The onboarding process can be as stale and tiresome for people leaders as it is for new hires. That’s why Princess Newborn, director of HR at UPS company Ware2Go, decided to flip it on its head and create an engaging onboarding experience that would excite and educate employees about their new role and organization.

“[Onboarding] is pretty similar across multiple companies,” Newborn told HR Brew. “You go into the system, you add your I-9, you fill out the information, add the emergency contacts, meet with your team. It’s not a very engaging activity.”

And it’s not very comprehensive, either. The typical one- or two-day onboarding process doesn’t introduce new hires to areas of the business outside where their role resides. To combat this, Newborn turned Ware2Go’s onboarding process into a 30-day long, 10-level video game.

Game time. Newborn came up with the idea to gamify onboarding after an exit interview with an employee.

Keep reading here.—AS

Seasonal beverages, seasonal decor…seasonal recruiting strategies? You betcha. As fall approaches, don’t rely on the same stale recruiting plans you unveiled in long-ago January.

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Welcome to HR 101. Class is now in session. Today’s discussion will be about the history of the pension and why it went the way of the dodo in corporate America.

The history. In 1875, the American Express Company offered its employees the first private pension plan established in the US. Early pension plans were defined benefit plans that paid workers a specific sum each month upon their retirement, and was fully funded by the employer, according to the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC). But it would be nearly 100 years until the government established protections for the benefit.

Fast-forward. In the 1980s, about 60% of American workers had access to a pension plan, according to Motley Fool. As of 2022, that figure had dropped to 14%.

So, why have so many employers ditched the pension plan? The answer may be simple: A 401(k) or other defined contribution plan is an easier, safer benefit for employers to offer.

Keep reading here.—AS

The labor market had a rough start in 2023. Personally, we blame Mercury retrograde.

Regardless of whether the planets or a market correction have been to blame for the surge in layoffs, a new report from staffing firm ManpowerGroup examining the global employment outlook found that 44% of employers plan to increase hiring in the final quarter of 2023. Just 14% expect to decrease hiring, and 38% don’t foresee a change.

The survey’s respondents appear to be right on trend: Goldman Sachs recently predicted that the US has a 15% chance of entering a recession in the next year, down from 35% in March, according to CNN.

Despite the seemingly strong Q4 outlook, 77% of businesses said recruiters were struggling to find talent with the right skills for their jobs, up from 54% in 2019.

Keep reading here.—KP

Today’s top HR reads.

Stat: It would take 362 years for a General Motors worker with median pay of $80,034 to see the money CEO Mary Barra makes in one year. (Fortune)

Quote: “It is imperative that we have an honest and open conversation about the challenges in the workplace, even during this time of commemoration of the achievements of the Hispanic and Latino communities.”—Michelle Marty Rivera, a lawyer and co-founder of immigration law firm Estrada-Marty, on having “uncomfortable discussions” during Hispanic Heritage Month about the challenges Hispanic workers face (SHRM)

Read: Unionization efforts at Wells Fargo seem to show how a scandal can affect a company’s culture for years to come. (Axios)

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