit to help their child with college prep, they became a benefit ambassador that encourages others to use the program too.

“Employees, if they have success with a benefit, they want to talk about it,” he observed.

Another tactic for improving financial well-being, Bolden said, is providing employees with a “life savings account (LSA),” as a catch-all benefit that could touch different aspects of financial need. “It’s not specific to a particular need,” he said. “This is a vehicle for you to get payroll deductions into this LSA for you to use for…whatever financial needs.”

An office manager sitting at a desk in front of two computers with money floating around her

Offering more financial benefits is critical for employees

Economic uncertainty is scary, but helping employees through it doesn’t have to be.

HRBR-SMB recruitment audio embed

 of US job creation in the last decade, many small businesses struggled to 

 top talent in the turbulent, pandemic-era labor market.

Even as overall hiring and quit rates slowed in 2024, their challenges 

 let up. Nearly one-third of small businesses that tried to hire last year weren’t able to find employees who were a good fit, Gusto’s latest State of Small Business survey 

. Top reasons cited for not finding a good match included lack of skills or education, inability to work desired hours, insufficient applicants, and unaffordable labor costs.

Economic conditions aside, smaller organizations are, in some ways, inherently disadvantaged, especially in comparison to large competitors.

“The disadvantages of a small company are they’re small, and they lack resources, operating rigor, and routine, and frankly, they can be unprofessional,” Chris Timol, president and COO at PuzzleHR, a fractional and outsourcing HR services company, told HR Brew.

But there are approaches they can take to better attract and retain talent.

Small businesses can use their “disadvantages” to their advantage. For example, employees at small businesses often take on responsibilities outside of their assigned role, allowing them the opportunity to build skills that they might not have the opportunity to pursue in larger organizations, which usually have more structured functions with stricter scopes of responsibilities.

“When you’re in a large company, you are oftentimes pigeon holed into, like, ‘My task is to do this,’ and you’re just doing those things over and over and over again,” Timol said. “You don’t get the experience or exposure of other parts of the job or other parts of the business.”

Benefits can serve as a cost-effective tactic for improving attraction and retention. Nearly two-thirds of respondents to Gusto’s report said they offer employees benefits, with paid time off being the most popular, followed by retirement plans and health insurance.

While respondents said their primary reasons for offering benefits were personal importance and affordability, they said it can also improve retention.

For example, employees who are offered retirement benefits are 40% less likely to quit within their first year, Nich Tremper, Gusto’s senior economist, said at a recent 

HRB IRL clip-SMB opportunities video embed

“Employees don’t expect the stars and the moon, right?” Tremper said. “But having something that’s available to them, that’s affordable to the business, shows a lot that the business cares about their overall well-being.”

Timol drew inspiration from Alec Baldwin’s famous “always be closing” line from 

before offering a last bit of advice to recruiters.

Small businesses, he said, should proactively look for potential talent, in anticipation of a business expansion, or new or open roles. That’s especially important for the latter. Job openings that go unfilled for just a month can 

 businesses thousands of dollars, and small businesses owners may feel pressured to hire the first person they can, instead of the best candidate.

“You don’t get the best person, because you’re recruiting from a place of weakness,” Timol said.

Instead, for example, connect and build relationships with potential candidates on LinkedIn who might be a fit in the future.

“Even if you don’t have a role [or] they’re not open to work and you’re not looking…this should be somebody you should connect with and stay connected to and offer them your career advice and help,” he said, “because eventually, who knows, you might have a role or two open that they’re going to fill.”

A storefront with two signs saying "We're hiring!" and "Join our team!"

How can small businesses better attract and retain workers?

Experts share three strategies small businesses can leverage to improve talent attraction and retention.

Small businesses struggle to hire and retain workers. These tactics can help.

There’s no better feeling for HR pros than seeing the success of a well-used and well-liked employee program. No better feeling, indeed, except when the program also benefits your company's bottom line.

That’s the case for Hilton’s employee travel program. The perk, called Go Hilton, is a worker favorite, and brings in millions of dollars in revenue each year.

Using Go Hilton, employees and their friends and family members can stay at a Hilton property for steeply discounted rates. Team member rates include up to 40 nights per year, and the majority of hotels are priced at tiered flat rates, ranging from $40 to $80 per night. Friends and family rates grant 70 nights annually at 50% off the best available rate.

“Travel is core to what we do,” Lora Lawler, Hilton’s SVP of total rewards and HR technology, told HR Brew. “We have such a unique opportunity to use travel and our founding purpose to really engage our team members.”

The perk wasn’t always beloved, however. In fact, it was a source of major frustration before undergoing a revamp a decade ago.

The original team member travel program prompted consistent worker criticism in Hilton’s annual internal surveys.

“Year after year, this was the greatest dissatisfier that team members were talking about,” Rick Morrow, senior director of the Go Hilton program who led the program revamp, told HR Brew.

The biggest headache was the difficulty finding room availability. The system relied on hotel management to add unoccupied rooms to the platform—which often wouldn’t happen, according to Morrow. If employees managed to book a room, they’d need to provide written documentation stating which hotel they’re staying at and for how long, and sign off from their managers. Workers would forget the documentation, and get turned away by the hotel.

In 2016, Hilton introduced the Go Hilton program, complete with a new booking site and system for finding room availability. The process was made fully electronic, ditching the paper documentation.

To solve the lack of rooms problem, Morrow’s team centralized the process for adding availability to the platform. Working with Hilton’s commercial teams, it created an occupancy forecast model. Hilton’s reservation system contains historical data on what the occupancy was, and is, expected to be for each hotel. Using this data, the model calculates what rooms are most likely to go unsold during less busy periods that could be made available to employees at discounted rates.

The perk is not treated as a “set it and forget it” strategy. Lawler’s and Morrow’s teams have made changes to the program, primarily relying on employee feedback via an annual survey.

“We’re always looking at ways to improve the program. Even now, we haven’t reached perfection,” Lawler said.

For example, when they first introduced the program, the annual allotment for both the team member rates and friends and family rates were set at 30 nights each. Employees in early feedback said the friends and family rates were getting used up quickly, so Hilton expanded those rates to 70 nights per year and extended the team member allotment to 40 nights this year, following similar feedback.

Hilton also introduced a long-term tenure program, where team members who’ve been with Hilton for 10 years or more get lifetime friends and family rates, and after 20 years earn lifetime team members rates. That specific offering boosts employee retention.

“I don’t know how many times I can tell you, we’ve heard someone say… they’re thinking about maybe retiring or moving on, and they’re like, ‘No, no, I’m sticking around for another year or two because I want those team member rates for life,” Morrow said. “That’s how you keep good people.”

Since its revamp, more than 35.8 million rooms have been booked via Go Hilton. The perk has also proven to be a success for Hilton’s bottom line. Since its reintroduction, Go Hilton has generated nearly $3 billion in revenue. Last year was its most successful, earning almost $550 million.

For other HR leaders who want to introduce successful talent programs that boost revenue, Lawler recommends they hone in on a product or offering that’s valuable to their team members.

“The key to Go Hilton is making it not just work for our team members and our employees, but also for our business,” Lawler said. “I have worked at other places, or potentially worked at other places, where [I’ve thought] well, they must have a discounted version of you name it, and then you find out they don’t, because it’s potentially cost prohibitive. So I would just encourage HR leaders to get creative and think about the interesting ways to do that.”

Correction 04/16/2025: This story has been updated to correct Lora Lawler's title.

Beachside hotel resort with beach chairs outside