Today's Human Resources Pulse
Lateral Associates Now Dominate Biglaw Hiring
In 2025, lateral‑hired attorneys accounted for roughly 48% of associate hires, overtaking new law‑school graduates for the first time. The shift reflects firms’ growing appetite for experienced talent amid heightened client demand and billing pressures, tightening the market for recent graduates.
Case Study: How a "Switch‑off" Culture Delivered 91% Compliance, Zero Productivity Loss, and Lower Attrition at MOFSL
Motilal Oswal Financial Services Limited (MOFSL) instituted a "switch‑off" culture that mandates eight‑to‑ten‑hour workdays and embeds wellbeing into performance metrics. The initiative achieved 91% compliance for more than 1.5 years, with no measurable dip in productivity and a 10% drop in attrition within its wealth‑management arm. A comprehensive My Wellness programme supports physical, mental, social and financial health, reaching thousands of employees. Leadership accountability and data‑driven monitoring were key to sustaining the change.
Fairphone CEO Says There Is ‘No Financial Excuse’ for Smartphone Manufacturers to Pay Their Workers Less than a Living Wage,...
Fairphone released its 2025 Impact Report, highlighting that paying a living wage to factory workers costs just over $1 per device – a tiny fraction of a phone’s retail price. The report argues there is no financial excuse for other...
Leaders Are Burning Out: Stop Fixing People and Start Fixing the System
Burnout has moved from an individual flaw to a systemic crisis, with 91% of UK adults reporting high pressure and 77% of leaders showing exhaustion. Continuous digital connectivity and accelerating complexity have turned episodic peaks into relentless strain, exposing a...
'Not Part of the Job' | 8 in 10 Workers Have Experienced Abuse at Work in Past Year, some by...
A recent HR Grapevine survey of 5,004 employees found that eight in ten workers have experienced some form of abuse at work over the past year. Physical assault was reported by 19.4% of respondents, while 9.9% said they faced sexual...
'More than Policy' | The Very Group Gains Menopause Friendly Accreditation
The Very Group, operator of digital retailers Very and Littlewoods, has earned the Henpicked Menopause in the Workplace accreditation, recognizing it as a menopause‑friendly employer. An independent panel praised the company’s policies, culture, training and awareness initiatives. The Group introduced...
Galbraith Boosts Agency Teams with Senior Promotions
Galbraith, a UK property consultancy, promoted Nick Ainscough and Alice Wilson to Director roles, underscoring its investment in both residential agency and rural services across Scotland and the north of England. The firm also elevated Susan Guthrie to Senior Associate,...
The Psychology of a Hiring Manager: How They Really Make Decisions
The post argues that hiring managers rely more on emotion than data when choosing candidates. First impressions, likability, gut instincts, mirroring, and perceived risk dominate the interview process, often before the final questions are asked. Unconscious bias further skews decisions,...
Meta's Employee Surveillance for AI Sparks Internal Outcry
Sources: Meta's move to track how employees use their computers to train AI caused such a strong reaction that a follow-up note was posted internally acknowledging “there has been a lot of concern about this." “This makes me super uncomfortable. How...
Meta Employees Freak Out at Training Their Replacements
Meta has rolled out a mandatory software that captures employees' keystrokes, mouse movements, and screen content to feed its generative‑AI models. The initiative triggered a wave of internal dissent, with staff voicing privacy and surveillance concerns. An internal follow‑up memo...
Sizewell C Skills Programme Delivers Employees and Social Value
Construction firms including Willmott Dixon, Morson Group and HW Martin are hiring graduates from the Sizewell C Introduction to Construction Skills Bootcamp. Launched in March, the program, funded by the Department for Education and Norfolk and Suffolk councils, offers industry‑recognised...
Firms Warn Sick Pay Changes Could Drive Costs up as Many Remain Unprepared
The UK introduced new Statutory Sick Pay rules on April 6, 2026, allowing employees to claim benefits from day one and eliminating the lower earnings threshold. A survey by The HR Dept shows 46% of small and medium‑sized enterprises (SMEs) were...
Cost Centre Trap
Learning and development (L&D) teams are often labeled cost centres because they are measured by activity‑based metrics such as course completions and hours delivered, not by business outcomes. This perception arises from a reactive role that treats L&D as a...
Employers ‘Lack Clarity on Future Skills Needs’ Despite Workforce Planning Push
Nearly a third of UK employers still lack a clear picture of the skills they will need over the next two to three years, according to new SD Worx research. While 59.7% now rate workforce planning as a high or...
Infor’s April Update Sharpens CloudSuite WFM for Frontline Reality
Infor released its April 2026 Cumulative Update for CloudSuite Workforce Management, delivering a suite of user‑experience upgrades across the multi‑view scheduler and time‑and‑attendance modules. New autosave and exception‑alert features protect rotation work and surface scheduling conflicts before publication, while configurable...
Admiral CEO Attributes FTSE Giant’s Staff Retention to Share Awards Scheme
Admiral Group’s CEO Milena Mondini says the company’s share‑award plan – up to £3,600 ($4,500) in free shares per employee after one year – has been a key driver of its unusually high staff‑retention rates. Since its 2005 IPO the...
Global Employee Engagement Falls to 20% as Managers Disengage
Gallup’s 2026 State of the Global Workplace report shows global employee engagement has slipped to a historic low of 20%, marking the first back‑to‑back decline since 2020. The plunge is driven primarily by managers, whose engagement fell from 31% in...
HR Perspectives by John Dawber: “Adoption Improves Dramatically when AI Becomes Tangible in Daily Work Rather than an Abstract Future...
Novo Nordisk’s Global Business Services leader John Dawber stresses that AI adoption in pharma accelerates when it becomes a tangible part of everyday work rather than an abstract concept. He argues that hiring should focus on learning agility and growth...
HR Needs to Step up, but Don’t Expect a Neet Fix Anytime Soon
Youth unemployment in the UK has risen to 14.3% for 18‑24‑year‑olds, reversing recent overall gains. The government has rolled out a Youth Jobs Grant, expanded apprenticeship incentives and introduced new V‑Level qualifications, but the measures target only a fraction of...
New AI Lab Core Automation 'Nerdsniped' Researchers From Anthropic, Google DeepMind
Core Automation, an AI startup founded by former OpenAI vice president Jerry Tworek, announced its launch on X, branding itself as "the world's most automated AI lab." The company has quickly attracted top talent, including former Anthropic researcher Rohan Anil...
ASML Restructures Workforce, Lets Go 1700
ASML, the Dutch lithography giant, announced a restructuring that will eliminate roughly 1,700 positions, primarily senior technical and management roles. The plan includes a six‑week summer hiring freeze and a reduction of U.S. cuts from 300 to 185. Simultaneously, the...
Master Conflict Resolution: Pro Tips for Managers
Here’s how to resolve conflict as a manager in the workplace like a pro. Comment ‘CONFLICT’ if you want to read my article on this topic for managers and leaders. I’ll send it to you. #leadership #conflict #conflictresolution #workplaceculture
Employee Who Quit During Paranoid Delusions Was Unfairly Dismissed
The Fair Work Commission overturned an unfair dismissal claim involving a Hutchison Ports stevedore who resigned while experiencing paranoid delusions. Colleagues raised concerns about his mental health, yet the employer did not verify his intent to quit and refused his...
The Conversation that Could Change a Founder’s Life
Burnout in startups often goes unnoticed until it threatens performance, with nearly half of people leaders reporting severe fatigue, according to Wiley Workplace Intelligence. As teams grow from five to fifty, informal support erodes and leaders become stretched across hiring,...
Vaibhav Raghuvanshi Joins Arvind as Head of HR CoEs-Talent, L&D, OD
Vaibhath Raghuvanshi has been appointed head of HR Centres of Excellence at Arvind, overseeing talent management, learning & development, and organisational development. He arrives from Aditya Birla Health Insurance, where he led talent and organisational effectiveness since 2025. Raghuvanshi’s career...
FDV Warning Signs Often Missed in the Workplace
Australian workplaces are struggling to support employees experiencing family and domestic violence (FDV) because many warning signs go unnoticed. Humans of Purpose Academy estimates 2.2 million women—about one in four—face FDV each year. Support specialist Melanie Greblo warns that managers and...
Domestic Workers Legally Recognised in Indonesia After '22-Year Struggle'
Indonesia’s parliament approved the Domestic Workers Protection Law, ending a 22‑year campaign for formal recognition. The legislation covers roughly 4.2 million domestic workers—about 90% of whom are women—granting them health insurance, paid rest days and pension rights. It also bans wage...
Magnificent Irony as Meta Staff Unhappy About Running Surveillance Software on Work PCs
Meta announced it will roll out a new internal tool called the Model Capability Initiative, which records keystrokes, mouse movements and occasional screenshots on employee workstations. The memo specifies monitoring of work‑related applications such as Gmail, GChat, VS Code and an...
Radiance Technologies Elevates Darien J. Hammett to COO to Drive Growth
Radiance Technologies announced the promotion of Executive Vice President Darien J. Hammett to chief operating officer. The move is intended to sharpen operational execution and sustain the firm’s growth in aerospace and defense. Hammett brings more than 30 years of...
DOJ Secures $17.1 Million FCA Settlement From IBM Over DEI Violations
IBM agreed to pay $17,077,043 to resolve False Claims Act allegations that it falsified compliance certifications for anti‑discrimination rules in its federal contracts. The settlement is the first under the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Fraud Initiative, signaling a new enforcement...
Oracle Names Hilary Maxson CFO After Cutting 30,000 Jobs
Oracle announced Hilary Maxson as its new chief financial officer, offering a $950,000 base salary, $2.5 million bonus potential and a $26 million equity grant. The hire follows a wave of up to 30,000 employee terminations that were delivered via automated emails,...
Finder Cuts 54 Jobs in Latest Global Redundancy Round
Finder announced a third wave of global redundancies, cutting 54 jobs across multiple regions, including eight in Australia. The layoffs bring the company's headcount down to roughly 200 employees, down from a 2021 peak of over 500. The cuts are...
Meta Deploys Mouse‑Tracking Software to Train Internal AI Agents
Meta announced it will roll out a tool called Model Capability Initiative (MCI) that captures mouse movements, clicks and keystrokes from U.S. employees to train its AI agents. The move is part of a broader "AI for Work" push that...
The Big Reveal: Meet the Finalists of the Employee Experience Awards 2026, Thailand
The Employee Experience Awards 2026 in Thailand have announced their finalists, covering 45 categories that highlight innovative people strategies and measurable business results. This third‑year programme, judged by senior HR leaders, underscores the shift of HR from a support role to...
Leaders Have Better Lives but Worse Days
Gallup’s 2026 State of the Global Workplace report finds that managers of managers—defined as leaders—are more likely to rate their lives as thriving and report higher work engagement than the employees they supervise. At the same time, these leaders experience...
Direct Recruitment System for Foreign Workers Still at Research Stage, Says KESUMA
Malaysia’s Ministry of Human Resources (KESUMA) clarified that a proposed digital platform for direct foreign‑worker recruitment is still in the research stage, with no decisions or contracts signed. The AI‑driven system would let employers source workers directly from source countries...
Lack of Salary Transparency a 'Deal-Breaker' For Jobseekers
A new Monster survey of over 1,000 workers shows salary transparency has become a decisive factor in job searches, with 60% refusing to apply for positions that omit pay ranges. Only 21% of employers consistently publish salary ranges, while 48%...
Performance Sacking Upheld as Fair Despite "Ambitious" PIP Targets
The Fair Work Commission ruled that a senior security analyst’s dismissal from National Australia Bank was fair, despite finding some performance‑improvement‑plan (PIP) targets “unreasonable or ambitious.” The employee, hired in 2023, was terminated in June 2023 after failing to meet...
Personal Trainer Who Raised Concerns Wins £150k at Tribunal
A personal trainer who reported an unsafe Ministry of Defence fitness test was awarded roughly $190,000 after an employment tribunal ruled her dismissal was automatically unfair. The tribunal ordered Nuffield Health to pay about $97,000 in lost wages, $47,000 for...
Why Leadership Traits Don’t Determine a Successful Leader
The piece argues that leadership success hinges on self‑awareness and context rather than a static list of traits. It highlights a Silicon Valley biotech CEO who, despite being praised for many classic traits, let them become blind spots, prompting senior...
Manager Shortage Threatens $10 Trillion in Global Productivity
Gallup’s 2026 State of the Global Workplace shows employee engagement down 20% and manager engagement falling from 27% to 22%, a slump that could cost the world economy $10 trillion in lost productivity. The findings spotlight a looming leadership pipeline crisis...
Top Ten (+40) Best Places To Work In UK
The 2026 Best Places to Work in the UK list was compiled from thousands of Glassdoor reviews, filtered through a proprietary algorithm that weighs review quantity, quality, and consistency. The ranking excludes any pay‑to‑play or self‑nomination processes, ensuring an unbiased...
We Are All Workerbees
The episode explores how the modern workplace has become unpredictable, with shifting hiring practices, evolving job expectations, and constant adaptation required of employees. Through interviews with workers, recruiters, hiring managers, and leaders, listeners hear personal stories of long job searches,...
Why Can't They Just...? Revisited
The article revisits the perennial "why can’t they just…" question that surfaces across engineers, managers and senior leaders, using AI tool mandates as a case study. It argues that such questions often overlook deep legal, tax, strategic and cultural constraints...
Why Menopause Support Belongs on Every Law Firm’s Agenda
Law firms face a hidden talent risk as women reach menopause during peak career years, coinciding with low representation at senior levels—55% of solicitors are women but only 35% become equity partners. Menopausal symptoms can impair performance, prompting the UK...
CEOs Downplay Staff Discontent, Leaving HR to Manage the Fallout
Global employee engagement has slipped to a five‑year low of 20% in 2025, according to Gallup, costing the world economy roughly $10 trillion in lost productivity. Yet the BCG CEO Insomnia Index shows only 38% of CEOs are highly concerned about...
Savills Narrows Gender Pay Gap as Female Representation Edges Up
Savills UK reported a modest narrowing of its gender pay gap in the 2025 disclosure, with the mean gap falling to 20.08% from 21.18% and the median to 16.99% from 17.82%. Women now represent 30% of the highest‑pay quartile, up...
McDonald’s Targets Jobless Gen Z with ‘UK’s Largest Work Experience Programme’
McDonald’s has launched the UK’s largest work‑experience scheme, offering 2,500 paid placements to people aged 16 and over. The initiative targets a record‑high 14.3% NEET rate among 18‑24‑year‑olds and the 34% of 16‑17‑year‑olds not in work or education. It comes...
HHS Seeks Employee Reassignments to Tackle Months-Long Reasonable Accommodation Backlog
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is confronting a backlog of over 9,000 reasonable accommodation requests from employees with disabilities. The backlog includes roughly 3,000 cases at the CDC, which accounts for a third of the total. HHS...
Some Senior Bureaucrats Earn More than $1 Million a Year. How Did We Get Here?
Senior Australian Public Service (APS) departmental secretaries are now earning more than A$1 million a year—roughly $660,000 USD—outpacing the prime minister’s salary of about A$622,000 (≈$410,000 USD). The disparity has ignited public debate about government compensation practices. In response, the independent...
The Cost of Being Right
The article argues that organizational culture is forged not by what leaders say, but by what they tolerate. Small, repeated lapses—such as ignoring interruptions, keeping underperformers, or excusing high‑performers’ bad behavior—solidify into lasting norms. Modern leadership’s emphasis on empathy and...