Hello, HR Pros!

This week, we’re diving into three urgent themes: the rising burnout and attrition risk among your top AI adopters, the urgent need for a company-wide eldercare policy, and the quiet toll of misaligned AI strategy.

Read on for the insights—and real actions—that can help HR lead smarter, stronger, and more human-centric organizations. ✨

📰 Upcoming in This Issue

• 🧓 Why Every HR Needs to Prioritize Eldercare

• 🗓️ Why Employee Scheduling Is Quietly Becoming an HR Priority

• 🤖 How HR Can Reframe the AI Narrative—and Calm the Panic

• 🤯 Why Your Best Talent Might Be Eyeing the Exit

📣 Trending HR News

• Salesforce CEO claims half of company's work is now done by AI (CNN)

• Meta poaches Apple AI executive with $200M Package (Yahoo)

• US state department to lay off 15% of its domestic staff (The Guardian)

• Bernie Sanders says that if AI makes us so productive, we should get a 4-day workweek (Mashable)

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🧓 Why Every HR Needs to Prioritize Eldercare

If you still see eldercare as a future issue, here’s your wake-up call: 23 million U.S. workers are already providing it—surpassing childcare for the first time.

These employees aren’t just parenting—they’re managing medical care, meals, and more for aging loved ones. Without support, they’re burning out. Supporting them isn’t just kind—it’s good business.

Done right, eldercare benefits boost retention, productivity, and build critical skills like empathy and resilience. The best part? Proven models already exist.

Key Takeaways:

• 🔍 Prioritize flexible support: Remote work, flexible hours, and paid time off are vital for caregivers managing unpredictable daily responsibilities.

• 💸 Offer comprehensive benefits: Legal services, eldercare assessments, and mental health support help alleviate the emotional and logistical burden.

• 🧠 Train your managers: Supervisors must understand caregiving demands, recognize signs of burnout, and guide employees to relevant resources.

• 🫂 Foster peer support: Build caregiver resource groups where employees can share stories, learn, and support one another without stigma.

🔗 Read the full 3,302-word article by Harvard Business Review here

🗓️ Why ‘Employee Scheduling’ Is Quietly Becoming an HR Priority

Managing employee shifts manually often feels like solving a puzzle—except the pieces constantly shift around. HR teams struggle with unpredictable absences, overtime costs creeping up, and a steady drain on productivity from inefficient scheduling processes.

That’s why more HR teams now quietly rely on dedicated employee scheduling software like Homebase and When I Work. They automate routine scheduling tasks, reduces costly mistakes, and improves employee attendance and satisfaction.

Here’s why these are two frequently recommended solutions:

• Homebase: Simplifies hourly scheduling with automated shift reminders, compliance checks, and labor cost tracking.

• When I Work: Provides an intuitive, mobile-friendly approach, reducing overtime expenses and minimizing shift coverage gaps.

If scheduling stress sounds familiar, exploring these might save your team countless hours and headaches.

🤯 Why Your Best AI Talent Might Be Eyeing the Exit

Turns out, the people delivering the most ROI from AI are also the ones closest to burning out. According to a new Upwork Research Institute study, the top performers in AI-heavy environments are twice as likely to quit. Why? Because while the tech is fast and efficient, it’s not exactly filling the human connection gap — and it’s reshaping trust, collaboration, and well-being in ways that HR can no longer ignore.

The emotional connection employees are forming with AI — not colleagues — is both fascinating and troubling. And the productivity these tools unlock might just be masking deeper cracks in workplace culture.

Key Takeaways:

• 💡 Track engagement, not just output: AI productivity can hide burnout; HR must monitor morale among top AI adopters to reduce turnover.

• 🛠️ Bridge strategy and AI use: Over 60% of AI top performers don’t see how their work fits the company vision — align them with clear goals.

• 🤖 Treat AI as a teammate: Employees are humanizing AI tools. HR should design cultures that balance machine support with human connection.

• 🧩 Learn from freelancers: Freelancers thrive with AI as a learning partner. HR can adopt similar frameworks to upskill and retain internal talent.

🔍 Read the full 742-word article here

🤖 How HR Can Reframe the AI Narrative—and Calm the Panic

Josh Bersin’s take on AI job loss hysteria? It’s largely noise.

While CEOs are freezing hiring to “go all in on AI,” most companies haven’t even figured out what work AI should automate. What’s really happening: AI is nudging employees toward higher-value work, turning them into “Superworkers,” not jobless statistics.

HR’s role? Help your org move from fear to focus—rethink job architecture, train with intention, and don’t wait for perfect clarity before taking action.

Key Takeaways:

• 🧱 Rethink job design now: Use AI adoption as a catalyst to rewrite roles—HR should lead that transformation proactively.

• 📊 Build AI fluency into L&D: Train employees on how to work with AI, not fear it. Prompt literacy is the new Excel.

• 👥 Communicate the ‘Superworker’ shift: Reframe automation as an enabler, not a threat—this mindset change starts with HR.

• 🔍 Focus on value, not velocity: Partner with functions to identify tasks AI can offload so teams do more impactful work.

🔍 read the full 2,087-word article here: Why AI Harm To Jobs and Humanity are Vastly Over-Hyped

The bottomline

Your most loyal, most skilled, and most tech-savvy employees are under quiet pressure—and many are already halfway out the door. But the fixes don’t require moonshots: just better alignment, smarter systems, and showing up for your people where it matters most. This week’s reads are your blueprint for doing just that ✨