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Source: https://hr-trends.co.uk/feed/

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<title>Making people analytics more intelligent: How technology is solving HR’s data difficulties</title>
<link>https://hr-trends.co.uk/making-people-analytics-more-intelligent-how-technology-is-solving-hrs-data-difficulties/</link>
<comments>https://hr-trends.co.uk/making-people-analytics-more-intelligent-how-technology-is-solving-hrs-data-difficulties/#respond</comments>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[News Room]]></dc:creator>
<pubDate>Mon, 15 Sep 2025 10:49:43 +0000</pubDate>
<category><![CDATA[Tech & Analysis]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://hr-trends.co.uk/making-people-analytics-more-intelligent-how-technology-is-solving-hrs-data-difficulties/</guid>
<description><![CDATA[From product development to sales, every aspect of business involves people. A business’s success depends on hiring the right individuals, placing them in the right roles, and equipping them with the right skills. To operate with efficiency and precision, employers require information about their people and business. Effective people analytics gives them the data insights […]
The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://hr-trends.co.uk/making-people-analytics-more-intelligent-how-technology-is-solving-hrs-data-difficulties/">Making people analytics more intelligent: How technology is solving HR’s data difficulties</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://hr-trends.co.uk">HR Trends</a>.
]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div>
From product development to sales, every aspect of business involves people. A business’s success depends on hiring the right individuals, placing them in the right roles, and equipping them with the right skills. To operate with efficiency and precision, employers require information about their people and business. Effective people analytics gives them the data insights they need to refine their recruiting methods, improve their employees’ performance, and optimize their learning and development programming.
For most organizations, however, these insights are often out of reach. Historically, it’s been incredibly challenging to access and analyze employee data. The roadblocks are so burdensome, in fact, that many organizations struggle to glean even basic insights, such as how many people they employ.
Recent technological developments are removing these barriers. With next-generation people analytics, employers have easy, intuitive access to information. Artificial intelligence (AI) proactively surfaces critical insights, enabling businesses to do more with their data.
“Organizations can now use people analytics to get better insights faster,” said Carrie Klauss, senior director of product marketing for SAP’s SuccessFactors. “Having that knowledge at your fingertips enables you to take action quicker than ever before.”
<h4>Inexhaustible information, inaccessible insights</h4>
Organizations rely on people analytics to make smart business decisions. While the data that fuels these decisions is abundant, it can be hard to access and even harder to make useful. 
Consider the data generated by a single employee: There’s personal intel, recruiting information, performance history, learning records, and more. These categories of data generally exist in different places, so employers must bring the information together and “make it speak the same language” before they can use it. This job typically falls to an HR analyst. Once an analyst extracts data from the various silos and wrangles it into serviceable information, it could be out of date.
“To get any insight out of that process is a challenge,” Klauss explained.
These frustrations have led some HR teams to rely on analytics tools that sit outside of their human capital management (HCM) systems. While helpful, these tools require users to export and import data from various sources, either with an automated integration or manually. This means organizations are investing extra time, money, and resources to make sense of their own data.
<h4>One source, unlimited learnings</h4>
Thanks to recent developments in technology, the frustrations that once defined people analytics are now avoidable. Data can be easily accessible and fully reliable. 
“Before, organizations had to pull data from different sources and harmonize it manually,” said Andrea Domhardt, product marketing for people analytics at SAP SuccessFactors. “Now, all of that can be automated so you have a single source of people data — up to date, always available, and kept intact with the business context that matters.” 
This transformation allows organizations to dig deep into problem areas and potential opportunities with AI-driven insights and recommendations. For example, an HR analyst can use people analytics to probe employee turnover, revealing whether turnover is associated with a specific region, department or demographic. A talent leader can cross-reference the insights with other people data to investigate whether resignations could be influenced by pay or development opportunities. L&D leaders can likewise determine engagement and impact in learning and development, giving businesses insight into how such programs drive employee skills progression.
“Given the fact that data from across the business is now harmonized, multiple kinds of cross-references are now possible,” Domhardt explained. 
<h4>Turning insights into impact — in real time</h4>
These innovations maximize the value of people analytics. With direct access to immediately useful information, HR leaders don’t need to waste time waiting on reports or decoding data. Instead, they can spend their time and energy putting insights into action. 
This updated approach to people analytics enables HR to be an even better strategic partner to the business as a whole. With accurate, timely data, the department can be both proactive and predictive, reporting on the problems impacting a business from a people perspective and offering data-driven solutions. 
“You can spot trends, driving factors, and action points,” Klauss indicated. “It allows you to get ahead of risk and change versus waiting and reacting to it.”
The value of people analytics is not limited to HR. Leaders across a business can cross-reference data from HR and, for example, finance, to understand the information within a specific context. These connections enable them to make informed decisions about business operations and workflows, such as the headcount needed or the budget for hiring. 
<h4>Access next-generation analytics with People Intelligence</h4>
People analytics used to be painful. With instant, intuitive access to reliable data and AI-surfaced insights, people analytics now empowers organizations to make smarter decisions across the business. To learn how your organization can harness next-generation people analytics, attend SAP’s webinar on its new analytics solution, People Intelligence.
</div>
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<item>
<title>Growing fast? 5 ways HR and tech help you become an employer of choice</title>
<link>https://hr-trends.co.uk/growing-fast-5-ways-hr-and-tech-help-you-become-an-employer-of-choice/</link>
<comments>https://hr-trends.co.uk/growing-fast-5-ways-hr-and-tech-help-you-become-an-employer-of-choice/#respond</comments>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[News Room]]></dc:creator>
<pubDate>Mon, 15 Sep 2025 09:49:09 +0000</pubDate>
<category><![CDATA[Tech & Analysis]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://hr-trends.co.uk/growing-fast-5-ways-hr-and-tech-help-you-become-an-employer-of-choice/</guid>
<description><![CDATA[For mid-market companies, growth is a sign of success, but it also raises the stakes. As teams expand and expectations rise, so does the need for smooth onboarding, reliable systems, a strong culture and feedback that leads to action. Scaling well means building on what makes your company great – not losing it along the […]
The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://hr-trends.co.uk/growing-fast-5-ways-hr-and-tech-help-you-become-an-employer-of-choice/">Growing fast? 5 ways HR and tech help you become an employer of choice</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://hr-trends.co.uk">HR Trends</a>.
]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div>
For mid-market companies, growth is a sign of success, but it also raises the stakes. As teams expand and expectations rise, so does the need for smooth onboarding, reliable systems, a strong culture and feedback that leads to action. Scaling well means building on what makes your company great – not losing it along the way.
In a recent Insperity-hosted webinar, “From Growth to Retention: HR Strategies that Scale with Your business,” HR leaders Maria Jugin, Robert Ruiz and Ronnie Chong shared what it takes to become an employer of choice in high-growth environments. 
Here are four of their most actionable takeaways: 

<ol>
<li>
Consider AI as an enabler, not a replacement
“What excites me the most is how AI enables every HR professional to punch above their proverbial weight. It shifts us from being policy managers to strategic enablers.”
– Ronnie Chong, Director of HR Operations Technology and Insights at Ridgeline
Artificial intelligence isn’t a magic fix, but it can help teams move faster and more accurately. When paired with human oversight, AI accelerates insights, supports personalization and frees up time for deeper engagement and decision-making.
Take action: Start by automating a single, time-consuming and more administrative task. Then, use the time you save to focus on higher-value work, like strategic planning or coaching your team.
</li>
<li>
Combine smart technology with real expertise.
“There is no way to keep people aligned culturally if there isn’t technology to support that.” —Maria Jugin, Manager of HR Services at Insperity
Technology should work for your people, not frustrate them. But tools alone aren’t enough. The most effective HR strategies combine intuitive, easy-to-use platforms with experienced guidance that helps employees (and employers) get the most from them. Solutions like Insperity’s HRScale do exactly that, combining comprehensive HR services with Workday’s advanced technology to create a scalable solution that evolves with your business.
Take action: Evaluate whether your current HR approach gives you both modern technology and expert support. If there’s a gap, it might be time to explore integrated solutions.
</li>
<li>
Keep culture intentional as you grow.
“Culture shapes how people use [their] technology, and technology helps spread and support that culture. So, when they’re in sync, it’s just easier to grow without losing what makes a company great.” – Robert Ruiz, Manager of Project and Process Improvement at Insperity
As companies scale, culture can fade unless it’s intentionally reinforced. To preserve what makes your organization unique, embed values into onboarding, training, recognition and daily interactions. The right technology can help amplify those values, keeping teams aligned, even as headcount grows.
Take action: Audit where your core values show up. Are they prevalent in your onboarding, team meetings, performance reviews and recognition? If they’re missing, build them in.
</li>
<li>
Use data to stay ahead of problems.
“Guesswork is expensive. You have data at your fingertips every time you run payroll, track turnover, or survey employees. The key is connecting those dots.” —Maria Jugin
You can’t act strategically if you don’t see the whole picture. Most companies already collect valuable HR data – hiring trends, turnover rates, engagement surveys and more. But the real power comes from connecting the dots. When you bring these insights together, you can spot risks earlier, uncover hidden opportunities and make faster, smarter decisions.
Take action: Identify one HR metric that matters most to your goals. Track it monthly alongside employee feedback to see the full picture and make faster, smarter decisions.
</li>
</ol>
With the right mix of technology, expert support and a culture rooted in action, growing companies can build systems that scale and teams that stay. Whether you’re just starting out or doubling in size, these strategies can help you grow without losing what makes your business great.
Ready to build an HR strategy that scales with your business? Watch the full webinar and download tools, templates, and checklists from the HR experts at Insperity. 
Insperity is excited to introduce HRScale, a solution designed to transform your HR processes and empower your team. Learn More About HRScale.
</div>
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<title>UPS worker’s age, sex bias claims can’t overcome company’s harassment findings</title>
<link>https://hr-trends.co.uk/ups-workers-age-sex-bias-claims-cant-overcome-companys-harassment-findings/</link>
<comments>https://hr-trends.co.uk/ups-workers-age-sex-bias-claims-cant-overcome-companys-harassment-findings/#respond</comments>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[News Room]]></dc:creator>
<pubDate>Fri, 12 Sep 2025 20:49:22 +0000</pubDate>
<category><![CDATA[Legal]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://hr-trends.co.uk/ups-workers-age-sex-bias-claims-cant-overcome-companys-harassment-findings/</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Dive Brief: UPS did not illegally terminate a supervisor whom it found to have sexually harassed a female co-worker despite the plaintiff’s claims that his firing constituted age and sex discrimination, a North Carolina federal judge held Wednesday. The plaintiff in the case, Johnson v. UPS, Inc., alleged UPS fired him within two months of […]
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]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div>
<h3 class="standard-heading">Dive Brief:</h3>
<ul>
<li>UPS did not illegally terminate a supervisor whom it found to have sexually harassed a female co-worker despite the plaintiff’s claims that his firing constituted age and sex discrimination, a North Carolina federal judge held Wednesday.</li>
<li>The plaintiff in the case, Johnson v. UPS, Inc., alleged UPS fired him within two months of his retirement plan vesting and replaced him with a younger female worker in violation of the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, the Employee Retirement Income Security Act and North Carolina state laws. But UPS claimed that the co-worker, whom the plaintiff accompanied during a training session, reported “an unsettling experience” to the company.</li>
<li>UPS said an investigation concluded that the plaintiff violated policy by making inappropriate comments and taking the co-worker to his house during the training. The judge granted summary judgment to UPS, finding that the plaintiff had not rebutted UPS’ evidence of a legitimate non-discriminatory reason for the termination.</li>
</ul>
<h3 class="standard-heading">Dive Insight:</h3>
The plaintiff ultimately was unable to overcome UPS’ investigatory findings, which concluded that he made lewd comments — such as telling the co-worker that “short shorts and UPS thong” uniforms were available for her and asking if she had ever answered her door naked — and caused further discomfort in part by taking her to his house to use the bathroom.
The plaintiff denied some of the comments while confirming others, but he nonetheless claimed that he was unlawfully terminated due to his age and the proximity of his firing to his retirement plan vesting. The judge noted, however, that UPS had offered the plaintiff a part-time position at a different location until his benefits vested and that the plaintiff declined this offer.
Ultimately, the court found that the plaintiff had not presented any direct evidence of age or sex discrimination.
“Certainly, there are disputed questions of fact,” the judge wrote. “But in light of the undisputed evidence, those disputed facts are not material. UPS is entitled to summary judgment on this claim.”
Employment law experts have previously advised employers that proper documentation and execution of internal investigations can offer protection in the event of litigation. But employers must make informed decisions about how such investigations are conducted and acted upon, one attorney wrote in a January op-ed to HR Dive.
</div>
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<title>Kroger faces FMLA, PUMP Act lawsuit after allegedly transferring employee returning from parental leave</title>
<link>https://hr-trends.co.uk/kroger-faces-fmla-pump-act-lawsuit-after-allegedly-transferring-employee-returning-from-parental-leave/</link>
<comments>https://hr-trends.co.uk/kroger-faces-fmla-pump-act-lawsuit-after-allegedly-transferring-employee-returning-from-parental-leave/#respond</comments>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[News Room]]></dc:creator>
<pubDate>Fri, 12 Sep 2025 19:45:39 +0000</pubDate>
<category><![CDATA[Legal]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://hr-trends.co.uk/kroger-faces-fmla-pump-act-lawsuit-after-allegedly-transferring-employee-returning-from-parental-leave/</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Dive Brief: A Kroger HR department is at the center of a lawsuit filed Wednesday in the U.S. District Court for the Northern Indiana District, alleging violations of the PUMP Act and the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, among others. A former assistant store manager for the grocer alleged she was denied use of available time […]
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]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div>
<h3>Dive Brief:</h3>
<ul>
<li>A Kroger HR department is at the center of a lawsuit filed Wednesday in the U.S. District Court for the Northern Indiana District, alleging violations of the PUMP Act and the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, among others.</li>
<li>A former assistant store manager for the grocer alleged she was denied use of available time off before her upcoming leave for childbirth — despite similarly situated male employees being allowed to take time off. </li>
<li>She also allegedly faced unsavory pumping conditions and negative comments about her pumping. After the plaintiff said she complained to district HR, she was transferred to a different store, 37 miles away in an allegedly dangerous area.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Dive Insight:</h3>
The plaintiff alleged that these actions were retaliation for exercising her Family and Medical Leave Act rights. The FMLA protects the jobs of eligible expecting employees who can’t work due to pregnancy conditions. 
She alleged that Kroger management violated the PWFA, which requires employers to provide reasonable accommodations for pregnancy, childbirth and related conditions. The plaintiff also alleged violations of the PUMP Act, which requires employers to not just provide reasonable break time for expressing breast milk but also a private space other than a bathroom to pump. 
A lack of proper accommodations for pumping have been the crux of several lawsuits since the PUMP Act took effect. Workers have brought suits alleging they were forced to express breastmilk in hot cars and unlocked stockrooms, or in mail trucks and break rooms where co-workers were present.
The Kroger employee alleged she was only permitted to pump in bathroom stalls, a security room with cameras, a glass office and a closet without any lights. 
Additionally, when the plaintiff returned to work, an assistant manager told her that storing her breast milk in the refrigerator was “disgusting,” according to court documents. 
Best practices for nursing workers, according to professionals who advocate for working parents, include a lactation room with comfortable chairs for pumping and a fridge to store breastmilk.
</div>
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<title>LinkedIn, OpenAI muscle their way into the AI recruiting fray</title>
<link>https://hr-trends.co.uk/linkedin-openai-muscle-their-way-into-the-ai-recruiting-fray/</link>
<comments>https://hr-trends.co.uk/linkedin-openai-muscle-their-way-into-the-ai-recruiting-fray/#respond</comments>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[News Room]]></dc:creator>
<pubDate>Fri, 12 Sep 2025 16:10:02 +0000</pubDate>
<category><![CDATA[Talent]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://hr-trends.co.uk/linkedin-openai-muscle-their-way-into-the-ai-recruiting-fray/</guid>
<description><![CDATA[LinkedIn’s Hiring Assistant tool, which has been available to a small group of customers since it was announced last year, will be globally available in English by the end of September, the company announced — serving as the latest example of artificial intelligence tools that promise to reshape recruiting. Hiring Assistant is an AI agent […]
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]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div>
LinkedIn’s Hiring Assistant tool, which has been available to a small group of customers since it was announced last year, will be globally available in English by the end of September, the company announced — serving as the latest example of artificial intelligence tools that promise to reshape recruiting.
Hiring Assistant is an AI agent that aims to help recruiters with candidate sourcing and screening, among other tasks. LinkedIn said it took insights from customers over the past year to make the tool more conversational and responsive — fully “agentic,” in other words, the company said.
“Hiring Assistant doesn’t just listen — the product asks clarification questions, offers recommendations, and adapts based on context,” according to expansion announcement.
The tool can perform prescreening through InMail, LinkedIn’s messaging platform, and peruses LinkedIn profiles, application resumes and answers to screening questions to evaluate applicants, the company said. It’s also expected to connect with applicant tracking systems outside of LinkedIn.
Hiring Assistant is but one example of AI tools aimed at reinventing recruiting. OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, said Sept. 4 it is building the OpenAI Jobs Platform in a bid to enter the recruiting fray.
The platform seems aimed at companies seeking AI talent and will also use AI to help employers “find the perfect matches between what companies need and what workers can offer,” according to the announcement.
Little else was said about the OpenAI platform — but it may reflect the ways recruiting has begun to shift amid the rapid pace of AI development.
Job boards, for example, remain a highly popular option for employers and candidates alike; nearly 7 in 10 employers told iHire they conduct all or most of their hiring through job boards, and nearly a third said their reliance may only increase in the next year.
But employers also expect job boards to evolve with the times, iHire said. Employers said they want job boards to include messaging, prescreening questions, skills assessments, interview scheduling options and more — all of which AI tools often purport to offer.
Hiring managers may want to remain judicious in their use of such tools, however. An April report from Express Employment Professionals and Harris Poll revealed that applicants may avoid companies that rely on generative AI in their recruiting processes; 73% of job hunters surveyed said the benefits of using generative AI are not worth the risks.
</div>
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<title>Amid hiring freezes, HR leaders turn to internal mobility and upskilling</title>
<link>https://hr-trends.co.uk/amid-hiring-freezes-hr-leaders-turn-to-internal-mobility-and-upskilling/</link>
<comments>https://hr-trends.co.uk/amid-hiring-freezes-hr-leaders-turn-to-internal-mobility-and-upskilling/#respond</comments>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[News Room]]></dc:creator>
<pubDate>Fri, 12 Sep 2025 15:55:54 +0000</pubDate>
<category><![CDATA[Learning]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://hr-trends.co.uk/amid-hiring-freezes-hr-leaders-turn-to-internal-mobility-and-upskilling/</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Facing lower turnover and hiring freezes, HR pros are prioritizing internal mobility and skills-based shifts in their organizations, according to a Sept. 8 report from Careerminds, an outplacement company. Quit rates have fallen to 2%, according to U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data, leading HR teams to focus on internal reskilling and workforce redeployment rather […]
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<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div>
Facing lower turnover and hiring freezes, HR pros are prioritizing internal mobility and skills-based shifts in their organizations, according to a Sept. 8 report from Careerminds, an outplacement company.
Quit rates have fallen to 2%, according to U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data, leading HR teams to focus on internal reskilling and workforce redeployment rather than external hires.
“We’re seeing a clear shift in how HR leaders are approaching talent needs,” Raymond Lee, president of Careerminds, said in a statement. “Instead of defaulting to external hires, many are upskilling and reskilling their existing workforce. This not only helps to control costs in a tighter budget environment but also strengthens employee loyalty.”
The U.S. jobs market appears to be stalling, with only 22,000 jobs added in August and June’s numbers revised to reflect a loss of 13,000 jobs, according to BLS data. The slow pace may not be enough to stop unemployment from rising, economists said.
In fact, more CHROs said they expect to decrease hiring during the next six months, according to a report from The Conference Board. In response, half of HR leaders said they plan to invest in change management training for leaders and managers.
In the Careerminds survey of 600 HR managers, two-thirds said their employers have implemented hiring freezes, with 22% stopping recruitment across all roles and 44% limiting freezes to specific departments or positions.
Among those with partial freezes, 36% have paused hiring for all entry-level roles, leaving recent graduates in a lurch during the job search. Another 30% have paused mid-level hiring, while 25% have halted leadership hiring.
In terms of timing, nearly half of HR managers said recruitment will likely remain paused for the next 12 months. In addition, 16% projected a two-year pause, and 32% anticipated a six-month freeze.
HR managers said hiring freezes were primarily implemented due to cost reductions and budget restraints, pointing to reasons such as economic uncertainty, board pressure to limit headcount, automation replacing the need for new roles, a shortage of qualified talent, organizational restructuring, shifts in business priorities and regulatory uncertainty.
In response, HR managers said they’re reviewing career frameworks and looking for ways to keep workers engaged. For instance, 43% said they’re upskilling their workforce, particularly in digital and tech skills, risk management, cybersecurity, leadership and people management.
“By upskilling employees, we expect to see an uptick in not only retention rates across the market over the coming months but also overall employee satisfaction at work,” Lee said. “After all, upskilled employees are satisfied employees.”
</div>
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<title>Texas A&M fires professor after viral video, raising free speech concerns</title>
<link>https://hr-trends.co.uk/texas-am-fires-professor-after-viral-video-raising-free-speech-concerns/</link>
<comments>https://hr-trends.co.uk/texas-am-fires-professor-after-viral-video-raising-free-speech-concerns/#respond</comments>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[News Room]]></dc:creator>
<pubDate>Thu, 11 Sep 2025 23:39:38 +0000</pubDate>
<category><![CDATA[Legal]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://hr-trends.co.uk/texas-am-fires-professor-after-viral-video-raising-free-speech-concerns/</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Texas A&M University this week quickly fired a children’s literature professor and removed a department head and a dean from their administrative positions after a state representative shared a video of the instructor teaching about gender identity. On Sept. 8, Texas State Rep. Brian Harrison took to social media to accuse the professor and Texas […]
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<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div>
Texas A&M University this week quickly fired a children’s literature professor and removed a department head and a dean from their administrative positions after a state representative shared a video of the instructor teaching about gender identity.
On Sept. 8, Texas State Rep. Brian Harrison took to social media to accuse the professor and Texas A&M of perpetuating “DEI and LGBTQ indoctrination,” a common refrain among conservative critics of higher education.
The video Harrison shared went viral, spurred conservative outcry and prompted the Texas A&M system to announce a coursework audit of every class at its 12 universities. Harrison also called for the flagship’s president to be fired over the incident.
The speed and punitive nature of the university’s response stirred outrage from faculty and free speech organizations and left the massive public system at the center of a maelstrom over academic freedom, due process and bans on diversity, equity and inclusion.
“We are witnessing the death of academic freedom in Texas, the remaking of universities as tools of authoritarianism that suppress free thought,” Jonathan Friedman, managing director of Pen America’s U.S. Free Expression Programs, said in a statement. “Faculty at Texas A&M and across the state have been put on notice: they must not teach about any concepts politicians disfavor, because Big Brother is watching.”
<h3 class="standard-heading">Ousted in a day</h3>
Harrison posted a two-minute video on Sept. 8 that he described, in all capital letters, as showing a student “kicked out of class after objecting to transgender indoctrination.” The lawmaker also called on the Trump administration and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott to take action against the university.
In the video, a student tells a professor that teaching there are more than two genders goes against the student’s religious beliefs and violates an executive order from President Donald Trump. Trump signed an executive order in January directing the federal government to only recognize two sexes, male and female, a position at odds with the scientific and medical communities.
The professor replies that the subject matter is not illegal to teach, despite what the student says, and tells them to leave if they choose.
Neither speaker’s face is shown on camera, and the video is not dated or timestamped.
Texas A&M on Wednesday did not immediately respond to a request for comment and to verify the video.
<h3 class="standard-heading">Swift and escalating responses from Texas A&M leaders</h3>
Texas A&M President Mark Welsh took to social media to respond to Harrison’s video the same day.
In a late evening statement, Welsh said he learned on the afternoon of Sept. 8 that leaders of the university’s college of arts and sciences “approved plans to continue teaching course content that was not consistent with the course’s published description.”
As a result, Welsh told the university provost to immediately remove the college’s dean and English department head from their administrative positions.
“Our students use the published information in the course catalog to make important decisions about the courses they take in pursuit of their degrees,” Welsh said. “If we allow different course content to be taught from what is advertised, we let our students down.”
The next morning, Welsh announced that the professor involved had been fired, just a day after he said he learned about the incident. 
“This isn’t about academic freedom; it’s about academic responsibility,” Welsh said in the statement. “Our degree programs and courses go through extensive approval processes, and we must ensure that what we ultimately deliver to students is consistent with what was approved.”
Welsh also ordered the university’s deans and department heads to audit the content of their courses “to ensure they align with the course descriptions.” The flagship Texas A&M campus has 16,000 course sections, according to the president, and enrolls over 79,000 students.
The inconsistency between course descriptions and taught material was not a new problem, said Welsh. Earlier this year, the arts and sciences college signed off on another children’s literature course for the summer term “that did not align with any reasonable expectation of standard curriculum for the course,” he said.
<div class="pullquote">
<hr>
<div class="pq-hr-wrapper">
This isn’t about academic freedom; it’s about academic responsibility.
<div class="pq-headshot"></div>
<div class="pq-speaker-details">
Mark Welsh
President of Texas A&M University
</div>
</div>
<hr>
</div>
After someone raised the issue, the university provided students with alternatives to complete the class and “made changes to ensure this course content does not continue in future semesters,” Welsh said. He did not provide further details on the summer course or the inconsistencies.
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“At that time, I made it clear to our academic leadership that course content must match catalog descriptions for each and every one of our course sections,” he said. But the president said the latest discrepancy between a course description and its content shows the problem persisted.
The system’s board of regents also announced Tuesday that it had directed Chancellor Glenn Hegar to audit every course for “full compliance with all applicable laws.”
In a statement, the board said it was working “to ensure that what happened this week will not be repeated,” saying it “will not tolerate actions that damage the reputation of our institutions.”
Auditing the entire system’s courses will be a massive undertaking. The university system, one of the country’s biggest, enrolls about 175,000 students across 12 institutions and has an annual budget of $8.1 billion, according to institutional data.
Hegar confirmed the systemwide audit shortly after the board’s statement and applauded Welsh’s decision to fire the professor.
“His action shows insubordination and indoctrination have no place on our campus or in our classrooms,” Hegar said Tuesday evening.
<h3 class="standard-heading">State pressure and federal inquiries </h3>
Abbott this week praised Welsh for stripping the college officials of their administrative positions and called for the “professor who acted contrary to Texas law” to be fired.
It is unclear what law the governor is referring to, and his office did not respond to questions Wednesday. In 2023, Texas passed a sweeping ban on most diversity, equity and inclusion work at public colleges, but the law does not affect what faculty can teach.
However, Harrison said on social media Tuesday that the professor’s termination wasn’t enough. “The President must also be fired,” the state lawmaker said. 
<section class="storylines-carousel-wrapper show-small hide-large" id="mobile-carousel"></section>
In his calls for governmental intervention, Harrison accused Welsh of mishandling the student’s complaint about the professor. He shared two audio recordings that he says include Welsh initially declining to fire the professor at the student’s request and defending education on LGBTQ+ topics.
Abbott and Welsh have already clashed once this year. The governor threatened the Texas A&M leader’s job after a university email invited some employees and Ph.D. students to attend a higher education conference for Black, Hispanic and Native American participants. Welsh ultimately said no one would attend, to comply with state law, The Texas Tribune reported.
Harrison also called on the U.S. Departments of Education and Health and Human Services to investigate Texas A&M. The state lawmaker, who served as HHS’ chief of staff during the first Trump administration, further requested the agencies “ensure that Texas universities receiving federal funds are complying with President Trump’s Executive Orders.”
Neither department responded to a request for comment on Wednesday.
Harmeet Dhillon, assistant attorney general for the U.S. Department of Justice’s civil rights division, called Harrison’s video “deeply concerning” in a social media post and said her office would look into it.
<h3 class="standard-heading">‘An abuse of their power’</h3>
Texas A&M’s rapid-fire termination of the professor, removal of academic leaders from administrative roles and decision to audit all coursework drew significant condemnation from faculty groups and free speech advocates.
<div class="pullquote">
<hr>
<div class="pq-hr-wrapper">
Faculty at Texas A&M and across the state have been put on notice: they must not teach about any concepts politicians disfavor, because Big Brother is watching.
<div class="pq-headshot"><img decoding="async" alt="" class="pq-headshot-img-hidden" src="https://d12v9rtnomnebu.cloudfront.net/diveimages/corporate_site/teampage/square_profiles/placeholder-200.png"></div>
<div class="pq-speaker-details">
Jonathan Friedman
Managing director of Pen America’s U.S. Free Expression Programs
</div>
</div>
<hr>
</div>
Zeph Capo, president of the Texas American Federation of Teachers, said Wednesday that neither recent state laws nor Trump’s executive orders supersede the U.S. Constitution, adding that nothing legally takes away faculty’s right to due process and free speech.
“Lawmakers and the governor himself using their considerable platforms to publicly call for the removal of a faculty member, a dean, a department chair, and the president of the university based on viral video clips is an abuse of their power and a level of histrionics that ought to concern us all,” Capo said in statement. “This is not normal, and we cannot let this race to a moral panic become the new normal.”
The Texas Conference of the American Association for University Professors sounded alarms Wednesday after Texas A&M announced its systemwide course audit.
“What has happened at Texas A&M this week should concern every Texan,” Texas-AAUP said. “Not only has the integrity of academic freedom come under fire, but the due process rights of a faculty member have been trampled at the urging of state politicians + the governor himself.”
The same day, the University of Texas-Austin’s AAUP chapter expressed solidarity with its Texas A&M peers and cast doubt on Abbott’s accusation that the professor had violated state law.
A petition to reinstate the fired professor and Texas A&M administrators to their positions garnered over 1,900 signatures as of Wednesday evening. 
</div>
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<title>FTC warns healthcare companies about restrictive noncompete contracts</title>
<link>https://hr-trends.co.uk/ftc-warns-healthcare-companies-about-restrictive-noncompete-contracts/</link>
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<dc:creator><![CDATA[News Room]]></dc:creator>
<pubDate>Thu, 11 Sep 2025 22:38:31 +0000</pubDate>
<category><![CDATA[Legal]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://hr-trends.co.uk/ftc-warns-healthcare-companies-about-restrictive-noncompete-contracts/</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Dive Brief: The Federal Trade Commission is urging major healthcare employers and staffing companies to review their employment agreements to root out any restrictive noncompete clauses. On Wednesday, FTC Chair Andrew Ferguson sent letters to an unspecified number of healthcare companies warning them that regulators will enforce the law against unfair or anticompetitive noncompetes. The letter stresses […]
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]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div>
<h3>Dive Brief:</h3>
<ul>
<li>The Federal Trade Commission is urging major healthcare employers and staffing companies to review their employment agreements to root out any restrictive noncompete clauses.</li>
<li>On Wednesday, FTC Chair Andrew Ferguson sent letters to an unspecified number of healthcare companies warning them that regulators will enforce the law against unfair or anticompetitive noncompetes. The letter stresses that recipients are not under any suspicion of illegal conduct.</li>
<li>It’s part of a larger philosophical shift at the FTC when it comes to noncompetes, as the agency pivots away from the total ban espoused by the Biden administration toward a targeted enforcement strategy. The FTC’s new position is likely a relief for hospitals and other employers, which had lobbied heavily against the ban.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Dive Insight:</h3>
The healthcare industry commonly relies on noncompete agreements, especially as a growing number of doctors are employed by hospitals and other corporations. The American Medical Association estimates that noncompete clauses affect between 37% and 45% of physicians.
But the frequency of the arrangements doesn’t mean they’re popular: Physicians have testified to antitrust regulators that noncompetes keep them locked in place, unable to look for other employment even if they’re unhappy with their current situation.
Noncompetes may also raise medical prices, while suppressing wages for workers and inhibiting the creation of new businesses, according to past FTC research.
The FTC has authority to go after overly broad or potentially anticompetitive noncompetes. But under President Donald Trump the agency has stepped back from the aggressive stance of the Biden administration, which sought to eliminate noncompetes for non-executive workers altogether.
Last week, FTC commissioners voted to stop defending the nationwide ban, which courts in Texas and Florida had already blocked. (Another court in Pennsylvania had allowed it to proceed).
As a result of the litigation, the ban never went into effect. With the FTC’s decision to step back from its appeals, it likely never will — at least not during this administration. Instead, the FTC plans to go after particularly onerous noncompetes.
Last week, the agency asked the public for information that could inform future enforcement action. The FTC specifically asked commenters to call out employers with problematic noncompetes that may be illegal, particularly for “market participants in the healthcare sector.”
And now, Ferguson is following through on his promise earlier this month to send letters to companies in industries “plagued by thickets of noncompete agreements,” like healthcare.
Ferguson’s letter asks recipients to “conduct a comprehensive review [of] employment agreements — including any noncompetes or other restrictive covenants — to ensure that they comply with applicable laws and are appropriately tailored to the circumstances.”
“If your company is currently using noncompetes that are unfair or anticompetitive under the FTC Act, I strongly encourage you to discontinue them immediately and to notify relevant employees of the discontinuance,” Ferguson wrote.
There’s some grey area about what makes a noncompete illegal, which may make compliance tricky. However, recent FTC action against a pet cremation company gives some clues as to regulators’ bar for enforcement. Earlier this month, the FTC filed a complaint against Gateway Services after finding it imposed contracts on almost all of its employees prohibiting them from working in the pet cremation industry for one year after leaving the company.
“Enforcement against unreasonable noncompete agreements remains a top priority for the Federal Trade Commission,” Kelse Moen, the deputy director of the FTC’s Bureau of Competition, said in a statement Wednesday. “We strongly encourage all employers — not just those receiving letters today — to review their contracts closely.”
The FTC did not respond to questions about what companies had received the letters or why they were selected.
</div>
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<title>HR records in the cloud can create a perfect storm</title>
<link>https://hr-trends.co.uk/hr-records-in-the-cloud-can-create-a-perfect-storm/</link>
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<dc:creator><![CDATA[News Room]]></dc:creator>
<pubDate>Thu, 11 Sep 2025 21:45:32 +0000</pubDate>
<category><![CDATA[HR Management]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://hr-trends.co.uk/hr-records-in-the-cloud-can-create-a-perfect-storm/</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Karina B. Sterman, Esq., is a partner in Greenberg Glusker’s litigation and employment law groups. In today’s hybrid workplaces, where conversations unfold across Slack threads and performance feedback arrives via email, personnel records are no longer confined to filing cabinets or even designated HRIS platforms. Yet too many employers still treat personnel files as static […]
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<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div>
Karina B. Sterman, Esq., is a partner in Greenberg Glusker’s litigation and employment law groups.
In today’s hybrid workplaces, where conversations unfold across Slack threads and performance feedback arrives via email, personnel records are no longer confined to filing cabinets or even designated HRIS platforms.
Yet too many employers still treat personnel files as static collections of paper documents and forms, ignoring the vast — and often legally relevant — trail left in digital formats.
This oversight isn’t just an administrative gap; it’s a compliance risk. California law, for example, gives employees the right to inspect or obtain copies of their personnel records upon request. If your HR team can’t produce key performance-related documents because they lived in a deleted email account or were wiped along with a departing employee’s laptop, your organization could face serious legal consequences.
As technology continues to redefine how workplaces communicate and document employee behavior, HR professionals must recalibrate their recordkeeping strategies accordingly. Preserving the digital side of the personnel file isn’t just a best practice — it’s fast becoming a legal imperative.
<h3 class="standard-heading">The legal landscape: What counts as a personnel record?</h3>
Interpretations of the term “personnel record” can vary. In California, it means any documents used to determine an employee’s qualifications for employment, promotion, additional compensation, termination or disciplinary action.
Importantly, personnel records are not limited to traditional HR documents like formal reviews or reprimands. Courts have recognized that emails, manager notes and even internal chats — if used to evaluate performance or justify employment decisions — can fall within the scope of a personnel record.
Failing to produce these documents upon request (in California, HR has 30 days to do so) is not only a compliance violation; it can damage an employer’s credibility if a dispute escalates into litigation. Incomplete records can create the appearance of disorganization at best — and deliberate concealment at worst.
<h3 class="standard-heading">Digital documents: The new frontier of personnel files</h3>
For most modern organizations, day-to-day feedback, coaching and performance management now take place digitally. A manager may never write a formal warning but might regularly send emails citing missed deadlines or poor communication. An employee might request an accommodation via Slack or raise a harassment concern informally via text.
These exchanges are easy to overlook — until they become pivotal in a legal dispute.
And yet, many companies still purge this data when employees leave. It’s common practice to wipe company-issued devices, deactivate email accounts or auto-delete digital messages after a set retention period. While these steps may be sensible from an IT or privacy standpoint, they can result in the unintentional destruction of key evidence — evidence that employers are legally obligated to retain and could benefit from in litigation.
<h3 class="standard-heading">Personnel files vs. legal files: What goes where?</h3>
HR teams often maintain two sets of employee-related documentation: the personnel file, which may be accessible to the employee, and the legal or confidential file, which may include sensitive or investigatory information. While not every piece of digital correspondence belongs in the personnel file, many should still be preserved somewhere within your documentation framework.
For example:
<ul>
<li>Emails detailing performance concerns should be saved in the personnel file if they were factored into employment decisions.</li>
<li>Slack messages involving harassment complaints likely belong in a legal or investigatory file.</li>
<li>Accommodation requests and approvals should be preserved in compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act and state laws, often in both HR and (if legal counsel was sought) legal records.</li>
</ul>
The key is that all of these records — regardless of their format or storage location — need to be identified, saved and retained for at least the duration of the applicable statute of limitations, and often longer.
<h3 class="standard-heading">Retention and risk: How long should records be kept?</h3>
There’s no one-size-fits-all answer to retention periods, as different types of claims carry different statutes of limitations. However, best practice suggests keeping all potentially relevant employment documents for at least four years following an employee’s separation.
This includes performance documentation, disciplinary records, accommodation communications, internal complaints and exit interviews.
If litigation or a government investigation is pending, a litigation hold must be issued to preserve all relevant documentation — digital or otherwise — until the matter is fully resolved.
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<h3 class="standard-heading">Best practices for HR teams in the digital era</h3>
To bridge the gap between traditional personnel files and the digital workplace, HR leaders should consider the following steps.
1. Implement a digital records policy. Develop a written policy for identifying and preserving digital communications related to employee performance, conduct and complaints. This policy should involve HR, IT and legal stakeholders.
2. Train managers on what to save. Managers are often the first to receive or generate relevant digital communications. Train them to recognize which emails, chats or notes should be sent to HR for inclusion in the employee’s record.
3. Review before you wipe. Make it standard procedure to audit digital content (email, cloud storage, internal chats) before reassigning or wiping a departing employee’s device. Capture and save any materials that fall under the umbrella of personnel documentation.
4. Segment storage appropriately. Not all employee-related documents should reside in the same file. Create structured folders — one for general HR documentation, another for legal/investigatory content — and restrict access accordingly. Make sure both are retained under consistent retention schedules.
5. Conduct periodic audits. Set a cadence for reviewing your personnel files to ensure that digital materials are being captured. Look for gaps between what’s on paper and what likely exists (or existed) digitally.
<h3 class="standard-heading">Don’t Let the digital trail disappear</h3>
As employment attorneys, we increasingly see cases where the decisive documents — the ones that could have resolved a dispute early — were never printed, never filed and were often deleted before counsel was ever consulted.
For HR professionals, this is both a cautionary tale and a call to action.
<section class="storylines-carousel-wrapper show-small hide-large" id="mobile-carousel"></section>
If you’re not already treating digital communications as part of the personnel record, it’s time to update your policies, align with your legal team and build safeguards into your offboarding processes. Because in a dispute, what’s missing from the file can be just as, or even more, important than what’s in it.
</div>
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<title>8 religious rights stories that define summer 2025</title>
<link>https://hr-trends.co.uk/8-religious-rights-stories-that-define-summer-2025/</link>
<comments>https://hr-trends.co.uk/8-religious-rights-stories-that-define-summer-2025/#respond</comments>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[News Room]]></dc:creator>
<pubDate>Thu, 11 Sep 2025 21:37:35 +0000</pubDate>
<category><![CDATA[Legal]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://hr-trends.co.uk/8-religious-rights-stories-that-define-summer-2025/</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Religious rights are having a moment. Intertwined with political issues like the Israel-Hamas war, gender identity and vaccine mandates, employees nationwide are filing a variety of lawsuits that challenge workplace policies and bring sensitive issues like bodily autonomy, respect for others and free expression to the fore. While the lawsuits detailed below were all private […]
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]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div>
Religious rights are having a moment. 
Intertwined with political issues like the Israel-Hamas war, gender identity and vaccine mandates, employees nationwide are filing a variety of lawsuits that challenge workplace policies and bring sensitive issues like bodily autonomy, respect for others and free expression to the fore.
While the lawsuits detailed below were all private enforcement actions, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has taken a special interest in religious rights cases this year as well. In August, the agency touted its focus on the issue in the first days of the Trump administration, highlighting religious discrimination lawsuits it had filed relating to vaccine mandates, social media posts, antisemitism on college campuses and more.
“During the previous administration, workers’ religious protections too often took a backseat to woke policies,” Acting Chair Andrea Lucas declared in an agency news release. “Under my leadership, the EEOC is restoring evenhanded enforcement of Title VII — ensuring that workers are not forced to choose between their paycheck and their faith.”
Employers may see a greater variety of religious bias lawsuits from the agency soon, as EEOC is expected to obtain a quorum if nominated commissioner Brittany Panuccio is confirmed.
Read on below for our coverage of recent religious rights issues gaining traction in the courts. 
</div>
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