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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
AI is increasing the speed, density and complexity of work rather than reducing it, according to an analysis of 164,000 workers’ digital work activity by workforce analytics and productivity-tracking software company ActivTrak. The data covers more than 443 million hours of work across 1,111 employers, making it one of the biggest studies of AI’s effects on work habits to date, the Wall Street Journal reports. “It’s not that AI doesn’t create efficiency,” observed Gabriela Mauch, ActivTrak’s chief customer officer. “It’s that the capacity it frees up immediately gets repurposed into doing other work, and that’s where the creep is likely to happen.”
Full Issue
Human Times
UK
Hundreds of GPs have told the BBC they have never refused to sign a sick note for a patient complaining of mental health issues. BBC News sent a questionnaire to more than 5,000 GPs in England asking if they had ever denied a sick note - known as a fit note - to someone who had requested one because of their mental health. Of the 752 GPs who replied, 540 said they had never refused such a request. Last year, a government-commissioned report looking into the role of employers in health and disability said that fit notes were "often problematic." The Keep Britain Working review noted GPs often did not have the time, or the occupational health training, to fully assess if someone was able to work or not. The BBC understands government officials are exploring other options, including so-called "stay in/return to work" plans developed with businesses and occupational health professionals. It is not clear if this would reform fit notes, or replace them entirely. Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) is one of 60 companies working with officials to see how this could work. Dr Richard Peters, JLR's chief medical officer, said firms had "a part to play" in supporting people with health conditions in work, adding: "It's the right thing to do because if we have a healthier staff, then we have a more productive workforce."
Full Issue
Human Times
Europe
Stellantis, the carmaker that is the owner of brands ranging from Jeep to Fiat, is pushing tens of thousands of its white-collar workers in Europe back to the office full-time to boost efficiency. Since the pandemic, workers in France, Italy and Germany were allowed to work as little as 1.5 days per week in the office. The return to office full-time will start in these three countries and "progressively extend to other countries," Stellantis said. The CFE-CGC union, the main union representing the company's workers in France, opposes the plan. "This abrupt reversal . . . undermines 10 years of pioneering policy on agility," CFE-CGC union representative Laurent Oechsel told Reuters. "It creates a climate of major concern."
Full Issue
Human Times
Middle East
A new law in Dubai regulates the outsourcing of government services to private firms, in a bid to improve service quality and efficiency, strengthen collaboration between the public and private sectors, support Dubai's strategic goals, and create more private sector job opportunities for UAE nationals. Issued by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Law No. (5) of 2026 allows government entities to contract private companies under specific terms. The Dubai Department of Finance will oversee these contracts, ensuring adherence to international best practices. The law mandates that outsourcing companies employ at least one UAE national for every non-national employee. Compliance is required within three years of the law's enactment.
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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