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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
U.S. employment costs increased at a steady pace in the second quarter, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, with the Employment Cost Index rising 0.9% from the previous quarter and 3.4% from a year earlier, indicating that labor costs are not adding significant inflationary pressure to the economy. However, after adjusting for inflation, both overall compensation and wages declined over the year, suggesting workers' purchasing power has weakened despite continued nominal pay increases. The report showed wages and salaries for civilian workers rose 0.9% during the quarter and 3.2% year over year, while private-sector employer spending on health benefits increased 6%, outpacing wage growth. The data support the Federal Reserve's assessment that the labor market remains broadly balanced as policymakers continue to monitor inflation and employment trends ahead of the July jobs report.
Full Issue
Human Times
UK
Employers should not rely so heavily on virtual job interviews when hiring because they don't capture candidates' personality and passion, UK prime minister Andy Burnham has said. "One thing I really don't like is this culture now of interviewing via Zoom or Teams," he told a careers podcast, adding: "How do you get over some of your personality, your passion?" Burnham said: "It seems to me to then work against people who have that side to their character and work for those who are just giving the more formulaic answer." Maxine Bligh from the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) said: "AI tools are helpful, even essential, when dealing with a huge volume of applications, but it takes skill and professionalism to make the right call . . . The key message from us to recruiters is to go digital where it matters and human where it counts."
Full Issue
Human Times
Europe
UK hiring declined in the first half of 2026, with job postings down 11% since the start of the year and 32% below pre-pandemic levels, according to Indeed. Graduate vacancies fell to their lowest level for this point in the year since 2020, while summer job postings hit a four-year low, highlighting ongoing challenges for younger workers. Advertised wage growth also slowed to 3.9%, the weakest since early 2022. Meanwhile, the data shows that demand for AI skills reached a record high, with AI-related tools mentioned in 9.4% of UK job adverts. "The UK's labour market is under sustained pressure. Hiring demand is falling across most parts of the economy, while posted wage growth is gradually cooling," Indeed senior economist Jack Kennedy said.
Full Issue
Human Times
Middle East
A survey of nearly 3,900 companies by Source Global Research has found widespread scepticism about AI in consulting, with 70% of clients saying they would not trust a report prepared using AI and 32% saying its use would undermine their confidence in a consultancy. Clients with direct experience of AI tools were even more negative, with 77% viewing AI as a bubble compared with 55% of those without such exposure. More than three-quarters of UK consulting firms are using AI to carry out work, according to a survey by the Management Consultancies Association, while the Big Four of Deloitte, EY, KPMG and PwC have significantly cut back their graduate recruitment schemes as they invest billions in AI technology.
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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