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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
Google has agreed to pay $50m to settle a lawsuit filed by Black employees alleging systemic racial discrimination in hiring, pay, and advancement. April Curley, a former employee, claimed the company engaged in unfair treatment, steering Black workers into lower-level roles. Civil rights attorney Ben Crump, representing the plaintiffs, said: "This case is about accountability, plain and simple . . . For far too long, Black employees in the tech industry have faced barriers that limit opportunity. This settlement is a significant step toward holding one of the world’s most powerful companies accountable and making clear that discriminatory practices cannot and will not be tolerated.” The settlement includes commitments to pay equity analyses and limits on mandatory arbitration for employment disputes until August 2026. Google has not commented on the settlement.
Full Issue
Human Times
UK
The UK is set to lose 163,000 jobs this year due to rising energy costs linked to the Iran war, according to the ITEM Club. The manufacturing sector will bear the brunt, with 65,000 jobs at risk, while construction will see 32,500 positions vanish. Consumer confidence is plummeting, with 90% of households worried about living costs. Tim Lyne, economic adviser to the ITEM Club, commented: "Some of the lowest-income regions will feel the biggest effects." Only public sector jobs, particularly in healthcare, are expected to grow. A government spokesman said: "We have the right economic plan to deal with price rises caused by the war."
Full Issue
Human Times
Europe
In Stockholm, the Andon Café is testing the limits of artificial intelligence with an AI agent named "Mona" which oversee operations while human baristas serve coffee. The experimental café, which has been set up by San Francisco-based startup Andon Labs, has made more than $5,700 in sales since it opened in mid-April, but less than $5,000 remains from its original budget of more than $20,000, much of which was spent on one-time setup costs. Emrah Karakaya, an associate professor of industrial economics at Stockholm's KTH Royal Institute of Technology, says putting AI in charge could cause many problems - for example, the apportioning of responsibility if a customer gets food poisoning. “If you don't have the required organisational infrastructure around it, and if you overlook these mistakes, it can cause harm to people, to society, to the environment, to business,” Karakaya cautions. “The question is, do we care about this negative impact?”
Full Issue
Human Times
Middle East
According to figures by management consulting company Aon, 71% of businesses in the UAE have confidence that their organisation's wellbeing strategy is meeting the needs of employees. The study, based on findings from Aon's 2026 Human Capital Trends survey, observed that the top three priorities include accelerating digital transformation in HR processes, strengthening leadership and succession planning, and optimising workforce planning and organisational design. Paul Zoghbi, chief executive of Talent Solutions Aon Middle East, said: “Together, these factors highlight the UAE's commitment to enhancing the employee experience and reflect wider national initiatives to invest in talent attraction and retention strategies.”
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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