Hey HR Pros,

HR leaders are navigating one of the most transformative moments in modern work. Attrition is climbing, AI is reshaping every role, and employees are demanding more purpose and personalization in their careers.

This week’s insights help you make sense of it all—from decoding why people leave, to reimagining how organizations build skills that last. These aren’t just trends; they’re signals of how work—and workers—are being redefined.

📰 Upcoming in This Issue

• 🧩 Workforce Intelligence: Strategies to Transform Skills, Roles, and Human Potential

• 📉 State of Attrition Report - 2025

• 🏛️ Understanding the Potential Impact of H-1B Visa Program Changes

📣 Trending HR News

• Meta sees ‘accelerated’ employee compensation growth (CFO Dive)

• Microsoft planning to grow headcount after recent job cuts (CNBC)

• Paramount DEI exec axed only White lawyers over 50, lawsuit claims (HRD America)

• IBM Fired Longtime Black Executive To ‘Appease’ The Trump Administration’ Anti-DEI Push, Lawsuit Claims (Yahoo)

🧩 Workforce Intelligence: Strategies to Transform Skills, Roles, and Human Potential

MIT Sloan’s Workforce Intelligence Report explores how organizations can unlock human potential alongside AI. The research highlights that the most future-proof skills—empathy, creativity, judgment, and hope—form the foundation of a resilient workforce.

For HR leaders, success means designing systems where humans and AI strengthen each other, supported by clear metrics, transparent governance, and incentives for shared learning. The report also calls for replacing fragmented upskilling efforts with skills intelligence frameworks that make development continuous, measurable, and equitable across the organization.

Key Takeaways:

• 🧠 Prioritize human advantage: Focus on EPOCH skills—Empathy, Presence, Opinion, Creativity, and Hope—to strengthen roles AI can’t replicate.

• 🧰 Define what good looks like: Establish clear AI success criteria, invest in quality data, and reward employees who help train and refine AI tools.

• 🏗️ Lead through systems, not slogans: Move beyond peer AI tutoring by building structured governance and explainability frameworks.

• 📊 Use skills intelligence to scale learning: Apply skills inference to map gaps, personalize development, and boost retention—76% of employees stay where growth is continuous.

👉 Read the full 25-page report by MIT here

📉 State of Attrition Report - 2025

The LutherOne State of Attrition Report 2025 reveals a worrying trend: global employee turnover is rising again, with 36% of employees planning to leave their jobs within the next year—up 8% from 2024.

The top reasons? Toxic leadership, lack of growth, and poor internal communication.

The report emphasizes that retention isn’t just about compensation—it’s about connection. Companies with high engagement see up to 43% lower attrition and 21% stronger performance. As hybrid fatigue sets in and career mobility expectations surge, HR leaders must evolve from measuring engagement to actively managing it.

Key Takeaways:

• 🚨 Engagement ≠ Retention: Even engaged employees leave when career progression stalls—rethink learning pathways and internal mobility.

• 🧭 Leadership matters most: 72% of exiting employees cited poor leadership behaviors as a top factor; invest in manager coaching, not just metrics.

• 💬 Fix the communication gap: Two-thirds of employees feel “disconnected from company priorities.” Foster clarity through transparent updates and digital listening tools.

• 🔄 Proactive attrition strategy: Predictive analytics can now identify flight risks 3–6 months in advance—act before resignation letters arrive.

👉 Read the full report here (LutherOne, 2025)

🏛️ Understanding the Potential Impact of H-1B Visa Program Changes

The $100k one-time H-1B fee would likely shrink the inflow of college-educated immigrants and tilt the program toward only the highest-wage roles. Median pay for recent H-1B winners is $92,600, so many lower-wage petitions would become uneconomic; IT services (the largest user) is most exposed.

Universities and nonprofits—currently cap-exempt with median H-1B pay around $64,610—could be hit especially hard if exemptions change. Research cited by the Richmond Fed finds firms that win H-1Bs expand without displacing natives, while tighter rules can push jobs to Canada/India and reduce U.S. native welfare (≈ $2.9B per 10% drop in high-skill immigration).

Key Takeaways:

• 🧮 Run the breakeven math: A $100k fee implies viability mostly above ~$225k salaries; budget scenarios by role, not averages.

• 🔁 Redesign talent flows: Mitigate risk via internal mobility, reskilling, and targeted use of L-1/O-1 where applicable; expect IT services pinch.

• 🌍 Plan location strategy: Model nearshore/offshore hubs (e.g., Canada/India) to avoid losing capacity if sponsorship falls through.

• 🤝 Protect innovation pipelines: Partner early with universities/nonprofits and fund bridge roles to preserve research & STEM supply.

👉 Read the full article here

[Q&A] How can HR add 401(k) without adding work?

Q: Is setting a 401(k) up going to feel like legal homework?
A: Not even close—plans can be set up in just a few minutes, and much of the heavy lifting is automated.

Q: What about fees—will they eat up returns?
A: No. Human Interest makes it easy and affordable to help your employees save for retirement with very low investment fees well below industry averages.

Q: Can it stay up-to-date effortlessly?
A: Yes—payroll integration with over 500 providers ensures contribution changes sync automatically.

Let’s reinvent the 401(k) in your HR workflow and make retirement planning easy for your team!

The bottomline

As technology accelerates, it’s easy to overinvest in systems and underinvest in people. But the real differentiator isn’t automation—it’s adaptation.

The organizations that thrive will be those where AI amplifies human judgment, learning is constant, and leaders treat engagement as a living system, not a survey. The future of work is already here—it’s just unevenly adopted.