Today's Human Resources Pulse
Greenhouse completes acquisition of Ezra AI Labs, adding voice‑AI interviewing
Greenhouse announced the completion of its acquisition of Ezra AI Labs, a voice‑AI interviewing platform. The technology enables on‑demand, role‑specific conversations that are scored against a uniform rubric, delivering transcripts and explainable evaluations. The deal expands Greenhouse’s structured hiring methodology to the earliest stage of the recruiting funnel.
U.S. DOL Proposes New Joint-Employer Rule
On April 23, 2026 the U.S. Department of Labor issued a proposed rule that would define when two or more entities are considered joint employers under the FLSA, FMLA and MSPA. The rule revives the 2020 framework but adds a control‑ability factor and a four‑factor test for vertical joint employment, while outlining a "sufficient association" test for horizontal arrangements. It is open for public comment for 60 days before a final rule is issued. California employers must also weigh the proposal against the state’s broader joint‑employer statutes.
Your Next Teammate Might Be a Freelancer
Freelancing has shifted from occasional gig work to a core component of modern organizations, with more than one in four U.S. knowledge workers—about 20 million people—operating as independent contractors. Studies show that the top 25% of fastest‑growing public companies embed freelancers...
Why AI Is Being Used As An Excuse To Stop Investing In People
In this episode, Dr. Jonathan warns that many organizations are using AI as an excuse to stop investing in their workforce, treating it as an "escape hatch" to cut training, development, and support. He highlights three core issues: the relentless...
A Message From CEO Chris Young
Vertex Inc. announced a restructuring that includes layoffs, positioning the move as essential to fund its AI‑first transformation. CEO Chris Young emphasized that artificial intelligence will become a foundational design principle for the company’s tax and compliance products, not a...
Unified Employee Data Makes SOC 2 Compliance Effortless
Hot take: compliance feels complex because of how it gets handled. SOC 2 turns painful when teams try to recreate reality inside a compliance tool using integrations, exports, and manual checks. That’s what turns it into a second job. @Rippling takes a different...
Virginia’s Paid Family Leave Law Signals Shift in the South
Governor Abigail Spanberger signed Virginia’s paid family and medical leave law on April 22, making the Commonwealth the 15th state—and the first in the South—to enact a statewide paid leave program. The legislation will begin disbursing benefits in December 2028,...
Steps to Take After a Workers’ Comp Denial
A workers’ compensation denial can halt medical treatment and wage replacement, but the decision is not final. Claimants should first dissect the denial letter to understand the specific reasons and any missing evidence. Gathering comprehensive documentation—medical reports, timesheets, incident logs,...
Maine Launches 12‑Week Paid Leave for All Workers
MAINE ROLLS OUT PAID LEAVE (Starting May 1st) Your Mamattorney explains: ✅ 12 weeks ✅ max $1,200 per week ✅ for recovery (including birth), medical caretaking, bonding, safety leave Self-employed folks can opt-in! Very cool -->
Dead By Daylight Studio ‘Emphatically Refutes’ Rumor That Layoffs Were Related To Union Activity
Behaviour Interactive announced layoffs affecting roughly 40 employees, about 3% of its global staff. The cuts targeted mobile and casual external development teams, but also included 8‑10 members of the flagship Dead by Daylight studio. The company issued a statement...
Bed Bath & Beyond CEO: AI Will Lead to ‘Significant Reduction in Headcount’
Bed Bath & Beyond is pivoting to an AI‑centric model, with CEO Marcus Lemonis warning that deeper AI integration will trigger a significant headcount reduction across functions such as supply chain, IT, accounting, marketing and merchandising. The company reported its first quarterly revenue...
The Littler Annual Employer Survey 2026
Littler’s 14th Annual Employer Survey, based on responses from over 300 senior HR, legal and C‑suite leaders, shows AI and data‑privacy have overtaken DEI and immigration as the top policy concerns for U.S. employers in 2026. Executives report accelerating AI‑governance...
World of HR: The Netherlands Is Slowly Adopting a Four-Day Workweek
Workers in the Netherlands now average a 32‑hour week, effectively a four‑day schedule, though it is not yet codified into law. The shift originated in the 1980s when tax incentives encouraged one parent—typically the mother—to work part‑time, expanding female labor...
DOJ Joins xAI in Federal Suit to Block Colorado AI Hiring Law
The U.S. Department of Justice filed an amicus brief on April 24, joining Elon Musk’s xAI in a federal lawsuit seeking to halt Colorado’s Anti‑Discrimination in AI Act before it takes effect on June 30. The challenge argues the law...
Serval Launches Accelerated Equity Program for Aspiring Founders
Exclusive: Serval has had a problem: not enough top talent to work on its biggest accounts. So Serval is launching a new-look solution: a dedicated program, Serval Start, that offers accelerated equity vesting and access to its investors to aspiring future...
AI Will Transform Every Job, AWS Hiring Surge
Matt Garman of @AWS says "We are hiring just as many software developers as we ever had inside of Amazon. And in fact, I see the demand for that really accelerating. I think, as we think about where...
Workhuman Elevates Deskless Work Experience, Setting a New Bar for Frontline Recognition Worldwide
Workhuman has launched the Frontline Recognition Experience, a unified platform that brings together digital and physical employee recognition for desk‑less workers. The solution aims to close the gap where only 33 % of frontline staff received formal recognition last quarter, while...
Executives Cite AI Hype, Cut Jobs Before Results
The AI Hiring Announcement and the Layoffs Are in the Same Press Release A survey of 1,006 global executives published by HBR in January 2026 found that AI is behind at least some layoffs but almost entirely in anticipation of AI's...
The Timesheet Is Killing Your Firm
The post argues that the engineering and architecture industry’s reliance on timesheets and utilization rates has become a management liability. By treating billable hours as the sole performance metric, firms sacrifice training, technology adoption, and innovation. Salaried professionals often log...
Just In: US Orchestra Links Pay Rise to Hire Freeze
The Minnesota Orchestra’s board and its musicians have ratified a two‑year collective bargaining agreement that takes effect on September 1, 2026. The contract delivers a 2.5% annual increase to the weekly salary scale for musicians. In exchange, the orchestra will impose temporary...
AI Adoption Is a Challenge. Here’s a Solution.
Leaders are confronting a widening gap between AI investment and employee use, with 31% of U.S. knowledge workers and 41% of Gen Z actively resisting corporate generative‑AI initiatives. Research shows the resistance stems from unmet psychological needs—competence, autonomy, and relatedness—rather than...
New State Employee Contract Advanced on a Party-Line Vote
Democrats on Connecticut's Appropriations Committee unanimously approved a three‑year labor contract for roughly 40,000 state employees, delivering a 2.5% annual wage increase through fiscal 2028 and step increases for FY2026‑2028. The agreement includes a wage‑reopener for FY2029 and was funded...
What Pattern Is Running Your Leadership Right Now?
The post introduces a short, three‑minute quiz called “What’s Running You?” that helps leaders uncover hidden behavioral patterns that surface under pressure. It outlines four archetypes—Control Freak, People‑Pleaser, Ghoster, and Highlight Reel—each representing a subconscious way of operating. By answering...
Veteran Oracle Worker Axed by Email Amid Cancer Battle
Twenty Years at Oracle, Fired by Email, Cancer Still Active A Reddit post went viral after an Oracle employee's child described their father being laid off via email after twenty years with the company, two years from retirement, while actively battling...
Ireland Has ‘One of the Worst Disability Employment Records’, Finds Report
The Open Doors Initiative (ODI) released a report highlighting Ireland’s severe disability‑employment gap, the worst among many EU nations. While 22% of the population lives with a disability, only 49.3% of working‑age disabled individuals are employed, versus 70.8% of non‑disabled...
Ludi Announces Ludi Boost™: New AI-Powered Operating Model & Strategic Services Offering for Provider Workforce Management
Ludi, Inc. unveiled Ludi Boost™, an AI‑enabled compensation platform that bundles advanced technology with a strategic services team of more than 80 experts. The solution consolidates compensation data, governance and administration into a single system of record, promising faster program execution,...
1H 2026 SAP SuccessFactors Onboarding: Enhanced I-9 and E-Verify Compliance Process
SAP SuccessFactors Onboarding’s first‑half‑2026 release adds six enhancements to the New Hire Details page, most notably a UI option to cancel in‑progress I‑9 and E‑Verify submissions. The new controls let HR teams remove duplicate or withdrawn candidate records without database...
Why Dutch Bros CEO Christine Barone Wants You In The ‘Zone Of Discomfort’
Dutch Bros CEO Christine Barone told the Corporate Competitor Podcast that thriving in a "zone of discomfort" fuels high‑performing teams. She draws on her C‑suite experience at Starbucks and her Harvard water‑polo background to treat business as a team sport....
Harvey Hires Former Notion CMO Rachel Hepworth
Harvey, the legal‑AI platform, has appointed Rachel Hepworth as its new chief marketing officer. Hepworth previously served as CMO at Notion, led marketing at Slack, and advised fintech startup Lovable. The hire is positioned to help Harvey scale its brand...
Heading to HRTechUK: Startup Shootout & AI Competition
Next stop Gatwick. Heading to town for #HRTechUK. Running the startup shootout and also the AI innovation competition. Great entries this year. See the judges in the morning. Sad to leave the island but this is a fun event.
Building the STEM Pipeline
The United States’ burgeoning commercial space sector faces a growing talent shortage, prompting Blue Origin and its Club for the Future program to accelerate STEM outreach. At the AIAA SciTech Forum 2026, astronaut‑teacher Amy Medina Jorge highlighted how her sub‑orbital flight and...
The Job Board Revolution: Quality Over Volume
Jobiqo’s new “Job Board Revolution” report warns that the recruitment sector’s focus on sheer application volume is becoming obsolete. AI-driven candidate tools now separate volume from value, enabling job seekers to self‑screen and prioritize relevance. The report calls for job...
California Fast‑food Wage Hike Cuts Staff by 8%
Following California’s fast-food minimum wage increase, new data indicate an average 8% reduction in on-site staffing, suggesting that higher wages have been offset by fewer worker hours or positions. minimumwage
Amazon Connect Talent Anonymizes Candidates to Curb Bias
MYPOV: On the ethical AI front, this is interesting. Amazon Connect Talent anonymizes candidates, helping to reduce human preconceptions that come with seeing candidate demographics and personally identifiable information. #HR #WhatsNextWithAWS #AWS
Neurodiversity in the Workplace: Barriers, Bias, and Belonging (Pt. 2 of 3)
In part two of the three‑part series, neurodiversity advocate Haley Moss examines how workplace intentions often miss the mark, creating barriers, bias, and underemployment for neurodivergent professionals. She highlights both the business case—greater innovation, loyalty, and profitability when companies hire...
AWS Launches Amazon Connect Talent, Enters WFM Market
AWS hires ~250k people at peak. They outgrew their off the shelf solutions. New: Amazon Connect Talent Interesting to see AWS stepping into the WFM space. #CIO #AI #Cloud #WhatsNextWithAWS https://t.co/Dgwoeygd9f
Amazon Adds 11,000 New Software Talent This Year
"Amazon is hiring 11,000 new SD interns and full time employees this year. " via Matt Garman of @AWS #WhatsNextWithAWS #AWS
EY Hustles to Hire 'Forward Deployed Engineers'
EY, one of the Big Four professional services firms, announced it will initially recruit 45‑50 Forward Deployed Engineers (FDEs) to help clients move AI projects from prototype to production. The FDE role places technically skilled engineers directly within client organizations,...
HR Tools Meet Employees in Microsoft 365, Boosting Adoption
"HR technology has always required employees to come to it." Gloat's Copilot Agent flipped that. Now in Microsoft 365, the capability goes to where work already happens. Small premise change. Big adoption difference.
Disney Accused of Racial, Gender Segregation in Workforce
More: In forthcoming interview with @KatieMiller, Carr says “there's evidence [that] suggests that Disney [was] dividing and categorizing employees based on race and gender. …. And we're going to get some more discovery from Disney on that. But that could...
Culture Is What You Tolerate
Culture is defined by what leaders repeatedly tolerate, not by posted values. The article illustrates a common scenario where a senior executive dismisses a well‑grounded concern from an expert two levels below, signaling that dissent is inconvenient. Over time, such...
Overseas Hires Work Harder, Cost 70% Less
95% of my hiring is overseas. From executives to management to front line. They work harder, complain less and cost 70% less than hiring in America. If you are an entrepreneur and you aren't doing this I feel sorry for you. https://t.co/unrQYUcqfe
Women in Tech Still Face Underestimation, Despite Success
Being a women in tech is hard. That is for sure. It honestly doesn't matter what your role or your level of success people are still very eager to underestimate you and yes talking about it is a...
Restart Failed E-Signatures Without Restarting the Entire Onboarding Process Post 1H 2026 Release
SAP’s first‑half 2026 release introduces a targeted fix for onboarding: the e‑signature step can now be restarted independently of the rest of the workflow. Previously, a failed electronic signature forced HR teams to restart the entire onboarding sequence, duplicating data entry...
Fast Company Warns AI‑driven ‘Perfect Storm’ Threatens Legacy Consulting Firms
Fast Company’s latest analysis warns that a convergence of generative AI, rising interest rates and tighter client budgets is creating a “perfect storm” for traditional consulting powerhouses. The piece cites an 11% workforce reduction at McKinsey and salary freezes across...
Atlassian Elevates CPO to Chief People and AI Enablement Officer, Expands Team to 3,500
Atlassian announced that chief people officer Avani Solanki Prabhakar will also serve as chief people and AI enablement officer, overseeing a newly expanded 3,500‑person workforce that blends HR and engineering. The move follows a 1,600‑employee reduction and signals a strategic...
Weekly Creator Economy Job Radar – April 28, 2026 – MrBeast, CHANEL, and E.l.f. Beauty Hiring Across Beauty, Agency, and...
The creator‑economy hiring wave continued in late April, with Beast Industries (Jimmy Donaldson’s MrBeast) posting senior roles in external communications and corporate strategy. Luxury and beauty firms such as CHANEL and e.l.f. Beauty added influencer‑focused positions, while brands like Sol...
How to Build a Data-Driven Culture in Your Organization
Building a data‑driven culture requires more than technology—it demands a top‑down commitment, clear metrics, and seamless access to information. Leaders must model data‑informed decisions, while teams develop relevant KPIs that translate raw numbers into actionable insight. Embedding analysts across departments...
Odgers’ Conrad Woody on Future-Proofing Leadership in the Age of AI
Conrad Woody, managing partner at Odgers, told the Nareit REITwise conference that AI adoption, leadership development, and change management are essential for future‑proofing organizations. He warned firms must build adaptable talent pipelines and manage human‑capital risk in an AI‑driven landscape....
How Do You Keep Fatherhood Facilitators Engaged?
Recent Social Impact Staff Retention data shows 71% of nonprofit workers are actively looking for a new job within a year, while 74% stay because they feel a strong connection to their mission. High turnover is especially damaging for fatherhood...
Not My First Rodeo: Alfie Pearce-Higgins with Jenny Fielding
In this episode, co‑founder and CEO Alfie Pearce‑Higgins walks through his unconventional path from finance and international development to launching Rodeo, a London‑based startup that uses AI to give job seekers personalized career planning tools. He explains how traditional job...