A Year After Mass Layoffs, Former Federal Employees Are Helping Each Other Find Work
In the year following the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) layoffs, more than 300,000 federal employees have departed the civil service. Former workers have organized department‑specific alumni networks that provide job leads, mentorship, and mental‑health support, with the DOE Alumni Network now serving roughly 900 members. EPA’s Environmental Protection Network is funding research grants for ten displaced scientists, while DOJ’s Justice Connection uses encrypted Signal messaging to connect alumni with legal aid and employment opportunities. These grassroots groups are filling a void left by shrinking internal government support.
Job Openings Decline in February as Employers Hit Pause on Hiring
Job openings slipped to 6.9 million in February, down from 7.2 million in January, while total hires fell to 4.8 million, pushing the hiring rate to a low 3.1 %—the weakest since April 2020. Quits edged lower to 3.1 million and layoffs held steady at 1.7 million,...
CHROs Are Increasingly Among the Highest-Paid Executives at Their Firms
Chief Human Resources Officers (CHROs) are increasingly joining the ranks of the five highest‑paid executives at U.S. public companies. The number of CHROs listed as named executive officers (NEOs) grew from 148 in 2021 to a peak of 265 in...
To Counter Rising Gas Prices, Employers Revisit Subsidies and Work-From-Home Arrangements
Rising gas prices linked to the US‑Israeli conflict have pushed average U.S. employee commuting costs up 9% since February, reaching $16.93 per day and potentially nearing $19. A Gartner analysis shows financial stress growing, with 26% of workers already seeking...
How to Get the Most Out of Your Internship Program
Internship programs are increasingly viewed as strategic talent pipelines rather than simple learning experiences. Handshake’s chief education strategy officer Christine Cruzvergara emphasized that paid internships attract the best early talent, while HR and hiring managers must jointly secure senior‑leader buy‑in...
Carolynn Johnson Joins SHRM to Lead CEO Action for Inclusion and Diversity
Carolynn Johnson, who grew Fair360’s revenue 49% before the pandemic, has joined SHRM to head its CEO Action for Inclusion and Diversity. She will shift the program from a coalition model to a research‑driven think‑tank that offers advisory services to...
World of HR: New McDonald’s UK and Ireland Campaign Aims to Dismantle Young Worker Stereotypes
McDonald’s UK and Ireland has launched a new advertising campaign spotlighting its young workforce, which includes more than 100,000 employees under 25 and one‑third of its managers. The four‑part video series follows real staff members, emphasizing the communication, confidence, resilience...
Westgate Resorts Modernized Its L&D System to Be Optimized for Frontline Workers
Westgate Resorts, after acquiring VI Resorts’ portfolio and nearly tripling its footprint, replaced its home‑grown learning management system with Schoox, an AI‑driven LMS built for frontline staff. The new platform shifted training from paper and a fragmented system to a...
Why Firms Like Abbott and Land O’Lakes Let Workers Retire Gradually
Phased retirement programs, dubbed “flextirement,” are gaining traction as firms like HireClix, Abbott and Land O’Lakes let senior staff scale back hours while retaining full benefits. Only 7% of employers offered such options in 2025, but participants report smoother knowledge...
Hybrid Work Isn’t Working. Here’s How HR Can Help.
Hybrid work remains popular, with 72% of employees viewing it positively, yet only 7% of job listings now offer a hybrid option. Employers often label roles as in‑person to retain flexibility, creating ambiguity around hybrid definitions. HR leaders cite enforcement,...
How One People Leader Oversaw HR While Struggling with Addiction
Jessica Winder, chief people officer at Winder Law Firm, disclosed how she led HR while battling addiction, illustrating the hidden pressures many people leaders face. Research shows 54% of HR professionals experience moderate or severe burnout, higher than the broader...
New ‘Yardstick’ Aims to Help HR Teams Understand the Quality of Jobs Inside Their Companies
HR leaders now have a new benchmarking tool called the Where You Work Matters List, created by the American Opportunity Index, the Schultz Family Foundation, Burning Glass Institute, and Harvard Business School. The dataset analyzes career progression, compensation, and stability...
This Recruiter Prioritizes Meeting Candidates Where They’re at, Provides Five-Star Service Along the Way
Senior corporate recruiter John Geaney at Dollar Tree has overhauled the company’s hiring approach, moving from a reactive "post and pray" model to a proactive, data‑driven pipeline built on LinkedIn Recruiter projects. He introduced structured screening notes tied to job...
How Employers Can Make Workers Happier
Gallup’s 14th World Happiness Report, released March 19, shows Nordic nations retaining the top spots while the United States and Canada slipped slightly. The study adds social‑media usage as a new happiness factor and highlights the workplace as a major influence...
World of HR: Irish Woman Wins Suit Against Boss Who Regularly Shouted ‘Potato’ at Her
An Irish bookkeeper in Leeds successfully sued her manager for repeatedly calling her “potato” and “stupid paddy,” remarks the tribunal deemed racial harassment. The Leeds Employment Tribunal awarded her £25,000 (about $31,000) after finding the language eroded her self‑esteem and...
Trump Administration Policies on Immigration Have Impacted 65% of Businesses
A Littler survey shows 65% of U.S. businesses say recent Trump administration immigration rules have affected operations, with 24% reporting moderate staffing challenges. The Census Bureau estimates the domestic workforce shed roughly 1.2 million immigrant workers in the first half of...
Office Attendance Hits New Post-Pandemic High in February
A recent Placer.ai report shows February 2026 recorded the highest post‑pandemic office attendance, though still 31.9% below pre‑COVID 2019 levels. This marks an improvement from February 2025’s 35.7% shortfall and continues a gradual upward trend since the 2022‑2023 rebound. The...
How HR Can Better Support Millennial Workers
Millennials now comprise the largest share of the U.S. workforce and hold the biggest slice of management roles, yet their engagement has slipped to roughly 30% across age brackets. The decline is tied to the “sandwich generation” pressure of caring...
Stagnant Job Turnover Shows Employers, Workers Cautious Amid Uncertainty
The January 2026 JOLTS report shows labor turnover stalled despite job openings rising to 6.9 million. Total hires held steady at 5.3 million and quits slipped to 3.1 million, while layoffs edged down, reinforcing a “no‑hire, no‑fire” environment. This follows a 2025 slowdown...
EEOC Issues Decision Allowing Federal Agencies to Restrict Bathroom Use for Trans Workers
The EEOC issued a 2‑1 decision overturning the 2015 Lusardi ruling, limiting transgender federal employees to bathrooms that correspond with their sex assigned at birth. Chair Andrea Lucas justified the move under Title VII, while Democrat member Kalpana Kotagal dissented,...
McDonald’s CEO Went Viral for Taking a ‘Big Bite’ of a Burger. Here’s Why It Matters for HR.
McDonald’s CEO Chris Kempczinski posted an Instagram video taking a tiny bite of a new burger, which quickly went viral and attracted criticism for appearing staged. Communication experts argue the clip felt inauthentic, eroding trust among consumers and employees. The...
The Trump Administration Is Loosening Gig Worker Rules. What Does that Mean for HR?
The Department of Labor has announced a proposed rule that would rescind the Biden‑era “multifactor economic reality” test and return to a narrower test focused on control and profit opportunity. The change would give employers greater leeway to classify workers...
These HR Leaders Messed up Delivering Bad News to Employees. Here Are the Lessons They Learned.
HR leaders RC Whitehouse and Colin H. Mincy recount painful missteps when delivering layoffs and terminations, highlighting how excessive empathy and unclear delivery turned sensitive conversations into grievance sessions. Both realized that overly emotional or rambling communication confuses employees and...
February’s Job Losses Continue ‘Whiplash’ Effect for Employers
February’s employment report showed a net loss of 92,000 jobs, nudging the unemployment rate to 4.4% and pushing labor‑force participation down to 62%, its lowest level since late 2021. The decline was led by a 28,000‑job drop in healthcare, driven...
EEOC Publishes Guidance on Using Social Media in Reasonable Accommodation Process
The EEOC issued new guidance allowing federal agencies to consider an employee’s social‑media activity when evaluating telework as a reasonable accommodation under the Rehabilitation Act. The agency stresses that such evidence cannot replace medical documentation or the interactive process, but...
The Business of Benefits: Onsite Therapy at AT&T
AT&T has rolled out onsite therapy clinics across its U.S. offices, now operating ten locations and targeting twenty by year‑end. The Dallas hub, the program’s first site, logged more than 2,100 visits in 2025, averaging over 11 appointments per day....
Minted Offers Homebuyer Education as New Employee Benefit
Minted has introduced Nestment, a personalized home‑buyer education platform, as a new employee benefit. The move comes as first‑time homebuyer share hit a historic low of 21% in 2025 and the median age rose to 40. Nestment guides users from...
How HR Leaders Can Get Unstuck on Their Skills-Based Transformation
HR leaders are struggling to move beyond pilot projects toward true skills‑based organizations, a shift accelerated by AI’s impact on work. A BCG white paper finds most initiatives falter because they are isolated HR projects lacking alignment with overall business...
More Small Businesses Offer Employees Retirement Plans than Ever Before
In 2025, 30% of U.S. small businesses (2‑99 employees) offered retirement plans, up from 19% in 2019, giving 21.1 million workers access to employer‑sponsored savings. The surge reflects state‑mandated Roth IRA programs and a strategic shift toward benefits that attract and...
Why One Iowa-Based Company Opened a Primary Care Clinic Near Its Office
Pella Corporation opened a wellness center five minutes from its Iowa headquarters, offering primary care, behavioral health, and pharmacy services to its 2,500 employees. The clinic was built in partnership with Premise Health, which designed a high‑touch, high‑tech model that...
World of HR: National Bank of Kuwait Announces DEI Council
The National Bank of Kuwait (NBK) has launched an 11‑member Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Council spanning locations such as Singapore, London and Bahrain, marking the next phase of a DEI journey that began with a public pledge a year...
How to Encourage Employee Feedback in Exit Interviews
HR leaders at Gruns and Morning Brew stress that exit interviews should be the culmination of an ongoing relationship, not a one‑off conversation. Building trust ensures departing employees share candid insights that can still be acted upon. They recommend aggregating...
President Trump Claims ‘We Ended DEI,’ but That’s Not Quite True
President Trump asserted that DEI has been eliminated in America, yet a Conference Board survey shows the opposite. In 2025, 77% of U.S. employees still consider diverse viewpoints essential, though only half perceive DEI as positively affecting their work. While...
Recruiting Is Already Underway for the Next Olympic Games
Korn Ferry is partnering with the LA28 organizing committee to recruit roughly 5,000 employees for the 2028 Summer Olympics, targeting agile skillsets and strong soft‑skills. The firm is shaping an employee value proposition that brands the roles as a “job...
Why the Post-2020 DEI Boom Was Never Going to Last
The post‑2020 DEI surge, driven by social unrest, led many firms to adopt quick, surface‑level initiatives rather than sustained change. DEI practitioner Lily Zheng argues that these flash‑in‑the‑pan programs proved ineffective and flooded consultants with low‑quality, performative requests. Her new...
World of HR: UK Supreme Court Rules Trans Individuals Cannot Use Single-Sex Bathrooms at Work
The UK Supreme Court ruled on Feb. 13 that trans individuals may use bathrooms matching their gender identity in public venues but not in the workplace. Employers must therefore maintain mixed‑sex facilities while still offering single‑sex rooms, and the decision...
How HR Leaders Can Respond to Traumatic Events in Minneapolis and Beyond
More than 60 Minnesota CEOs issued a statement after two ICE‑related killings, but omitted direct references to ICE and the victims, prompting criticism from business leaders. The muted corporate reaction contrasts with the robust CEO responses seen after George Floyd’s...
This CPO Knows What’s at Stake when It Comes to HR in Healthcare
Allison Velez, chief people officer at Marathon Health, treats HR as a strategic business unit that directly supports patient care. By aligning talent, culture, and organizational design with clinical and financial goals, her team ensures HR decisions impact provider staffing...
Amid AI Transformation, Indeed Bets on More Human Connection in Hiring
Indeed has launched a beta tool called Interview on Demand, letting employers start live video interviews with candidates within seconds of application. The feature bypasses traditional résumé screening, aiming to re‑introduce human judgment amid AI‑driven hiring. Early beta data show...
How HR Can Help Employees ‘Earn the Commute’
HR leaders are re‑examining the daily commute as a key component of the overall workplace experience. Leesman data shows 62% of workers are satisfied with short commutes, but satisfaction falls sharply after 45 minutes. JLL’s Amanda Kross proposes an “outside‑in...
Judge Dismisses Missouri Lawsuit Against Starbucks’ DEI Practices
A federal judge in the Eastern District of Missouri dismissed the state’s lawsuit accusing Starbucks of discriminatory DEI practices. The court found the complaint speculative and lacking concrete demographic data to show harm to white, male, or heterosexual applicants. Missouri’s...
DEI Is Under Siege, but ERGs Have Largely Survived
After the 2024 election, many firms rolled back DEI programs and the Justice Department warned against employee resource groups. An HR Brew analysis of 52 companies found only 11 altered their ERG structures, with most keeping budgets intact. Practitioners report...
Legislative Lowdown: PBMs Must Disclose Pricing Information to Health Plans, Workers
Congress passed a spending bill that forces pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) to disclose detailed pricing information to group health plans starting in 2028‑2029. The law requires semiannual reports on drug spreads, net prices, rebates, and out‑of‑pocket costs, and mandates that...