Combining the Department of Labor's Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission would yield cost savings without affecting enforcement, Labor Secretary R. Alexander Acosta recently told a House subcommittee. Several Democrats oppose the move, but Acosta said "hard decisions" were in order.

The California state assembly has just passed a bill allowing private-sector employers to create a hiring preference for all military veterans, regardless of age. The state currently limits hiring preferences to Vietnam-era veterans.

Research shows that including spouses and domestic partners in corporate wellness programs can improve employee participation while potentially reducing the cost of family health insurance coverage. Employers can extend wellness benefits to spouses and families, provide educational materials in easily shared formats, and give spouses access to employee programs, among other steps.

HR leaders today need strong business skills and the ability to develop talent, HR executives say. "The role of HR today is providing good solid business advice, as opposed to some years ago, when the role was basically, 'Here are the rules, the laws and the policies,' " says Scott Sherman, Ingram Micro executive vice president of HR.

In trendy neighborhoods in places like Brooklyn, N.Y., and Portland, Ore., some young college graduates are eschewing white-collar professions and high-tech gigs for old-fashioned trades such as bartending, butchery and barbering. The jobs, which require learning a craft and working with tools to create a concrete product, are rising in popularity as a reaction to the digital age, said sociologist Richard Ocejo.