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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
Starbucks is laying off more than 200 corporate employees as chief executive Brian Niccol continues to streamline the business and target $2bn in cost savings by the end of fiscal 2028. The cuts include about 120 technology employees who declined to relocate to the company’s new Nashville office, as well as 104 roles in coffeehouse design and development, and do not involve additional cafe closures. The reductions follow 300 U.S. corporate layoffs earlier this year and around 2,000 corporate job cuts in 2025, alongside the closure of hundreds of U.S. stores. Starbucks is simultaneously investing in cafe operations and a new $100m Nashville office for 2,000 employees, while its turnaround has shown signs of progress, with recent quarterly sales and earnings beating expectations and the company raising its full-year same-store sales and earnings forecasts.
Full Issue
Human Times
UK
Trade unions representing 3.6m workers and students are opposing new guidance from the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) regarding single-sex spaces. Unison, which has 1.3m members, plans to challenge employers to adopt trans-inclusive policies, despite guidance saying access to single-sex spaces is dependent on biological sex rather than gender identity. In a video posted on X, Andrea Egan, the Unison general secretary, said: "Over 600 members have written to us and provided examples of how the updated EHRC guidance is unworkable. We've also heard many employers have withdrawn their trans equality policies in response to this guidance and that is unacceptable . . . I'll be working with our network and equality team to ensure that we are taking the fight to every workplace to make them trans inclusive."
Full Issue
Human Times
Europe
The French government has apologised and announced emergency cybersecurity measures after a major attack compromised tax information belonging to individuals and businesses, as well as land registry data, exposing weaknesses in aging state IT systems. The Finance Ministry plans to introduce two-factor authentication for all tax administration staff by year-end, strengthen access controls, overhaul threat detection, expand cybersecurity training and phishing awareness, increase bug bounty programs, and deploy AI tools to identify vulnerabilities and recommend fixes. An audit of the attack and France’s cybersecurity standards is due to be published in September. The response has faced criticism from opposition politicians and public-sector unions, which have called for greater investment and scrutiny of the government’s handling of the incident. The controversy intensified after officials disclosed a third breach involving inheritance-related data, although it is considered less serious than the earlier attacks.
Full Issue
Human Times
Middle East
Israel's aviation sector is under strain due to staffing shortages and ongoing regional conflict. A wildcat strike at Ben Gurion Airport yesterday halted operations for hours, leading to numerous flight cancellations and delays. The workers' union did not formally declare the strike, but airport management attributed the disruption to the labour action. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded by calling for the dismissal of employees involved. The Airports Authority plans to increase staffing but warned that clearing the backlog will take time. "Anyone who obstructs the operations of the airport will be sent home," Netanyahu said.
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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