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.
New 12-Week Mini-MBA Targets Leadership Gap in the AI Era
Traditional MBA programs are being reengineered for speed and flexibility as AI reshapes business leadership needs. Abilitie, TED, and St. Edward’s University have launched a 12‑week, part‑time mini‑MBA that blends curated TED content, live faculty discussions, and immersive business simulations. The virtual program awards a professional education certificate from St. Edward’s and offers an optional in‑person weekend experience. It targets managers who lack advanced business degrees, aiming to close a widening leadership readiness gap.
ExecOnline Acquires Teamraderie to Fuse Leadership Courses with AI‑Driven Team Transformation
ExecOnline announced the purchase of Teamraderie, creating a combined platform that pairs elite leadership courses with AI‑focused team workshops. The deal aims to turn individual learning into measurable operating change as AI reshapes corporate workflows.
Why Negotiation Deserves a Bigger Role in L&D Strategy
The article argues that negotiation should move from a sales‑only skill to a core learning‑and‑development (L&D) capability across the enterprise. Executives now demand training that directly improves margin, deal speed, and decision quality, with 75% of HR leaders tying L&D...
DOJ Secures $17 Million False Claims Act Settlement From IBM Over Discriminatory Contract Practices
The U.S. Department of Justice announced that IBM will pay just over $17 million to resolve False Claims Act allegations that it violated federal anti‑discrimination requirements tied to its government contracts. The settlement, the first under the DOJ’s Civil Rights Fraud...
Gold Traders Win Bigger Pay in Hong Kong as Talent War Hots Up
Gold traders in Hong Kong are securing larger compensation as banks and new market entrants vie for talent. The city is intensifying its push to become a leading bullion hub, drawing in trading houses, Chinese securities firms, and fintech players....
Study Finds 67% of U.S. Workers Prioritize Skill Development, Yet Only 48% See Employer Commitment
A new Hiring Lab working paper shows that while a clear majority of employees across eight advanced economies view skill development as a personal priority, many perceive their employers as less committed. In the United States, 67% of workers rank...
Alpha Cognition Reports Inducement Grants Under Nasdaq Listing Rule 5635(c)(4)
Alpha Cognition Inc. disclosed that its Compensation Committee granted a new non‑executive employee 20,000 non‑statutory stock options under its 2026 Inducement Grant Plan. Each option carries an exercise price of $6.49 per share, based on the April 14, 2025 closing price, and...
How Dialogue Is Steering Thailand’s Auto Manufacturing Future
The episode examines how responsible business conduct (RBC)—centered on genuine dialogue between management and unions—can guide Thailand’s auto sector through the shift to electric vehicles, automation, and AI. Georg Lutert stresses that unions must be integral to workplace democracy and...
Shared Leadership, Shared Responsibility
The Innovation for Translation Research Group at the University of Southampton merged two independent teams under a co‑leadership model that pairs a clinician with a scientist. This unconventional structure embeds patients, carers, and high‑performance coaching into daily operations, replacing the...
#OnTheRadar: Top Appointments at Stellantis SA, McDonald's SA
Stellantis appointed Sizwekazi Jekwa Mdingi as head of communication and corporate social responsibility for South Africa, tasking her with aligning local messaging and community impact with business goals. McDonald’s South Africa named Keegan Alicks as its new chief marketing officer, signaling a push...
UC Patient Care and Service Workers Plan Open-Ended Strike Starting Next Month
Tens of thousands of University of California patient‑care and service workers will begin an open‑ended strike on May 14 after contract talks stalled. The AFSCME Local 3299 union, representing roughly 42,000 custodial, cafeteria, X‑ray, respiratory and other staff, says wages,...
How to Avoid Claims of Ageism Amid Restructuring
An Ontario Superior Court ruling in Dunlop v. Interspec Systems Ltd. ordered the manufacturer and its owner to pay roughly $704,000 USD in damages after a plant relocation was deemed an age‑based termination of senior staff. The judgment includes unpaid wages,...
Authority Assigned, Accountability Tested, Not Transferred
Everyone does not report to everyone. Responsibilities and authorities are assigned to individuals based on assessments of their ability to handle them. People are given the authority that they need to achieve outcomes and are held accountable for their ability...
Is a Vague Medical Note Enough to Prove Discrimination?
The Alberta King’s Bench ruled that a psychologist’s vague note recommending exemption from a COVID‑19 vaccine policy did not prove a disability‑based discrimination claim. The note lacked a clear statement that the teacher was medically unable to be vaccinated or...
Read the Memo ESPN Chairman Jimmy Pitaro Sent Staff About the Disney Layoffs
ESPN chairman Jimmy Pitaro sent a memo to staff confirming that employees impacted by Disney's recent layoffs have already been notified. The cuts, announced on Tuesday, are the first round of reductions under Disney's new CEO Josh D'Amaro, who took...
X3 Tradesmen Launches National Division for Staffing Growth
X3 Tradesmen, a Utah‑based construction staffing firm, announced the launch of a National Division to roll its proprietary Workforcing® model out to contractors across the United States. Founded in 2015, X3 has already supported more than 7,000 projects and places...
Stop Fixing the Resume. Fix LinkedIn.
The post argues that senior‑level executives should stop polishing resumes and focus on LinkedIn optimization, because the $21 billion executive‑search industry sources candidates exclusively through LinkedIn Recruiter. It explains that retained search firms never see resumes; they rank profiles by title,...
OPM Cuts Degree Requirements for Government Tech Jobs in New Standards
The Office of Personnel Management announced new classification standards that remove bachelor’s‑degree requirements for federal technology jobs. Hiring and promotion will now hinge on formal skill assessments rather than education or years of experience. The overhaul covers all 604 occupational...
Zapier Excels Through Transparency, Culture, and Talent Growth
I refer founders to Zapier’s blog often, the company is a well-oiled machine. Full transparency on how the company operates, Wade is a wealth of knowledge on working with agents, and culture is a top priority. They’re one of the...
Job Board: April 15th
The latest Job Board update lists a wave of tech and AI openings, highlighted by SpreeAI’s nine positions ranging from machine‑learning research to AI infrastructure engineering in San Francisco and remote roles. Cloud Closet adds a remote Creative Direction internship, while...
EBay Is Closing Its San Francisco Office when Its Lease Expires in September and Relocating Roughly 200 Employees to Its...
eBay announced it will shut its San Francisco office at 300 Mission Street when the lease ends on September 30. Approximately 198 software engineers, researchers, directors and analysts will be reassigned to the company’s San Jose headquarters rather than being...
Diversity Gaps in APS
Assistant Minister Patrick Gorman told an Institute of Public Administration Australia podcast that while 26% of the Australian Public Service (APS) workforce comes from culturally diverse backgrounds, senior leadership remains under‑represented. He highlighted ongoing recruitment reforms and five‑year diversity targets...
OPM Adds Cybersecurity Jobs to Tech Force Hiring Program
The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) has expanded its Tech Force hiring program to include cybersecurity specialists, adding to existing roles for software engineers, data scientists and product managers. The initiative aims to fill temporary two‑year positions that protect critical...
Greece’s Tourism Boom Meets a Harsh Reality: Not Enough Greeks to Welcome the World
Greece’s tourism sector, which contributes up to a quarter of the country’s GDP, is grappling with a severe labor shortage of roughly 90,000 hospitality workers. The broader economy faces a 360,000‑person gap, and non‑EU recruitment is expected to fill only...
Here's the Severance Package Disney Is Giving to Laid-Off Employees
Disney announced its first round of layoffs under new CEO Josh D'Amaro, outlining severance packages that vary by employee level and tenure. Non‑managers receive up to a year of pay, while directors and VPs can earn up to 52 weeks...
Women Thrive Alone, but Face Pay Gaps in Groups
New research by University of Colorado Boulder scholars reveals a pervasive "collaboration penalty" for women working in same‑gender groups. Across venture capital, professional sports, music, and health care, all‑women teams receive dramatically less funding and pay than comparable all‑men teams,...
'Bro Culture' Makes Private Lending an Unsafe Space for Women, Says Industry Veteran
Women now make up roughly half of mortgage brokers and dominate back‑office roles, yet they remain under‑represented in C‑suite positions. Erica LaCentra, CMO of RCN Capital, says the private‑lending sector still feels unsafe for women because of lingering bro‑culture and crude...
Toptal Alternatives to Hire Developers in Europe: What Hiring Speed Actually Costs Your Product
The article argues that the true cost of slow developer hiring for SaaS product teams far exceeds agency fees, focusing on lost revenue from delayed features, extended sales cycles, and higher attrition. It introduces a framework that measures hiring impact...
Leading without a Script
The episode explores the hidden costs of ambiguous leadership through the fictional story of Rahul, a junior employee forced to "lean in" without clear direction, resulting in burnout and a missed opportunity for feedback. The host and guest, an HR...
DoD Moves to End Most Collective Bargaining Agreements
The Department of Defense announced it will terminate the majority of its collective bargaining agreements within 24 hours, citing compliance with presidential executive orders 14251 and 14343. Secretary Pete Hegseth directed undersecretary Anthony Tata to issue supplemental guidance and ensure...
Collective Agreement: Northland Power, Kirkland Lake Power
Northland Power and United Steelworkers Local 2020 signed a three‑year collective agreement covering March 1, 2026 through February 28, 2029. The contract provides wage increases of 3.25% in 2026 and 3% in each of the following two years, alongside a tiered vacation schedule that reaches...
APS Chiefs’ Pay Packets and Perks Placed Under Official Review
The Australian Public Service (APS) Remuneration Tribunal has opened a public consultation to review the salaries and executive perks of federal departmental secretaries and top statutory office holders. Officials have been warned that their pay packets could be reduced rather...
Worker’s Firing Days Before Retirement Didn’t Violate ERISA, Judge Holds
The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio ruled in *Armstrong v. Western & Southern Financial Group* that the insurer did not violate ERISA when it terminated a sales representative days before her planned May 2022 retirement. The...
Employee Benefits Regulator to Focus on ‘Bad Actors’
The U.S. Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) announced a strategic shift to target enforcement on the most egregious conduct that harms employee benefit plans. The agency outlined four guiding principles emphasizing timely, fair action tied directly to...
Snap Lays Off 16% of Its Full-Time Staff
Snap announced a 16% reduction in its full‑time staff, laying off roughly 1,000 employees and closing over 300 open positions. The cuts are projected to shave more than $500 million from the annualized cost base by the second half of 2026,...
Duolingo Was Evaluating Its Workers’ AI Use. Workers Pushed Back.
Duolingo introduced a new performance‑review metric that measured how effectively employees used AI, but strong internal pushback led CEO Luis von Ahn to reverse the policy. The company clarified that AI tools are optional aids rather than mandatory performance criteria....
Spotify Names DEELA Its April EQUAL Africa Artist, Spotlighting African Women in Rap
Spotify has selected Lagos‑born, UK‑based rapper DEELA as its April EQUAL Africa artist, giving her a high‑visibility platform under the company’s gender‑focused initiative. The move highlights the streaming giant’s strategy to amplify African women’s voices in a market traditionally dominated...
Deloitte and Workday Deliver Cloud‑Based HR and Finance Overhaul for GEHA
Deloitte and Workday finished a two‑phase cloud rollout for the Government Employees Health Association, moving HR and finance from spreadsheet‑based processes to an integrated Workday platform. The project, completed in May 2019, delivered a unified HCM suite and finance solution that...
Find Jobs, Mentors, Coaching at SF Event
Come find your next job/ mentor/ coaching help at our event in San Francisco next week - 🔗 in my b!0 Wearing thrifted susty guess 💅🏽💕
Overtime Barely Rose, yet Remains Employer‑imposed
Overtime is up 0.1 hours over the last year https://t.co/PwOOy52yar More importantly, overtime is rarely voluntary for workers. The employer tells a worker they need to work late. But Bessent wouldn't know anything about that.
SiriusXM Chief People Officer Shifts to Skills‑Based Workforce Design to Future‑Proof Talent
SiriusXM’s chief people and administrative officer, Faye Tylee, announced a company‑wide transition from traditional role‑based hiring to a skills‑based workforce design. The strategy leverages AI to break jobs into tasks, map capabilities, and create transparent career pathways, aiming to retain...
Our World in Data Seeks Writer to Simplify Global Challenges
The team behind my favorite graph - @OurWorldInData - is hiring a writer. If you can explain complicated things in ways that change how people think AND you want that skill pointed at the world's largest problems, consider applying: https://t.co/okEO4pBIB4 https://t.co/qC0ZS6SIGe
Admin Boosts H‑2B Visas, Adding 64,716 Slots
"The administration authorized an additional 64,716 H-2B visas for fiscal year 2026, after initially planning only 35,000." I, for one, would prefer a more open and transparent system where supply and demand aren't determined in large part by whom you know...
Did ‘Disgusting’ Tattoo at Work Add up to Discrimination?
The British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal dismissed a discrimination complaint filed by a camera assistant against the International Cinematographers Guild (IATSE 669/ICG). The assistant alleged the union failed to address sexualized imagery on set and a coworker’s offensive tattoo, claiming sex‑based...
Trust Inputs, Not Outputs, when Replicating Team Success
Why can't you seem to land those proven practices from your old team, with your new team? Maybe you're mistaking the outputs of trust with the inputs. Really liked this perspective on why great teams can't be copied ... https://t.co/LARrCS5pbn https://t.co/h3Z9H6Ve6O
PBGH Survey Finds Employers Bracing for Higher Health Premiums in 2026
The Purchaser Business Group on Health (PBGH) reports that U.S. employers anticipate a 6‑7% rise in health insurance premiums for 2026, with some individual‑market plans climbing over 20%. To counteract cost pressure, 37% of members are issuing medical requests for...
Housing Benefits Gain Ground as Employers Like BNY Pledge Down Payment Assistance
Employers are increasingly turning to employer‑assisted housing (EAH) to help workers afford homeownership. In April, Bank of New York Mellon announced a $6,500 down‑payment assistance program for U.S. employees earning $100,000 or less. Major mortgage firms such as Fannie Mae...
Is DEI Dead in U.S. Workplaces? IBM’s Settlement Raises New Questions for HR
IBM agreed to a roughly $17 million settlement with the Justice Department over alleged false statements about its DEI practices in federal contracts, marking the first False Claims Act case targeting diversity programs. The settlement highlights a broader federal push against...
LinkedIn Data Shows AI Isn’t to Blame for Hiring Decline… Yet
LinkedIn’s economic graph, covering over a billion members, shows hiring fell roughly 20% since 2022. The decline aligns with recent Federal Reserve rate hikes that raised borrowing costs and slowed corporate recruitment. Lawit emphasized that AI has not yet produced...
The BBC Is Also Laying Off 2,000 of Its Employees
The BBC announced it will cut roughly 2,000 jobs, representing about 10% of its workforce, as part of an $815 million cost‑reduction program unveiled in February. The layoffs are the largest staff reduction the public broadcaster has faced in 15 years...