Key HR Insights from the 2026 Acrisure HR Leaders Compliance Summit

From February 24-26, Acrisure hosted the 2026 HR Leaders Compliance Summit (HRLCS), bringing together a broad range of HR leaders and industry professionals to discuss workplace culture, emerging compliance trends, evolving employee expectations, and the growing role of technology in HR.

The summit featured discussions ranging from innovative “fan-first” culture models, such as those popularized by the Savanah Bananas, to emerging employment law risks, workplace safety strategies, and the expanding use of artificial intelligence in HR decision-making.

If you were unable to attend live, you can register to watch the HR Leaders Compliance Summit 2026 sessions on demand.

In the meantime, here are several key insights that stood out from this year’s discussions.

Workplace Culture: Lessons from the Savannah Bananas

One of the most memorable sessions featured keynote speaker Savannah Bananas Head Coach Tyler Gillum, who explained how the organization built a distinctive fans-first culture by putting fans first in everything they do.

The Savannah Bananas operate around five guiding principles: clarity, character, connection, commitment, and consistency. Rather than treating culture as a slogan, leadership reinforces these principles through daily actions and constant experimentation.

The organization frequently tests new ideas during games and adjusts the experience in real time. By continuously experimenting and responding to feedback, the team has built momentum for innovation while maintaining a strong cultural identity.

Hiring decisions also reflect these values. Instead of prioritizing credentials alone, the Savannah Bananas place strong emphasis on character and cultural alignment.

As Gillum explained:
“It’s not always about getting the most talented—it’s about getting the right players on the bus.”

Culture also becomes more visible during challenging moments. When leaders respond to mistakes or difficult decisions in ways that reinforce the organization’s values, culture becomes more than a statement; it can become part of daily operations.

HR takeaway: Workplace culture is shaped when leadership consistently demonstrates organizational values through hiring decisions, experimentation, and everyday actions.

Want to hear Tyler Gillum’s full discussion? Register to watch the HR Leaders Compliance Summit 2026 sessions on demand.

Why Some Culture Change Efforts are Unsuccessful

Keynote speaker Kevin Oakes, founder and Chief Strategy Officer of the Institute for Corporate Productivity (i4cp), shared research on why many culture transformation initiatives fall short.

While organizations frequently attempt culture change, relatively few succeed. As Oakes noted a particular stat from the Harvard Business Review during the summit:
"Of all companies who try to change their culture, only 15% of them really succeed."

Organizations that achieve meaningful change typically follow a deliberate process built around three phases: plan, build, and maintain.

Successful initiatives often begin with listening to employees rather than assuming leadership already understands the challenges. Companies can identify influential voices within the workforce, define specific leadership behaviors to model, and track culture health through measurable indicators.

Research also shows clear differences between healthy and unhealthy cultures. Organizations that struggle often tolerate behaviors such as knowledge hoarding, disruptive high performers, or environments where employees feel unsafe speaking up.

Stronger cultures, by contrast, tend to emphasize accountability, learning, and psychological safety.

HR takeaway: Culture change involves structured planning, leadership alignment, and measurable progress, not simply new mission statements.

Want to hear the full discussion from Kevin Oakes? Register to watch the HR Leaders Compliance Summit 2026 sessions on demand.

Employment Compliance and the Role of HR Leaders

A session led by Jeremy Hertz, Acrisure Senior Deputy General Counsel and Director of HR Consulting, emphasized how workplace culture and employment compliance are closely connected.

As Hertz noted:
“Don’t ruin your culture with poor compliance.”

Even organizations with strong cultures can experience a loss of employee trust if compliance issues arise. Employment laws continue evolving in areas such as wage-and-hour rules, pay transparency, AI-assisted hiring tools, and enforcement priorities from regulators like the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).

One growing area of concern involves the use of AI in employment decisions. While these tools can improve efficiency in recruiting and workforce analytics, they may also introduce risks if the underlying data reflects bias.

Hertz highlighted a key principle for employers evaluating AI tools:
"Biased data in is going to be biased data out."

Organizations using AI systems should understand how these tools operate, how decisions are generated, and whether outcomes could unintentionally create disparities.

HR takeaway: Strong workplace culture depends on proactive compliance practices that evolve alongside new technologies and regulatory expectations.

Want to hear Jeremy Hertz’s full discussion? Register to watch the HR Leaders Compliance Summit 2026 sessions on demand.

Group Health Plan Compliance and PBM Transparency

Deborah Hyde, Deputy General Counsel and Director of Benefits Consulting at Acrisure, discussed how the regulatory landscape for employer-sponsored health plans continues to evolve.

One major development involves increasing pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) transparency requirements, which aim to provide employers greater visibility into prescription drug pricing and plan costs.

However, greater transparency can also increase scrutiny for employers acting as Plan Sponsors. Employers may need to more carefully evaluate PBM relationships, pricing structures, and vendor decisions to ensure they align with fiduciary responsibilities.

As Hyde explained:
"With increased transparency comes increased scrutiny, particularly on the Plan Sponsor's decision then to engage with any particular PBM."

At the same time, employers operating across multiple states increasingly face a growing patchwork of requirements affecting health plan design. Areas such as gender-affirming care coverage and reproductive health benefits may be governed by different mandates depending on location.

Some employers may find that self-insured health plan arrangements offer greater flexibility when navigating differing state requirements.

HR takeaway: Regular reviews of health plan design and vendor relationships can help employers stay ahead of evolving compliance expectations.

Want to hear Deborah Hyde’s full discussion? Register to watch the HR Leaders Compliance Summit 2026 sessions on demand.

AI in HR Leadership: Supporting Judgment, Not Replacing It

Speakers Dawn Alvarez and Delaney Tarpey from Acrisure HR Intelligence, Acrisure’s specialized HR consulting division, explored how artificial intelligence is becoming integrated into many HR processes, from recruiting and workforce analytics to employee engagement tools.

While AI can help streamline administrative tasks and uncover workforce insights, the speakers emphasized that the greatest risk arises when organizations attempt to replace human judgment with automated decision-making.

As noted during the session:
"Things get complicated when we move beyond outsourcing tasks and start outsourcing judgment."

AI can help HR teams process data and reduce administrative burdens, but leadership decisions still require context, empathy, and critical thinking.

For many organizations, the practical starting point is determining how leaders should ideally spend their time. Once those priorities are clear, technology can be evaluated based on whether it removes routine tasks and allows leaders to focus more on strategy, coaching, and employee engagement.

HR takeaway: AI should support HR leadership by improving efficiency while preserving the human judgment that drives effective decision-making.

Want to hear the full discussion from Acrisure HR Intelligence? Register to watch the HR Leaders Compliance Summit 2026 sessions on demand.

Workplace Violence Prevention: Recognizing Early Warning Signs

Workplace safety expert Jason Russell, founder and President of Secure Environment Consultants, discussed how organizations can strengthen workplace violence prevention efforts.

Many organizations focus primarily on responding to direct threats or strengthening physical security. However, Russell emphasized that prevention often involves recognizing behavioral warning signs much earlier.

As he explained:
“Most of the people that actually eventually commit a workplace violence act never actually make a direct threat.”

Warning signs may appear through escalating interpersonal conflicts, increasing isolation, or patterns of grievance-focused thinking sometimes described as “injustice collecting.”

Organizations may benefit from establishing multidisciplinary threat assessment teams that include HR, legal, security, and leadership perspectives. These teams can help evaluate concerns and determine appropriate interventions.

Training employees to recognize and report concerning behaviors, along with providing anonymous reporting mechanisms, can help organizations identify risks earlier.

HR takeaway: Workplace violence prevention involves recognizing behavioral warning signs and creating systems that allow organizations to intervene early.

Want to hear Jason Russell’s full discussion? Register to watch the HR Leaders Compliance Summit 2026 sessions on demand.

Payroll Transparency and the Employee Experience

Dana Wilson, Head of Product at Auris, Acrisure’s payroll division, discussed how payroll operations can significantly influence employee trust.

While payroll systems often operate behind the scenes, employees quickly notice when pay information is unclear or inaccurate.

As Wilson explained:
“One payroll mistake could create more employee frustration than a month of great culture programming could even repair.”

However, many payroll interactions are not true errors. Instead, employees often need help understanding their pay statements or compensation changes.

Wilson highlighted this point during the session:
“A huge percentage of payroll interactions are not true errors—they are help-me-interpret moments.”

Improving payroll transparency, communication, and accessibility can help reduce confusion and unnecessary support requests. Flexible payroll options, such as faster payment methods or earned wage access programs, may also help organizations meet evolving workforce expectations.

HR takeaway: Clear communication and transparency around payroll processes play an important role in maintaining employee trust.

Want to hear Dana Wilson’s full discussion? Register to watch the HR Leaders Compliance Summit 2026 sessions on demand.

Employee Onboarding from First Day to Lasting Impact

Brian Fielkow, EVP of Risk Resources at Acrisure, outlined a deliberate 180-day employee onboarding process designed to reduce early turnover, which affects more than 30% of new hires in their first year.

Key elements of an effective onboarding process include meaningful day-one experiences, peer mentorship, regular manager check-ins, family engagement, and a clear career path. Brian emphasizes that responsibility for retention should sit with the hiring manager and direct supervisor, not HR, and that the process should be consistent regardless of how busy your operations get.

He also cautioned against assuming skills transfer automatically across contexts, noting that a candidate's technical ability means little if they lack experience in the specific environment where that work will be performed.

As Fielkow put it:
"People do not quit companies — they quit people and they quit dysfunction."

HR takeaway: Retention starts at day one. A structured, manager-led integration process can be more effective than reactive recruiting — and perhaps less costly than repeated turnover.

Want to hear Brian Fielkow’s full discussion? Register to watch the HR Leaders Compliance Summit 2026 sessions on demand.

Work Opportunity Tax Credit: Capturing Missed Hiring Incentives

Another session explored the Work Opportunity Tax Credit (WOTC), a federal program designed to encourage hiring individuals from certain target groups, including veterans, SNAP recipients, and residents of designated empowerment zones.

Depending on eligibility and hours worked, employers may receive federal tax credits for qualified hires.

Despite this opportunity, many organizations fail to capture the credit even when they hire eligible candidates. In many cases, missed credits stem from operational gaps rather than eligibility issues.

Consistent screening and documentation processes are critical because WOTC claims must be submitted within strict timelines.

As speakers noted during the session:
“If you never ask the question, the answer is always no.”

Maintaining consistent applicant screening processes ensures organizations are positioned to claim available credits when the program is active.

HR takeaway: Many employers miss WOTC benefits due to inconsistent hiring documentation rather than employee eligibility.

Want to hear the full discussion about WOTC? Register to watch the HR Leaders Compliance Summit 2026 sessions on demand.

State Employment Law Trends Employers Should Watch

Another session highlighted employment law developments affecting employers in New Jersey, New York, and Connecticut.

Across the region, new regulations are expanding employee protections and increasing compliance responsibilities for employers.

Recent changes include broader coverage under family leave and paid sick leave laws, as well as restrictions affecting practices such as non-compete agreements and credit checks in hiring decisions.

For example, updates to the New Jersey Family Leave Act have expanded eligibility to smaller employers.

As explained during the session:
“If you have 15 employees and three of them have babies at around the same time, and you now have to hold that position, job protected leave for 12 weeks, that could be a significant hardship on small businesses.”

These changes illustrate how shifting thresholds and expanded coverage can create operational challenges for employers.

HR takeaway: Regular reviews of employee handbooks, leave policies, and employment agreements can help organizations stay aligned with evolving state regulations.

Want to hear the full discussion about State Employment Law Trends? Register to watch the HR Leaders Compliance Summit 2026 sessions on demand.

California Employment Law: A Preview of Future Compliance Trends

The summit also examined regulatory developments in California, a state where employment laws often influence broader workplace trends.

Recent developments have tightened expectations in areas such as:

• Pay transparency
• Stay-or-pay agreements
• Exempt employee classifications
• Time-rounding practices

Courts have also demonstrated a greater willingness to hold individual managers personally liable for certain Labor Code violations.

As one speaker noted:
“Employers in California have an obligation to understand and stay abreast of new developments in the law—simply putting your head in the sand like an ostrich is not going to allow a business to assert a good faith defense.”

Another growing compliance issue involves AI-enabled employment tools. Under California law, employers remain responsible for the outcomes produced by these systems, even if the technology is provided by an outside vendor.

HR takeaway: California’s evolving regulations highlight the importance of proactive compliance reviews as new technologies and legal standards reshape employer responsibilities.

Want to hear the full discussion about California Employment Law? Register to watch the HR Leaders Compliance Summit 2026 sessions on demand.

Looking Ahead

Thank you for your interest in HRLCS 2026. We hope you enjoyed catching up on several insights and highlights from this year’s summit.

The conversations reflected how the HR landscape continues to evolve, from workplace culture and leadership development to employment compliance, payroll transparency, workplace safety, and the expanding role of artificial intelligence in HR decision-making.

If you would like to explore these discussions in greater depth, you can register to watch the HR Leaders Compliance Summit 2026 sessions in full on demand.

At Acrisure, our teams work with organizations across the country to help address evolving HR, employee benefits, payroll, and risk-related challenges. We bring together expertise designed to help employers navigate complex regulatory environments while supporting their workforce goals.

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