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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
Major U.S. companies have increasingly removed explicit diversity criteria from board appointments, with 61 S&P 100 companies dropping such provisions since 2023, including Apple, Alphabet, Amazon, Starbucks, and Wells Fargo. The retreat has accelerated over the past year amid the Trump administration’s efforts to dismantle DEI programs, with several companies also removing diversity requirements from chief executive succession policies. The proportion of companies using Rooney Rule-style provisions has fallen to 12% from 58% over the past year, according to executive recruiter Spencer Stuart, while women accounted for 29% of new S&P 500 directors this year, down from 46% in 2023. Companies are also increasingly turning to former CEOs for board seats, with this group accounting for 37% of new directors. More than 30 major companies continue to maintain explicit diversity criteria.
Full Issue
Human Times
UK
The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) has said nurses are collapsing at work due to extreme heat in buildings that are unfit for record temperatures. The RCN said its members have reported temperatures in excess of 30C in UK hospital wards and care homes, where there is often no access to air conditioning, fans or even to windows that open. Hospitals and social care buildings are “utterly unprepared for extreme temperatures,” Nicola Ranger, RCN general secretary and chief executive, said. “It’s becoming an impossible and inhumane place to work or receive care.” Yvette Cooper, the health and social care secretary, has said the NHS needs to make sure buildings are more resilient in extreme heat conditions.
Full Issue
Human Times
Europe
Swedish trade union IF Metall is calling off its three-year dispute with Tesla after the carmaker bought out all the union's striking members at the company. "This means that the conflict no longer has any effect," the union said. The dispute started in October 2023 when Tesla mechanics went on strike as the union demanded collective agreements with the automaker, which does not have manufacturing facilities in Sweden, but whose electric cars are serviced by IF Metall union members. "We can conclude that Tesla is so strongly opposed to collective agreements that they would rather buy out employees who are members of the union than give them safe conditions," IF Metall observed.
Full Issue
Human Times
Middle East
Research from Optro indicates that many organisations are rapidly integrating AI agents into their operations, but often without adequate governance frameworks. The report, titled When AI Leaves the Chat and Enters the Workflow, highlights that one in three organisations use AI in critical workflows, yet nearly 30% have never tested for potential failures. “The reality today is that agentic AI adoption is fast outpacing governance,” said Guru Sethupathy, GM of AI Governance at Optro. “But to harness its potential responsibly, leaders must recognize that governance models designed for static manual processes cannot keep pace with autonomous systems of action.”
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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