Amazon is eliminating monthly bonuses and stock awards, after unveiling a plan to raise its minimum wage to $15 per hour. A company representative says the raise "more than compensates" for the benefit loss, but some warehouse employees say they will be paid less overall.

The private sector added 230,000 jobs in September, the highest rate in seven months and outpacing expectations, according to ADP and Moody's Analytics. The unemployment rate will decline to about 3% during the next year if job addition continues at this pace, Moody's Analytics Chief Economist Mark Zandi says.

Wellness programs and employee education can help lower a company's health care costs, Cory Arcarese of Value Care Health Clinic told the 2018 Health Care Panel in Colorado Springs, Colo. Holly Kortum of Kaiser Permanente in Southern Colorado said technology, such as telemedicine, is changing the way health care is delivered, which can reduce costs and help keep people at work.

Artificial intelligence is expected to significantly affect the workforce in many sectors, with a 190% increase in the number of LinkedIn profiles listing AI skills on their account profiles since 2015, according to LinkedIn data. The majority of experts say AI will help make teams more effective and make better decisions, a study from Tata Communications found.

Employees who travel or work remotely can especially benefit from software that enables HR to communicate information over mobile devices, says Jeff Corbin, CEO of APPrise Mobile. "The deskless worker tends not to receive the same attention when it comes to communications and engagement as compared to their 'white-collar' counterparts, and so it's up to HR and other professionals responsible for communicating with employees to invest in the tools to reach all workers equally," he says.