That finding comes from the 2026 Retirement Confidence Survey, now in its 36th year, conducted by the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI) and Greenwald Research. The survey of more than 2,500 Americans found that worker confidence in having enough money for a comfortable retirement is now 61%, down from 67% last year.

The survey was conducted in January 2026, seeking insight from 1,007 workers and 1,045 retirees about their retirement savings. The findings paint a concerning picture.

What’s Driving the Drop in Confidence on Retirement Savings

Thirty-two percent of survey respondents rated their household financial well-being as fair or poor – the largest single share of any rating category. Specifically, nearly 60% of workers say healthcare costs are hurting their ability to save for retirement. Seven in 10 are worried that rising housing costs will affect their retirement savings.

And debt is a significant factor – 65% of workers say it’s a problem, with one in four calling it a major problem.

The debt finding stands out. Nearly one in three workers carries more than $25,000 in non-mortgage debt. And it’s affecting retirement savings directly – nearly three in five workers say debt is negatively impacting their ability to save for retirement. For a significant share of the workforce, retirement savings isn’t the first financial problem on their mind.

The uncertainty doesn’t stop there: Four in five workers are concerned the government will make changes to the U.S. retirement system, and only about half are confident Social Security and Medicare will continue to provide benefits of equal value. That’s making it harder for workers to make a realistic retirement savings plan – or feel good about whatever they’ve managed to save so far.

“Retirement confidence has clearly softened this year and the data show why,” said Craig Copeland, director of wealth benefits research at EBRI. “Americans are contending with a mix of immediate financial pressures and long-term uncertainty. Many workers are struggling with debt, inflation and rising housing and healthcare costs.”

The Retirement Age Reality Check

The survey’s sharpest finding involves what workers expect versus what retirees live.

Workers’ median expected retirement age is 65. But retirees’ actual median was 62, and most retired before 65. Nearly half retired earlier than planned, most often due to a health problem, disability or changes at their company.

The “I’ll just work longer” assumption is even shakier. A growing share of workers say they don’t plan to retire at all. But the data tells a different story – most retirees didn’t choose their retirement date. Health and circumstance chose it for them.

This creates a structural risk for benefits design that assumes employees control retirement timing. HR’s best move to help employees? Push past the standard benefits conversation and have more realistic discussions with employees about the realities of retirement planning.

Retirement Income Sources: Expectations vs. Reality

The disconnect between expectations and reality doesn’t stop at retirement age. When it comes to retirement income, workers’ expectations and the lived experience of retirees don’t match up.

More than eight in 10 workers expect to rely on a workplace retirement savings plan. But only 45% of retirees report relying on one. Workers expect to continue working for pay in retirement at nearly three times the rate that retirees actually did – 75% vs. 27%.

When it comes to personal retirement savings vehicles, 71% of workers expect a traditional IRA to be part of their retirement income – only 54% of retirees report that it is. And while 60% of workers are counting on a Roth IRA, just 34% of retirees said they relied on one.

Workers and retirees represent different generations with varying plan access and economic realities. Even so, the pattern is consistent: Workers are counting on income sources that retirees weren’t using at anywhere near the same rate.

What HR Can Do Now

For many employees, the retirement plan is a major part of the benefits package. More than half cite retirement benefits as an important reason to stay with their current employer – and that’s a meaningful retention factor the data backs up.

Workers say they need guidance. More than two in five don’t know where to turn for financial or retirement planning advice. That’s a real opportunity for HR and benefits teams to step in, connect employees to resources and make sure they understand what’s available. To help employees meet their retirement savings goals:

• Connect debt management to retirement savings. If your financial wellness programs only talk about deferral rates and target‑date funds while ignoring high‑interest debt, you’re missing the primary barrier many employees face when trying to save for retirement. Integrating debt‑management tools, counseling, or educational modules into existing financial wellness offerings creates a more realistic path for employees to pay down debt and increase retirement contributions.
• Show younger employees the real cost of delaying retirement savings. Workers in their 20s and 30s have the most powerful retirement savings tool at their disposal: compounding. But if no one translates that into concrete examples – like how waiting just five to 10 years can halve their projected retirement balance – many will continue to put off saving. Encourage retirement contributions by nudging automatic enrollment during onboardings, encouraging automatic payroll-increase contributions that lock in savings before lifestyle inflation sets in and sharing side-by-side scenarios of projected balances.
• Help employees plan retirement savings around a date they may not control. Many workers assume they’ll choose when to retire, even though health issues, disability and job changes often force earlier-than-planned exits from the workforce. Framing retirement planning as contingency planning – not just a distant milestone – helps employees make more informed decisions earlier.

Retirement confidence is declining, but HR is positioned to respond with concrete, immediate actions to help employees boost their retirement savings. Teams that treat this as both a people issue and an operational priority move workers closer to retirement security.

Go Deeper on Retirement Benefits Strategy

Watch our free on-demand webinar, Insights from the Retirement Readiness Report: Benefits Strategies for This Year, to hear how forward-thinking HR teams are reimagining retirement benefits – and what the data says about what employees actually need. Watch it now.

I did.

And that put me in “hot pursuit” of the reasons we say some dumb things at work. Or, to put it more diplomatically — why do we use office speak so much?

Office Speak Gone Wild

I’m not just talking about the latest office buzzwords and silly jargon that gets overused.

I’m talking about phrases and vernacular that are so common we probably don’t recognize that they’re a nod to the past — and possibly a nod to things we best avoid.

Not to say office speak and jargon are all bad. In fact, they can be helpful.

“In its best form, jargon is used to convey a complex set of principles in a shorthand way that all insiders instantly get,” says Tessa West, author of Jerks at Work: Toxic Coworkers and What to Do About Them. “But once it’s used to replace already existing shorthand phrases to make a simple and clear concept become unclear, it’s dumb!”

It’s definitely dumb when it’s overused and/or under-explained. In fact, office speak can either diminish importance when people hear it too much or complicate a message when people don’t understand it, according to time-honored research in The American Journal of Industrial and Business Management.

So let’s take a look at where some of the most prevalent office speak comes from – a bit of a background check on the everyday jargon we know, love and love to hate.

1. Office Speak from Advertising, Marketing

Some of the most used and prolific workplace vernacular was born in advertising. And Mad Men’s cigarette-smoking, whiskey-drinking philanderer Don Draper made it look so cool!

• Run it up the flagpole. It came straight out of the 1950s Madison Avenue admen’s offices – and was completed with the phrase “… and see if anyone salutes.” It’s basically asking if others like the idea.
• Thought leader. A relatively new phrase, it bubbled up in 1994 and took hold of offices more recently. It’s someone or some organization that is thought to be an expert on a given subject.
• Ideation. This is the process of working to come up with good new ideas. It’s actually old, having evolved from a word in Plato’s 1800 philosophy, “ideate.” But as advertisers and marketers needed new ideas, they also created new words to describe their work – brainstorming, blue-sky thinking, to name a couple more.

2. Office Speak from Sales

Salespeople often talk in sales speak. But their language has long bubbled over into the everyday workplace. Some of the most popular:

• A hard sell. This came of the 1950s to describe aggressive or forceful selling tactics to get people to buy quickly. Today, it’s often flipped, describing someone who is hard to sell an idea to.
• Low-hanging fruit. This could be one of the most enduring pieces of office talk with origins in sales. It comes from Peter Drucker’s 1980s problem-solving plans and refers to problems that were easy to solve. (Note, other jargon from that plan didn’t survive as well – rattlers were obvious problems and pythons were big problems built by bureaucracy.)

3. Office Speak from Finance

We often characterize our bean counters as stoic and less creative than their ad or marketing colleagues. But they developed some office speak we all continue to use:

• Bean counters. Let’s start with what we sometimes call the CFOs, controllers, finance managers and accountants. It gained popularity in the 1970s, and its origin is linked back to a German term that meant pea counter.
• Bottom line. It was originally coined in corporate America in the 1960s, describing the physical bottom line of a profit and loss statement – showing if they made a profit or took a loss. Today, the bottom line seems to be the final answer in most workplace situations.
• Leverage: Today we leverage everything – information, status, resources, weight, etc. But it became typical speak from Wall Street in the 1980s.

4. Office Speak from Tech

The tech sector gives us the latest technology developments peppered with plenty of office speak. The tech jargon with endurance:

• Disrupt. Harvard Business School professor Clayton Christensen first used “disruptive innovation” in the mid-1990s, and it became synonymous with the tech industry. Now “disrupt” seems to cover any change in the workplace.
• Bandwidth. While it was first used in the late 1800s in science, it became office fodder in the 1990s as “the capacity for data transfer of an electronic communications system.” Now, it covers how much capacity a person has to handle anything.

5. Office Speak from Consultants

Consultants often make an impact with a unique perspective. And they’ve created quite a bit of unique, enduring office speak over the years.

• Boil the ocean. It means to take on an impossible task or project or make a project more difficult than it has to be – and we’ve been telling people to avoid boiling the ocean since Will Rogers made an off-handed remark about it during WWII.
• Think outside the box. Scientists had used this for decades, referring to a brain-teaser exercise to connect nine dots without lifting a pencil, before consultants brought it to company leaders.

Office Speak that We Don’t Want to Use Today

Unfortunately, some office speak – and everyday phrases – comes from darker places, and really don’t belong in the workplace.

Dr. Molly Pennington, a culture researcher, identifies these three phrases to kick to the curb:

• Basket case. It comes from WWI slang, referring to soldiers who were so seriously injured they’d fit in a basket. It’s an uncompassionate term.
• Rule of thumb. It supposedly goes back to English and American laws from the 1600s that said a man could beat his wife with any stick no wider than his thumb. Not appropriate then or today.
• Grandfathered in. The grandfather clause usually refers to someone getting a benefit others won’t because of an earlier generation or their long-time loyalty. It came from privileged voters in southern states with a grandpa who had voted before 1867 – before Black voters had rights. Not right to be used today.

A recent federal case out of Wisconsin shows how quickly weak TPA oversight can lead to interference and retaliation claims.

Employee Seeks Intermittent FMLA Leave

Rodney Severson was hired as a production employee for S.C. Johnson in 2005 and worked there until he was fired in 2024. 

In February 2023, Severson sought FMLA leave to care for his mother, who had ovarian cancer. 

After the FMLA paperwork was completed, S.C. Johnson approved Severson for intermittent FMLA leave to care for his mom. 

The next month, Severson also requested intermittent FMLA for his own migraine flare-ups.

During this timeframe, Severson had several FMLA-related absences, and he worked with S.C. Johnson’s leave team to report his intermittent FMLA days.

Employer Transitions FMLA Administration to TPA

In July 2023, S.C. Johnson outsourced its FMLA administration to a TPA. 

Around mid-month, Severson contacted the employer’s leave team about his need for several FMLA days to care for his mother. At that point, the leave team notified Severson that the TPA was handling FMLA administration and told him to request FMLA leave through the TPA’s website or phone.

According to Severson, that’s when the problems began. 

Lax TPA Oversight Causes Rocky Transition

From July to October 2023, Severson was periodically absent for FMLA reasons, but he didn’t request leave through the TPA. 

He said that he called the TPA several times, but he was left on hold or disconnected from the call. He testified that it was “almost impossible to get ahold of anybody.” He also said that if callers were still on hold at 5 p.m., the TPA phone line “just hung up on everybody.”

Severson said he also tried to request FMLA leave through the TPA’s website and automated service but found those methods ineffective as well.

He said he reported the communication problems to his immediate supervisor and also texted the supervisor to report his FMLA absences and the reasons for each. According to Severson, the supervisor assured him that as long as his FMLA paperwork was completed correctly, he wouldn’t be penalized for the TPA’s system failures. 

Discipline for Attendance Policy Violations

By October, Severson had racked up 54 “attendance points” – enough to violate company policy. As a result, the company issued a Decision-Making Leave. Severson received a one-day unpaid suspension and was advised to contact the TPA to report any absences he believed were FMLA-related.

After Severson reported the FMLA absences to the TPA, he met with an HR rep, who allegedly told him, “You’re covered. Don’t worry about it. We’ll take care of everything.”

In November and December, the TPA mailed Severson letters to notify him that his FMLA certification was incomplete. But Severson said he never received those letters.

Termination and Lawsuit

In January 2024, Severson was fired for excessive absenteeism, dishonest FMLA reporting and failure to follow FMLA notification procedures. 

The HR manager who drafted the termination recommendation never spoke to Severson about his absences, despite knowing that he had previously taken intermittent FMLA leave.

Severson filed a lawsuit alleging FMLA interference and retaliation. The employer filed a motion to dismiss.

Was It FMLA Interference?

The employer argued that Severson couldn’t state a valid FMLA interference claim because he was granted FMLA leave for all dates covered by his FMLA certification. 

But the court wasn’t convinced. The Seventh Circuit has held that the “actual denial of FMLA benefits” isn’t required to show interference. An employer that “implements a burdensome approval process or discourages employees from requesting FMLA leave could interfere with” employees’ FMLA rights even without formally denying a request. 

Here, a reasonable jury could believe the problems with the TPA’s phone and website amounted to a “burdensome approval process.” As a result, the FMLA interference claim had to proceed.

Signs of FMLA Retaliation?

Turning to the FMLA retaliation claim, S.C. Johnson argued that Severson couldn’t show a causal connection between his termination and his request for – or use of – FMLA leave. 

The court disagreed on this point, too, noting that the termination letter listed reasons for termination that were connected to his FMLA-protected absences. 

Moreover, the court pointed out that the HR manager who drafted Severson’s termination letter was aware that he had issues in the past with his FMLA leave, yet she didn’t take the time to speak to him or his supervisor about the absences before recommending termination.

Together, these circumstances – combined with the close timing between his FMLA activity and termination – could allow a reasonable jury to find retaliatory intent, the court determined. As such, the FMLA retaliation claim had to proceed.

The court denied S.C. Johnson’s motion to dismiss.

HR Takeaways

The employer lost an early opportunity to dismiss the case. Now it faces an expensive trial – or a costly settlement. 

Two key issues stand out:

TPA Oversight

This case shows that handing FMLA administration to a TPA doesn’t absolve employers of compliance obligations. Notably in this case, communication problems between the TPA and employees showed up early in the transition, but lax TPA oversight left the company unaware of those issues.

Moreover, TPA oversight should continue throughout the business partnership –  not just during the transition period. Action steps:

• Establish escalation protocols when employees report access issues
• Audit call center metrics (hold times, abandonment rates) during and after the transition, and
• Require TPA performance service letter agreements (SLAs) tied to responsiveness and system uptime.

HR Leadership Mistakes

According to the preliminary court record, the HR manager failed to talk to the employee before recommending his termination – even though she knew he had a history of FMLA leave approval and usage. To be clear, this case is in the early stages – and we may learn more about the investigative process as the proceedings continue.

Ultimately, this case shows that the appearance of retaliation can be enough to land your organization in court. Proper documentation is your best defense when handling FMLA-related termination decisions, so it’s worth taking the time to have – and document – a conversation with the employee. 

Severson v. S.C. Johnson & Son, Inc., No. 24-CV-1063 (E.D. Wis. 4/27/26).

While you’ve probably always been somewhat excited about the new crop of skilled, and hopefully, eager job candidates, it won’t be the same experience as the past decade.

Graduates are pragmatic, expecting less from you and hoping more for themselves.

In fact, according to Monster’s 2026 State of the Graduate Report:

• 67% of grads would take a lower-paying job if it offered long-term security
• 69% are willing to compromise on their ideal role
• 75% would take a job that only lasts a year if it provides income
• 89% worry AI could replace entry-level roles (to note, that’s up from 64%)
• 76% are concerned about the economy’s impact on their job prospects, and
• 35% expect their job search to take four months or longer.

“Today’s graduates are entering the workforce with ambition, but also realism,” said Monster’s Career Expert Vicki Salemi. “Pay matters, but stability is increasingly shaping early career decisions. Many are weighing long-term security more heavily than rapid advancement.”

College Grad Hiring Flat

After several years of steady hiring for recent college grads, it will likely be flat this year. According to data from the National Association of Colleges and Employers, employers are planning a 1.6% increase in hiring for the Class of 2026.

With such a flat hiring rate, the few who land jobs will have experience: Nearly all HR pros in the NACE survey said they valued internships, and more than three-quarters wanted to see co-ops on resumes.

But it’s not just what shows up on paper. Nearly 70% of HR pros also said they use skills-based hiring to choose the best college grads. Top ways:

• Have them share how they’ve used skills to solve problems in interviews 
• See they participated in experimental learning and/or work during college
• Connect coursework to professional skills, and/or
• Industry recognized certifications. 

Not surprisingly, nearly 11% of entry-level job posts that college grads are vying for require AI skills now.

What College Grads Really Want

It wasn’t long ago when new college grads were lured into the corporate world with what seemed like silly perks such as snack bars and ping-pong tables, but that’s not the case these days.

According to research from Handshake, new graduates are more likely to apply for a job when they see:

• The ideal location (73%)
• Job stability (70%)
• Positive employer reputation (67%)
• High starting salary (67%)
• Flexible schedules (52%)
• Competitive benefits (48%)
• Hybrid work schedules (39%)
• Familiar company brand (25%)
• Fully remote work (19%), and
• Fast-growing company (17%).

How to Remain Attractive to College Grads

So the questions now for HR pros and hiring managers: Even if you aren’t hiring out of the gate this year, how can you remain an attractive employer while the job market remains stagnant? Then, when it’s time to hire, college grads are excited to come work for you? 

Focus on what’s important to them now. 

1. Emphasize Stability

Perhaps for the first time in decades, new college grads admitted they care about stability in their work more than money. So it’s time to emphasize your company’s stability and financial health in any recruiting efforts you have. 

If you are doing interviews, introduce job candidates to your long-term growth opportunities. Ramp up information on your internal mobility opportunities, giving them examples of people who’ve succeeded and routes they can take.

2. Consider Short-Term Roles

Remember that about three-quarters of recent college grads would take short-term roles for immediate income. Those kind of roles can help you fill gaps, too.

Consider expanding internship programs or contracting roles to fill internal skills gaps, expand networks and possibly find good long-term fits.

3. Stay in the Groove

Soon-to-be and recent college grads will still attend career fairs and networking events.

You want to be there, too. Work with local campuses, industry groups or the chamber of commerce to stay involved and put your best face forward.

4. Maintain the Right Incentive for Them 

Regardless of when you hire new grads, they will have student loan debt. If they’re hired some time after they graduate, that loan will feel like an even heavier weight. So it’s not surprising that 55% of those with debt say it’s a significant source of stress for them, the Handshake study found.

As you might imagine, new grads will be interested in a student loan perk. A student loan payment matching program is a top benefit offered these days. Thanks to the Secure 2.0 Act, when employees make payments toward their student loans, employers can make matching contributions to employees’ 401(k) or 403(b), just as if they had contributed that amount directly to their retirement plans

You can learn more about administering that kind of perk in our story:Student Loan Payment Matching: IRS Issues Timely, 5-Step Guidance.

Some affected individuals had been working at their jobs for at least 10 years — and in some instances, nearly two decades.

EEOC Investigates National Origin Discrimination Complaints

R&R Janitorial, Painting, and Building Services, Inc. (R&R) provides janitorial services to government agencies.

In April 2018, R&R fired a group of Hispanic janitors who worked at the Harry S. Truman building. After an investigation, the EEOC determined the janitors were let go because of their Central American national origins and race.

The vice president of R&R selected the employees for termination, the EEOC said. Moreover, the agency found that the vice president made racially charged remarks shortly before the janitors were fired. Specifically, he allegedly said:

• Hispanics were taking over the D.C. area, and
• “All amigos look alike” to him.

The EEOC also determined that the vice president forwarded an email that compared immigrants to raccoons needing extermination.

In the EEOC’s view, such alleged conduct violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits race and national origin discrimination in the workplace, including firing individuals on that basis. The agency filed a lawsuit on the janitors’ behalf.

EEOC Lawsuit Alleges Pattern of Discrimination

The lawsuit alleged that the janitors were fired because of their national origin and that R&R continued to employ janitors with less seniority than the Hispanic janitors who were let go. The suit also claimed R&R subjected the Hispanic janitors to discrimination by:

• Tolerating unwelcome and offensive remarks based on national origin and race
• Assigning them the most unfavorable tasks
• Rejecting their concerns raised about disparate treatment based on national origin and race, and
• Threatening to replace janitors who reported or opposed the treatment.

The lawsuit sought back pay, reinstatement, compensatory damages, punitive damages and injunctive relief to prevent workplace discrimination against Hispanic employees.

Ultimately, the contractor agreed to pay $1.25 million to resolve the dispute. Under a three-year consent decree, R&R is prohibited from discriminating against workers based on national origin or race in the future. It must also:

• Train management on Title VII compliance
• Provide training to non-supervisory employees on anti-discrimination protections in both English and Spanish, and
• Submit to EEOC monitoring on terminations and complaints of race and national origin discrimination.

“We are pleased this settlement provides meaningful relief to the hard-working Hispanic employees who were fired,” said Debra Lawrence, regional attorney for the EEOC’s Philadelphia District Office. “Discrimination based on race or national origin has no place in the American workplace.”

HR Takeaways

The consent decree requires bilingual training, EEOC oversight and reporting on terminations and complaints. Those obligations increase both the operational burden and the ongoing cost of the settlement because the employer must spend time, staff capacity and money to meet the monitoring and reporting requirements in addition to the payment itself.

HR teams should treat termination documentation as if an outside investigator will read it later. That means using consistent criteria, making sure supervisors can explain their decisions and keeping a clear record of complaints and how they were handled.

The bilingual training requirement also matters. If employees cannot understand the training, it is harder to show that it achieved its purpose with the workforce.

DeVry University’s third annual report on the state of upskilling in the U.S. reveals a clear perception gap between employers and workers. While employers feel confident that they provide ample skill development opportunities, workers often believe their access is declining amid constant change.

‘Silent Standoff’ in Upskilling

DeVry refers to this as the “Silent Standoff,” where each side expects the other to drive future-readiness.

Real progress depends on both employers and workers coming together to bridge this gap and produce stronger business outcomes, especially as economic volatility, geopolitics and AI acceleration continue to shape work.

Even as future anxiety is gripping the talent economy, workers feel some confidence, as 85% believe they don’t need further qualifications to remain employable in the next five years. However, nearly half of workers are uncertain whether their job will still be relevant within the given timeframe. Additionally, 69% of employers express concerns regarding their workers’ proficiency and whether they have the right skills to succeed.

Workers risk slipping into complacency when it comes to career advancement and skills development because employers are not making the future prescriptive and visible.

Here are four ways to effectively upskill during the Silent Standoff:

1. Broaden Access, Communicate about Upskilling

Rather than collaborating to close the upskilling perception gap and nurture tomorrow’s talent, each side is quietly pointing fingers. Workers are increasingly voicing concerns about declining access to development opportunities, although employers say they are providing more access to upskilling and reskilling in 2025.

There exists an opportunity for employers to reevaluate how they communicate about upskilling programs and how they align with the ever-evolving landscape of required skills.

2. Make the Future Prescriptive, Visible

Addressing the Silent Standoff between workers and employers is critical to building stronger organizations and unlocking a competitive edge. Employers and workers alike need to find a shared path forward to enable lifelong learning and success.

From the employer’s perspective, transparency will be key to fostering a genuine dialogue with their teams about the future of work and the need to upskill or reskill. This open communication helps workers understand that, while they may feel confident in the present, it’s important to continually invest in skills development amid the rapidly evolving landscape.

3. Foster Customized Learning Pathways

To prepare the workforce for future challenges, employers need to actively involve workers in the upskilling journey. Successful learning programs should closely align with future career relevance. Employers and workers can work together to recognize and address existing skills gaps in both technical and durable skills, such as critical thinking. Workers should have a clear understanding of where they can improve and how to turn those areas into strengths.

Once these critical skills gaps are identified, employers should map out specific learning pathways to address them. This process involves not only determining which competencies should be prioritized but also working with educational partners to create tailored learning modules and programming. By establishing clear timelines and milestones, such as quarterly upskilling checklists or annual learning goals, employers can provide workers with a concrete and customized roadmap for their development journey.

4. Create a Culture of Continuous Learning

The ultimate objective is to create a culture of continuous learning where upskilling is seamlessly integrated into the work environment and is considered essential for all workers—regardless of title or seniority. Employers are tasked not only with making these resources visible but also with motivating workers to engage with them. Regular discussions about development should be the norm between management and employees.

Conversely, workers who hold hidden insecurities about the future should feel empowered to talk to their employer about personal development. Together, they can establish specific and realistic goals for career growth and a more future-ready workforce.

By addressing the skills gap highlighted in DeVry’s research, organizations can seize the opportunity to build a workforce that is not only prepared for the future but also thrives through change. Clear communication, specific training, as well as perspective guidance are critical in keeping teams adaptable. This collaborative effort between employers and workers will pave the way for a strong, resilient talent pool of the future.

Best Practices for Workplace Investigations

When faced with almost any workplace complaint or problem, companies can use the following approach to conduct prompt and thorough investigations.

1. Thank the Individual for Reporting the Concern

First, thank the individual for reporting their concern. Listen carefully to what they have to say, and take notes to document the details. Ensure confidentiality to the extent possible. Explain the next steps in the investigation, and determine your best course of action.

2. Take Immediate Action When Necessary

You might have to jump in right away – even before the investigation is begun – if a situation is volatile or could otherwise cause immediate harm to employees or your business.

3. Choose the Investigator Carefully

The investigator should be experienced and/or trained in workplace investigations. This person should also be impartial and perceived as impartial by the employees involved, and capable of acting – and, if necessary, testifying in court about the situation.

For serious matters, especially when the accused is in a position of power, you may need to get an outside investigator to handle the matter. When you’re dealing with accusations of discrimination, harassment or assault by company leaders, you want an expert at the table.

4. Plan the Investigation

Take time to organize your thoughts and plan your approach. Look at any info you already have about the problem – such as an employee complaint, a supervisor’s report, written warnings or materials that are part of the problem.

5. Conduct Interviews

The most basic way to gather relevant information is by asking people questions. Most investigations involve at least two interviews: one of the employee who was accused and another of the employee who complained. Sometimes, you will also want to interview witnesses.

During these interviews, let the employees do the lion’s share of the talking. Ask open-ended questions. Avoid “why” questions, which can often sound accusatory during an interview.

6. Gather Documents and Evidence

Every investigation will rely to some extent on documents – personnel files, e-mail messages, company policies, correspondence, and so on. Some investigations will require you to gather other evidence, such as drugs, a weapon, photographs or stolen items.

7. Evaluate the Evidence

The most challenging part of many workplace investigations is figuring out what happened. You’ll want to consider, for example, whose story makes the most sense, whose demeanor was more convincing, and who (if anyone) has a motive to deceive. Document not just your conclusion, but the reasoning behind it – which evidence you found credible, which you discounted, and why.

8. Take Appropriate Action

Once you decide what happened, you’ll have to figure out what, if anything, to do about it. If you conclude that wrongdoing occurred, you will have to take disciplinary action quickly to avoid legal liability for that employee’s behavior and to protect your organization and other workers from harm. Stress to all parties involved that retaliation is prohibited.

9. Document Workplace Investigations Carefully

As you’re conducting workplace investigations, you’ll want to create solid documentation as you go. Best practices include documenting all steps taken, dating and signing all documents, and keeping documentation in one central location. Once an investigation is complete, produce an investigation report that explains what you did and why.

10. Follow Up

Finally, make sure to follow up with employees after all workplace investigations. You’ll want to check in with them to confirm the problem that led to the investigation has been properly addressed and/or solved. If not, address any remaining concerns.

What AI Means for Workplace Investigations

The steps above reflect what sound investigations have always required: impartiality, confidentiality, documentation, and sound judgment. But as AI tools become part of how HR gathers information, evaluates evidence, and documents findings, knowing where to draw the line becomes a lot more complicated.

Join our free webinar, AI and Sensitive Workplace Issues: What HR Needs to Know Before It’s Too Late, on Tuesday, May 26, 2026. Sessions are available at 9 a.m., 12 p.m., and 3 p.m. EDT. Save your spot.

That’s why you want to help them stay healthy. And the sooner you can help them recover from — or avoid — issues, the better.

What’s Up in This Episode: Mental Well-Being Help

Fortunately, in this episode of HRMorning’s 3-Point, we’re going to uncover an overlooked tool that can help you identify burnout or other potential mental well-being issues so you can help employees faster. Our expert, Hannah Yardley, Chief People and Culture Officer at Achievers, explains what’s at your fingertips and how you can use this tool with a new perspective.

Click, watch and listen for more details on improving employee mental well-being with a tool you already have but aren’t using in this capacity.

Transcript (edited for clarity):

We want our employees to bring their best selves to work every day. That’s why mental well-being has been a hot topic since the pandemic. And we’re going to show you in this episode of the 3-Point that there’s a tool you likely already have in place that can help you spot burnout and manage well-being better. No need for suspense. Let’s hear it from our expert, Hannah Yardley of Achievers …

Hannah Yardley, Chief People and Culture Officer, Achievers: “We often have tools like time tracking that we utilize to understand productivity, a hot word in today’s organizations. But what if we reframe that lens when we saw productivity was down and actually questioned why beyond performance and used that data that a lot of organizations have to actually question whether maybe there’s burnout or some kind of mental health issue that might be going on that’s contributing to that.“

You see what she’s saying? We tend to see a performance issue as that alone. So we think … Trey isn’t keeping up. Or Shenice is falling behind. But these days, there’s a good chance Trey and Shenice face underlying issues – perhaps some stress on their mental well-being. So who can help best?

Yardley: “The first place that I would go to is our middle managers’ level. And we talk about them being super critical so often, but they really are the face of those day-to-day interactions with our employees.“

So front-line managers are the linchpin. They’re keeping their eyes on the performance metrics – and the realities behind the numbers. And that’s when they want to take this approach.

Yardley: “Yeah, that’s part of why I think the middle manager role is so important, is that they know how best that person is going to react. They know that person the best. They know what is motivating to them. They know when behaviors look different, and they know what might be the tactics that they’ve used in the past or to go down that path to be able to unlock what it needs. I think this is very, very personalized in terms of being able to tackle it.“

So, back to the beginning. To help your employees manage their mental well-being, you’ll want to:

• Be resourceful. Use what you already have. The tools you use to measure productivity can signal stress or other mental well-being issues.
• Prepare middle managers. Ensure they’re ready to not only coach employees on how to improve performance but how to address stress.
• Support middle managers. Remember, they’re employees, too. And they likely face extra stress dealing with all of this.

We think this resource can help with that: Coaching Skills for Managers and Supervisors. It’s part of the premium content on HRMorning. You can download it from our site. Thanks for joining me on this episode.

The U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) Wage and Hour Division investigated Taste of India 1, a restaurant in McMinnville, OR, and found two violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).

According to the investigation, the restaurant:

• Paid 19 non-exempt employees straight time rather than the required time-and-a-half for all hours worked over 40 in a workweek, and
• Ran an invalid tip pool, using workers’ tips to supplement base wages rather than distributing them to eligible employees.

The agency determined the violations were willful and assessed civil money penalties on top of the back wages owed.

As a result of the investigation, the division recovered:

• $200,137 in back wages, and
• $15,256 in civil money penalties.

DOL Guidance on Overtime and Tip Pool Compliance

Overtime and tip pool compliance are two of the most common – and costly – mistakes employers make under the FLSA.

Non-exempt employees must be paid time-and-a-half for every hour over 40 in a workweek. Paying straight time for overtime hours – even if an employee agrees to waive OT pay – is a violation. For more about the overtime premium under the FLSA, see the DOL’s fact sheet on overtime pay.

And tip pool rules are strict under the FLSA: Employers, managers and supervisors cannot keep employees’ tips or participate in a tip pool. Tips cannot be retained by an employer to offset minimum wage obligations except through a valid tip credit. For more info on tip pool rules and the FLSA, see the DOL’s fact sheet on tipped employees.

It’s mostly because they don’t think they’re committing them. Or they’re hiding behind the keyboard, trying to avoid committing those faux pas verbally.

“Some words set us up to be misunderstood,” says Jo Anne Preston, author of Lead the Way in Five Minutes a Day: Sparking High Performance in Yourself and Your Team. “Others shut people down, make them feel excluded, and even make them dislike us.”

Be Better Than Bad Writing

But good leaders can be better than any bad writing habits.

“The idea is to think intentionally about whether our words work for or against our employees’ needs, says Preston. “A small shift in your … habits can make a big difference.”

The first step in making that shift: Know what makes for bad writing — in email, chat, social platforms, etc.

Here are the two major issues, why they’re problems and what to do instead:

1. Passive-Aggressive Language

We usually think of passive-aggressive behavior — indirectly expressing negative feelings instead of openly addressing them — in verbal and physical ways.

For instance, a manager says, “I guess if that’s what you want to do, go ahead.” But the manager’s tone and eye-rolling suggest she really wants the employee to handle the situation differently.

“Assumptions, fear of failure, conflict-aversion and poor anger management are just some of the reasons people wage their personal vendettas via email,” says Susan Room, a professional voice and executive coach.

In writing, the words and their meaning come out differently.

In fact, a survey by Preply found these 10 of the most passive-aggressive written phrases used in the workplace: 

• Per my last email 
• Correct me if I’m wrong
• As previously mentioned
• Just a gentle reminder
• Going forward
• Thought I’d bring this to your attention
• I might be mistaken, but
• Thanks in advance
• Just to clarify
• Please advise

Why it’s an issue: Most come off as a nudge, slight or veiled insult. They’re directives given without emotion or, in some cases, context. So recipients feel the aggressive push behind the soft, stilted language.

Better: Have a real conversation.

“Talk with — not at or to — your colleague, using a warm, direct tone of voice,” says Room. “Offer specific examples of what they say and how it impacts you, remembering this is your opinion; others may disagree. Ask if they see your point of view.”

For instance, instead of an email that says, “Going forward, you’ll need to get my approval on …” schedule a meeting to talk. Say, “When you do X, it affects how we do Y and the result is Z, which is not ideal. Can we work together on a better way to handle this going forward?”

“When speaking, you can flex your voice to communicate in the clearest, most helpful way,” says Room. “However carefully crafted, your written words may not be received the way you intended.”

2. Frustrating Words and Phrases

Beyond the passive-aggressive messages are messages tainted with words and phrases that tend to frustrate the recipients.

Here are four words and phrases that put off people most in the workplace:

• Subordinate
• LDI, ROI, HRSA, HIT (or any acronym)
• I/me, and
• The girls. You guys (and similar groupings)

Why it’s an issue: The more people see words that frustrate, belittle or just annoy them, the more they’ll tune out the message and its sender.

Better: “When managing a variety of people, it can be difficult to consider your every word,” says Preston. “But being intentional about prioritizing openness and understanding can make you a well-respected leader.”

For the words we listed above, here are some alternatives:

• Subordinate. Avoid the chasm it creates between the boss and employees with words that create unity, such as “team” and “employees.”
• LDI, ROI, HRSA, HIT (or any acronym). Spell it out on the first mention, and follow that with its acronym in parentheses. Use the acronym in the message after that.
• I/me. Too many mentions of what you think, expect or do put off readers. Instead, use “we” and “us” more.
• The girls. You guys. They’re not inclusive. Instead, write (and say) “team,” “everyone,” “folks” or “y’all.”