Hey HR Pros,

This week, we’re tackling three HR essentials: metrics that mislead, feedback that drives growth, and learning that lasts.

From redefining “time-to-fill” to reflect real candidate experience, to transforming performance reviews into meaningful conversations, to turning AI adoption into human transformation — each piece shows how smarter data and better dialogue fuel engagement and trust.

Because in HR, numbers only matter when they shape behavior—and feedback only works when it sparks action.

📰 Upcoming in This Issue

• 💬 101 Performance Review Phrases & Follow-up Questions to Ask Employees

• ⏱️ Your Time-to-Fill Data Is Lying to You (And 3 Metrics That Actually Matter)

• 🧠 New Economy Skills: Unlocking the Human Advantage

✨ Helpful HR Resource

• 🎁 Useful HR tools & offers curated for The HR Takeaways readers

📣 Trending HR News

• Meta to cut up to 30% of Metaverse budget (Reuters)

• Jury hits SHRM with $11.5M verdict in racial bias, retaliation trial (Yahoo)

• H-1B visa applicants will now have their social media scrutinized (HR Dive)

• If you want your employees back in the office, try feeding them, says Gensler executive (Yahoo)

💬 101 Performance Review Phrases & Follow-up Questions to Ask Employees

Performance reviews aren’t broken because of the words we use—they fail because of how we use them. According to Gallup, only 2% of Fortune 500 CHROs believe their performance management systems actually inspire better performance. The takeaway? Copy-and-paste review phrases don’t motivate anyone unless they’re behavior-based, two-way, and followed by clear action steps.

AIHR’s latest guide turns “review season” into a year-round growth system. With a 7-step method that starts from shared standards, uses the SBI (Situation–Behavior–Impact) model for clarity, and closes with follow-up accountability, it shows how feedback becomes a coaching dialogue instead of a compliance exercise.

Key Takeaways:

• 🧩 Feedback must be behavior-based: Avoid personality labels—focus on what someone did, not who they are, to make change actionable.

• 🔄 Make it two-way: Open-ended questions like “What should we repeat or scale next time?” build trust and ownership in feedback.

• 🧠 Anchor feedback in evidence: Use the 7-step prep method to gather examples, reduce bias, and link comments to competencies.

• 🎯 Turn reviews into growth loops: Schedule 15-minute follow-ups—progress happens between reviews, not once a year.

👉 Read the full 3,700-word article here

⏱️ Your Time-to-Fill Data Is Lying to You (And 3 Metrics That Actually Matter)

If your “average time-to-fill” looks great on paper, you might be living in a statistical illusion. Johnny Campbell spotlights Marriott’s Tyler Weeks — a physicist-turned-TA-leader — who reveals why the average trap distorts hiring metrics and hides what truly drives success.

Weeks explains that time-to-fill is never a bell curve: one req closes in zero days, another drags for years — and the “average” means nothing. Instead, he proposes smarter metrics: focus on the 80% rule, measure time-to-respond to capture the real candidate experience, and use a plus/minus rating to prove TA’s true impact on hiring quality and manager satisfaction.

The takeaway? Data doesn’t tell the story. It punctuates it.

Key Takeaways:

• 📊 The 80% rule: Focus on the typical 80% of hires to identify real process improvements and avoid the “average trap.”

• 💬 Measure candidate experience: Time-to-respond uncovers hidden delays — at Intel, 42-day fills masked a 55-day wait for most applicants.

• 🏀 Prove team impact: Borrow from sports analytics — use “plus/minus” metrics to show how sourcers and coordinators elevate hiring outcomes.

• 🧠 Data as punctuation: One powerful data point tells a clearer story than ten charts — clarity convinces, not quantity.

👉 Read the full 1,980-word article here

💰 Give Your Team a Retirement Benefit They’ll Actually Use — Without the Complexity

Retirement plans shouldn’t be a luxury only big companies can afford. Human Interest makes it simple and affordable for growing businesses to offer a 401(k) that helps employees build real financial security — and helps you stand out in a competitive hiring market.

With automated administration, low-cost investment options, and full compliance support, Human Interest removes the hassle traditionally tied to retirement benefits. You get a modern, hands-off plan. Your employees get a clearer path to saving for their future.

Why companies choose Human Interest for their 401(k):

• 🔒 Low fees + transparent pricing so businesses of all sizes can offer meaningful retirement benefits

• ⚡ Fully automated administration — contributions, payroll sync, filings, and compliance handled for you

• 🧠 Guidance and support from specialists who simplify setup and keep your plan running smoothly

• 🏆 A powerful retention advantage as more candidates expect real retirement benefits from employers

Help your team feel secure about their financial future — without overwhelming your HR or finance teams.

👉 See How Easy It Is to Offer a 401(k) with Human Interest

🧠 New Economy Skills: Unlocking the Human Advantage

As automation accelerates, the World Economic Forum’s latest report reframes what “future-ready” really means — it’s not about mastering technology, but about mastering being human.

While 85% of companies now list creativity, resilience, and curiosity as essential, fewer than 30% actively measure or reward them. The paradox? The skills that matter most are the least accounted for.

The WEF urges leaders to elevate “human-centric skills” to the same strategic level as technical ones — building shared global frameworks to assess, credential, and scale them. Case studies from PwC, Tec de Monterrey, and Udemy show AI being used to teach empathy, quantify collaboration, and foster lifelong learning at scale.

Key Takeaways:

• 💡 Human-first edge: Nearly 40% of core job skills will be disrupted in five years, but traits like creativity and empathy remain the least automatable and most enduring.

• 📉 Invisible advantage: Only 72% of postings mention a single human skill, despite being the top differentiator of high-performing talent.

• 🌍 Skills recession: Creativity, motivation, and resilience have declined by up to 6% since 2019, underscoring the fragility of human capabilities.

• 🤖 AI as amplifier: PwC, AWS, and Udemy use GenAI tools to coach empathy, decision-making, and ethical reasoning—bringing human skills training to 81 million learners globally.

👉 Read the full 5,200-word article here

The bottomline

Great HR isn’t about dashboards or deliverables — it’s about designing systems that change how people think, act, and grow.

So as you head into year-end reviews and 2026 planning, focus less on ticking boxes and more on the moments that build momentum — the questions asked, the behaviors reinforced, and the clarity created when people know how their work truly matters.

Here’s to building trust through truth, growth through feedback, and impact through intention.