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Human Times helps you stay ahead of the latest news and trends that impact the HR industry. Every weekday, our unique blend of AI and team of expert HR and employment editors and researchers monitor 100,000s of articles, and social posts to create summaries of the most relevant and useful content to help you lead, innovate and grow. The award winning Human Times newsletter has four geographical editions with news tailored to your region.
From HR leadership to diversity and inclusion, hybrid working, organisational data, performance management, and retention strategies, Human Times is the only trusted free online news source dedicated to covering the most up to date headlines, articles, reports and interviews to make sure you’re abreast of changes in the HR industry.
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Recent Editions
Human Times
North America
The 4th Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld a lower court's decision blocking the Trump administration from terminating 19 career intelligence officers at the CIA and Office of the Director of National Intelligence who were involved in diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA) roles. “The Agencies have never suggested that any of the Intelligence Officers engaged in workplace misconduct or that the terminations were motivated by performance concerns. Rather, the Director of the CIA stated affirmatively that the decisions to terminate the Intelligence Officers were taken to ‘effectuate the directives in' DEIA Executive Order” signed by President Trump, the majority wrote in its opinion. U.S. Circuit Judge Nicole Berner, writing for the majority, said that among the promises of the U.S. Constitution's Fifth Amendment "is the requirement that no person be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law . . . This promise of due process has been construed to require federal government agencies to adhere to their own binding regulations."
Full Issue
Human Times
UK
CNBC reports on companies that have walked back their hiring plans after rapidly changing their minds that artificial intelligence can “do it all,” to focus more on human capital. Ford has rehired hundreds of experienced human engineers to work on quality issues that automated systems couldn’t fix, and Commonwealth Bank of Australia and IBM are also said to be refocusing on human capital after making layoffs while investing in AI. IBM replaced its HR functions with AI that handled around 94% of routine requests but was unable to meet the other 6%, which included ethical dilemmas. “Budgeting on ‘tech to replace humans’ without investing in training or upskilling left teams unprepared to leverage AI,” a report from Intuition Labs observed. “Notably, among companies pushing automation, many later ‘regretted’ layoffs, having cut the very people needed to oversee AI,” it added.
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Human Times
Europe
German chancellor Friedrich Merz has proposed new rules requiring workers to obtain a sick note in person on their first day of illness. The change aims to enhance productivity in Germany's stagnant economy. "The number of sick days is too high," Merz said. "We are creating a set of tools that will enable those involved, both employees and companies, to correct this." The new rules would replace a system whereby employees can get a note by phoning a doctor and do not need to do so until their third day of work. Frank Werneke, the head of the services sector union Verdi, said Merz was creating "a culture of distrust of employees." Doctors also oppose the change. "Our practices would be flooded with patients who don't need in-person care and would be better off in bed," said the German Association of Family Physicians. Meanwhile, Merz announced a €10bn tax cut for middle-class families to stimulate the economy and support his coalition government. Families earning €60,000 annually will receive over €600 in tax relief. This will be funded by raising the top tax rate from 45% to 47%.
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Human Times
Middle East
Women taking weight-loss drugs are more likely to land a job, according to research by Harvard University economics professor Rebecca Diamond, who found that the employment rate for women who weren't working before taking the medicine rose after about eighteen months. Those women who were already working weren’t more likely to get a better job, she said. “What does not change for women is equally informative. The arrangements that do not respond are the ones already in place, where any first impression occurred long ago and where weight is one characteristic embedded in a much richer stock of information,” Diamond concluded. Single women taking the medication were also more likely to get married or start living with a partner, the research found.
Full Issue
Read the latest HR highlights
How HR is Tackling Long Covid?
Fingers remain tightly crossed around the world that the rampant hospitalization and fatality stage of the Covid-19 pandemic has generally peaked. Vaccination programmes are accelerating, and restrictions are gradually being lifted...
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ESG Is Not Just Another Name For CSR
Back in the distant 1980s if you wanted to demonstrate your environmental and ethical credentials it was sufficient to shop at or purchase shares in retailer The Body Shop. The charismatic Anita Roddick, founder of the “hippy” tinged retail chain, heralded a new age of environmental concern, caring capitalism and corporate awareness that evolved into what became known as Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). CSR was much talked about and lauded, but in reality often ended up being a lot of a hot air (excuse the pun) and often never progressed much beyond a footnote in the annual report.
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Have Older Workers Paid The Highest COVID-19 Price?
Across the world the pandemic is slowly but surely moving into its next phase. Recovery beckons. As furlough schemes across the U.S. and U.K. are being wound down, restrictions eased or lifted, and workforces moving back up the gears, early signs indicate that older employees are more likely to be casualties of the pandemic aftermath than their younger colleagues. Here at the we have witnessed an increasing number of stories supporting the growing belief that older workers are disproportionately paying the highest Covid-19 price.
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Bosses. What's not to like? Plenty, say employees
“You’ll never have another boss like me, someone who’s basically a chilled-out entertainer”
So said, David Brent, the fictional manager of Slough-based paper merchant Wernham Hogg in the seminal TV comedy The Office. Ricky Gervais’s portrayal of Brent as a flawed, narcissistic, incompetent, and deluded manager was so well observed that many (including me) believed it was a genuine fly-on-the-wall documentary when they alighted accidentally on the first ever episode.
Rolling with the Payroll
To mark National Payroll Week the team at the Human Times has provided some insight into the industry that we hope you’ll find useful.
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