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Inside Costco’s Culture Playbook for Lasting Leadership
Inside: Remote HR jobs at Atlassian, DoorDash, and more
The HR Takeaways
October 03, 2025
Hello HR Friends, Happy Friday!
If it feels like the ground is shifting under HR’s feet, that’s because it is.
From leaders hardwiring culture to outlast them… to candidates letting AI ace interviews… to companies still struggling to turn AI into ROI—this edition is packed with lessons we can’t ignore.
As you read, ask: are we building systems, cultures, and hiring practices that endure—or ones that get fooled, fragmented, and left behind? Let’s dive in ✨
📰 Upcoming in This Issue
🤖 HR’s Next Casualty: Remote Job Interviews
🏗️ How Costco Built a Culture That Outlives Its Founder
💬 Q&A: Can Small Companies Really Run Payroll Without Stress?
🧩 AI ROI Isn’t About Speed—It’s About Coordination
🔥 Trending HR Tech Picks
⚙️ Most-loved HR tools from The HR Takeaways community
🌍 The ultimate EOR comparison HR leaders keep bookmarking
📣 Trending HR News
Remote interviews once gave hiring managers a clear look at candidates. Now, AI is blurring that view beyond recognition.
With 20% of candidates already using AI—and projections of 50% within two years—HR leaders face a hiring crisis. AI-enhanced candidates can alter voices, faces, and even body language, creating a polished illusion that often collapses once the new hire is on the job.
For HR, this isn’t just about tech disruption—it’s about ethics, trust, and rethinking how we evaluate talent in an AI-driven hiring landscape.
Key Takeaways:
🕵️ Remote interviews are fragile: With AI now scripting answers and even generating avatars, recruiters risk evaluating a digital projection instead of the true candidate.
⚖️ Ethical hiring is at stake: Candidates who cheat with AI often signal low integrity, raising concerns about future performance, compliance, and cultural alignment.
💬 Soft skills are vulnerable: Because AI can alter tone, accent, and facial cues, it becomes harder to accurately judge collaboration, adaptability, and cultural fit.
🏢 Time to redesign hiring: HR leaders may need to blend in-person interviews, work simulations, and updated ethics guidelines to prevent AI-driven fraud.
Most companies stumble when a legendary leader departs. Costco didn’t—it got stronger.
Jim Sinegal hardwired five convictions into its culture: discipline, staying close to the shop floor, teaching-focused managers, doing the right thing, and refusing to blindly copy competitors. These principles became Costco’s DNA.
By putting customers and employees before shareholders, Sinegal defied Wall Street’s pressure but won lasting loyalty. The payoff? A stunning 93% renewal rate and 8% turnover, results that rival retailers only dream of.
Key Takeaways:
👥 Employee-first model: Costco kept turnover at just 8% by paying above-average wages, promoting from within, and investing in career growth.
👩🏫 Teaching culture: Leaders saw 90% of their job as teaching, creating a strong leadership pipeline without heavy reliance on external hires.
📈 Succession planning as strategy: Both CEOs after Sinegal started on the warehouse floor, showing how structured promotion pathways ensure cultural continuity.
🤝 Ethics drive loyalty: From honoring raises during the 2008 recession to refunding health overcharges, ethical consistency built unmatched employee trust.
Q&A: Can small companies really run payroll without stress?
Q: Is payroll software going to be too expensive for smaller companies?
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AI is everywhere, but it hasn’t delivered the transformation leaders expected—96% of companies still lack significant efficiency or innovation gains. Focusing narrowly on personal productivity comes at a steep cost, with Fortune 500 firms risking $98B in lost ROI annually.
The real gains come from AI-enabled coordination: companies that integrate AI into shared systems and workflows are nearly 2× more likely to improve efficiency, while productivity-obsessed peers are 16% less likely to drive innovation. For HR, success hinges on breaking silos, documenting goals, and modeling how AI can enhance collaboration.
Key Takeaways:
📚 Break down silos: 75% of HR leaders cite disconnected data as the biggest barrier—centralized knowledge makes AI more effective. (Page 19)
🎯 Codify team goals: Documenting 3–5 goals per team helps AI align priorities, flag duplication, and accelerate cross-team execution. (Page 21)
🚀 Managers as role models: Employees are 4× likelier to experiment and 3× likelier to collaborate strategically when leaders demo AI use. (Page 26)
📈 Rethink ROI: Instead of “time saved,” track outcomes like cycle time, error reduction, and offer acceptances to prove AI’s value. (Page 28)
💼 Remote (US) HR Jobs of the Week
Chief People Officer at Tala | $325-375k
Director Global HR Operations at Perficient | $186-220k
People Business Partner at DoorDash | $136-200k
Sr. Program Manager, Talent Acquisition at Atlassian | $124.2-195.1k
The Bottomline
If there’s one theme threading through all three stories, it’s this: the future of work rewards discipline, integrity, and smarter collaboration.
Costco proved loyalty grows when employees come first. Remote interviews showed shortcuts erode trust. Atlassian revealed AI’s value only appears when teams work together, not in silos.
HR leaders must protect culture and equip people with systems that make them stronger. Companies that do this won’t just survive disruption—they’ll thrive. See you next week ✨
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