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Know What's Happening in Human Resources
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Daily
Every morning
Weekly
Tuesday recap
IBM settles DOJ DEI probe with $17.1 million payment
IBM agreed to pay $17.1 million to resolve a Department of Justice false‑claims act investigation into its diversity, equity and inclusion practices on federal contracts. The DOJ alleged the company tied bonus compensation to demographic targets and limited certain training programs. IBM cooperated early and disclosed relevant facts.
Also developing:
By the numbers: Gusto expands AI compliance suite with acquisition of Mosey
Managers are finding their roles redefined as AI tools become integral to daily operations. Executives overseeing remote teams of 200+ employees report a tension between AI theory and practical deployment, requiring new hybrid skill sets. Consulting work across hundreds of brands shows managers must balance algorithmic insights with human judgment. The shift demands leaders act as translators, ethicists, and change agents.
Gallup’s State of the Global Workplace report shows employee engagement slipped to 20 percent in 2025, down from a 23‑percent peak in 2022 and the lowest level since 2020. Despite rapid AI investment, only 12 percent of workers say AI has fundamentally...
Leaders often feel disproportionate irritation when employees make routine requests, a reaction rooted in personal history rather than the request itself. Research cited in the article shows that childhood stress makes adults 2.6 times more likely to experience anxiety, while...
An unfair performance review isn’t just “bad feedback.” It can be the setup. As an employment lawyer, I see this all the time—sudden criticism that doesn’t match your work is often masking bias and building a record to push you out. The...
Women in Solar+ Europe highlighted Ilse Cappelle, Libra Energy’s Head of Marketing & E‑commerce, who stepped onto the management team the day after returning from maternity leave. Her story showcases the company’s commitment to career growth, work‑life balance, and gender‑inclusive...
A Pew Charitable Trusts analysis of United Nations projections shows the world will add roughly 2 billion people by 2100, pushing the global median age from 31 to 42. Africa and South‑Asia will generate over 60% of that growth, while Europe...
New demographic research projects the world will add roughly 2 billion people by 2100, pushing the global population to about 10.9 billion. The bulk of this growth will occur in Africa and South‑Asia, while Europe and East Asia face aging societies and...
Artificial intelligence, especially agentic AI, is prompting roughly half of companies to eliminate or plan to eliminate entry‑level positions. Surveys show 21% of firms have already frozen hiring, 36% will do so by year‑end, and 47% expect a halt by...
A Gallup survey shows the share of federal employees who consider themselves "thriving" fell from 58% in 2024 to 48% in 2025, a ten‑point drop. At the same time, the proportion classified as "struggling" rose from 37% to 47% and...
At the Restaurant Franchising & Innovation Summit in San Diego, a panel of franchise leaders from Blaze Pizza, Farmer Boys, Mike’s Red Tacos, and Edible Brands discussed how people, not technology, drive profitability. They emphasized rapid candidate communication—responding within 24 hours—to win...
Proptech startup Rentilium announced sweeping layoffs after a forgery issue in its sales department triggered financial strain. Over half of its staff, many junior employees, were told to leave with little notice, and the company promised two months' severance despite...
The Tripartite Alliance for Fair and Progressive Employment Practices (TAFEP) urges Singapore managers to translate the Workplace Fairness Act and fair‑employment guidelines into daily habits that promote inclusion. It outlines three practical habits—getting to know individuals beyond assumptions, seeking diverse...
Gallup’s 2026 State of the Global Workplace report reveals a sharp drop in manager engagement, falling from 31% in 2022 to 22% in 2025, while overall employee engagement remains flat. The study links this decline to a $10 trillion annual productivity...
Meta Platforms unveiled an executive compensation plan that mirrors Tesla’s high‑stakes equity model, tying nearly $1 billion in potential payouts to stock‑price appreciation. Chief Technology Officer Andrew Bosworth, Chief Product Officer Chris Cox and Chief Operating Officer Javier Olivan each receive...
Disney announced plans to eliminate roughly 1,000 positions, primarily within its marketing division, as the company continues to integrate its entertainment, sports and experiences units under a new chief marketing and brand officer. The cuts come just weeks after Josh...
Forrester’s AIQ 2.0 report reveals a widening AI skills gap as only half of organisations provide AI training to non‑technical staff. Training on core capabilities such as prompt engineering barely rose from 19% to 23% between 2024 and 2025. Meanwhile,...
The UK’s Employment Rights Act 2025, rolling out through 2026‑27, introduces sweeping workplace reforms aimed at women. Large employers must publish menopause support plans, while all firms need actionable gender‑pay‑gap reduction strategies. New sick‑pay rules eliminate the £125 (≈ $156) lower‑earnings...
Most companies hold quarterly or annual talent reviews where senior leaders decide promotions, retention, and layoff risk based solely on a manager’s commentary. The article reveals that introverted employees, who often deliver strong results, are disadvantaged because they lack visibility...
DSV Contract Logistics filed a WARN Act notice indicating it will lay off 391 employees at its Wilmer, Texas distribution center. The cuts follow the loss of a major customer contract, prompting a complete cessation of operations at the site....
The International Labour Organization released a report calling for universal social protection systems to cover all workers. It highlights that millions remain vulnerable due to gaps in coverage, inadequate benefits, and weak financing. The report urges expanding protection to temporary,...
Burger King announced a hiring drive for up to 60,000 employees across its roughly 6,500 U.S. restaurants. The push follows a multi‑year modernization effort that introduced redesigned layouts, a unified technology stack, and AI‑enabled headsets for staff. Digital ordering channels...
Tata Power has engaged CORE Academy, the specialised training arm of POWERCON Group, to upskill its wind turbine operations and maintenance workforce. The curriculum spans theoretical safety and system modules, hands‑on field training, and advanced troubleshooting, data analytics, and remote‑command...
A classic 1981 study found that 93% of Americans believe they drive better than average, illustrating the cognitive bias known as illusory superiority. The article links this bias to leadership, noting that many managers overrate their positive impact on teams....
Startup founders often blame a broken culture for missed deadlines and duplicated effort, but the root cause is a clarity crisis. As organizations scale, ambiguous roles, undefined decision‑making authority, and ad‑hoc processes sap productivity. The article recommends concrete fixes—role‑clarity workshops,...
The Jharkhand High Court ruled that State Financial Corporations (SFCs) can set employee salaries and service conditions without prior state government approval, reaffirming the autonomy granted under the State Financial Corporations Act of 1951. The decision arose from a dispute...
HR Grapevine Live 2026 gathered Britain’s leading CHROs to debate employee wellbeing and AI‑driven workforce planning. Panels argued that wellbeing must become an outcomes‑based, day‑to‑day practice rather than a series of add‑on policies, with managers trained to address health and...
Newsweek and Plant‑A Insights Group announced America’s Greatest Workplaces for Mental Well‑Being 2026, spotlighting firms that move beyond “well‑washing” to embed psychological safety, cognitive health and sustainable performance into daily workflows. The ranking underscores how rapid adoption of remote tools,...
Mid‑March 2026, a routine spreadsheet upload to the City of Austin’s Workday payroll system left the exemption‑status field blank for hundreds of staff. The blank field caused the system to treat many employees as non‑exempt, resulting in overtime calculations that...
The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum announced that former Hirshhorn Museum director Melissa Chiu will take over as its new director on September 1. Chiu arrives after a 12‑year tenure that lifted fundraising by 75% and doubled attendance, but she inherits a...
Notion Capital argues that in the AI‑driven era, human leadership and high‑performing teams are the decisive competitive edge, outweighing pure technology investments. Their model emphasizes trust, robust debate, and rapid decision‑making to navigate complexity and ambiguity. By applying simple frameworks...
Zapier has elevated its Chief People Officer, Brandon Sammut, to also oversee AI transformation, a move made at the end of 2025. The People team is now driving AI‑enabled work redesign across the company, using a three‑point framework of efficiency,...
AI will not eliminate jobs; policy will shape outcomes. The World Economic Forum projects 170 million new jobs by 2030 but 40% of current skills will be obsolete within five years, making rapid workforce retraining the decisive factor for national competitiveness....
The flattening of corporate hierarchies has produced a surge of “supermanagers,” front‑line leaders now overseeing an average of 12.1 employees in 2025, up from 10.9 in 2024, with some managing 20 or more. Gallup and Owl Labs data show that...
United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby unveiled a new hiring process that enlists well‑liked pilots to evaluate job candidates for cultural fit. The selected pilots spend time with interviewees, deciding if they’d enjoy a four‑day trip together and holding a veto...
The article argues that a restaurant’s success hinges on deliberately building a strong culture, with the general manager acting as the chief cultural architect. Empowering managers through trust and autonomy enables them to provide tools, set standards, and make day‑to‑day...
TriNet (NYSE: TNET) announced a definitive agreement to acquire Cocoon, a leading leave‑management SaaS, adding AI‑enabled compliance tools for small‑ and medium‑size business clients. The deal, expected to close in April 2026, expands TriNet’s HR suite without altering its 2026...
A Fifth Circuit court affirmed summary judgment for an employer who fired an African‑American female manager the same day she was accused of insubordination, despite her earlier Title VII and Section 1981 discrimination complaint. The court held that the employee...
President Trump, backed by Labor Secretary Lori Chavez‑DeRemer, is pushing a rule that would give employers a safe‑harbor to add crypto and private‑equity funds to 401(k) menus. The proposal frames the change as a cure for "regulatory overreach" and a...
Walmart filed 312 certified H‑1B visa applications in Q1 2025, a drop of more than half from the same period a year earlier and 40% below its 2023 level. The decline mirrors a broader pullback by major tech firms after...
Meta quietly retired its internal AI usage leaderboard, dubbed “Claudeonomics,” after internal metrics about employee token consumption began circulating and raised data‑leak concerns. The tool ranked staff by the amount of data processed through generative‑AI models, awarding badges to top...
Employers are adding GLP‑1 weight‑loss drugs such as Ozempic and Zepbound to their benefits packages, turning the medication into a hiring differentiator. About 12% of Americans currently use GLP‑1s, and the drugs cost roughly $1,000 per month without insurance. A...
Wall Street H‑1B filings fell sharply in the first quarter of fiscal year 2026 after President Trump’s visa fee increase, with Goldman Sachs seeing a 60% drop to 101 certified petitions and JPMorgan down 29% to 516. In contrast, Citi’s...
EON Reality has entered a strategic partnership with Hindalco Group to launch EON‑XR Skills & Innovation Centers across communities supported by Hindalco’s CSR initiatives. The collaboration will deliver the full EON‑XR learning suite—including XR, AI, Digital Twin IQ and Career...
The article urges HR leaders to educate employees on health‑savings‑account (HSA) expense tracking as a core tax‑saving strategy. It highlights that employees can reimburse themselves years later, avoid a 20% penalty, and capitalize on the triple tax advantage of HSAs....
Gunzilla Games’ CEO Vlad Korolev used a lengthy tweet to rebut former staff claims that the studio delayed contractor payments for months, insisting full‑time employees have never waited more than a week. He framed the criticism as a “new narrative from...
Traliant, a leader in online compliance training, announced a strategic partnership with Case IQ, a global provider of investigative case management solutions. The alliance combines Traliant’s story‑driven training modules with Case IQ’s hotline, intake, and real‑time monitoring tools, offering customers...
Skynet Brokers announced a strategic partnership with Plansight, an AI‑driven benefits marketing platform, to automate renewals and RFP processes. The integration replaces manual spreadsheets with real‑time market data, accelerating plan design and renewal timelines. Brokers will shift from administrative tasks...
Aledade, a physician‑led value‑based care leader, earned the 2026 USA Today Top Workplaces award for its people‑first culture, based on confidential feedback from over 1,600 employees via an Energage survey. The honor highlights the company’s remote‑first flexibility, extensive benefits such...
FrankCrum was named a USA TODAY Top Workplace for the second time, adding to its 16‑year streak of Tampa Bay Times honors. An Energage‑administered employee survey showed 80% of staff report a favorable experience and 90% would recommend the firm,...
Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has reinstated its traditional April salary‑increment cycle, effective 1 April, after postponing the 2025 appraisal to September. Eligible employees will receive hikes, with top performers slated for double‑digit increases. The move follows a quarter of modest hiring...
