HR Brew // Morning Brew // Update

June 16, 2026

Hello, hello! You never know where a side gig will take you. Eric Tulsky was working in nanotechnology when in 2015 his hockey blog helped him land an analyst position with the Carolina Hurricanes. By 2024, he had been promoted to general manager, and over the weekend, he became a Stanley Cup champion, when the Canes beat the Vegas Golden Knights in a 3–0 shutout. How’s that for following your passion?

In today’s edition:

What’s good?

Meet the nominee

(A)Impact

—Paige McGlauflin, Adam DeRose, Eoin Higgins

HR STRATEGY

Not ‘good’ enough

Getty Images

While the mantra “Cs get degrees” may have rang true in college, being middle-of-the-road isn’t enough for those in leadership.

More than half (54%) of the 2,200 US workers surveyed by business management consultancy The Grossman Group in partnership with Harris Poll rated their leaders as “good.” Meanwhile, 30% described them as “exceptional,” and 16% called them “outdated.”

So most leaders are just fine—what’s wrong with that? The issue, according to David Grossman, founder and CEO of The Grossman Group, is that “good” leaders often fail to incorporate “soft skills” into their management practices, something that’s especially necessary at a time when employees are bringing more emotional baggage to work, he argued.

“Good leaders were trained for stable times, and of course, we are not in stable times,” Grossman said. These leaders may check the most basic boxes, such as hitting their goals and even showing appreciation for workers, he added, but “they weren’t trained to address the uncertainty and the emotional content that we see in the workplace today.”

For more on why it’s not enough to be a “good” leader, keep reading here.—PM

Sponsored By Paradox, a Workday Company

Humanized hiring is happening

HR leaders at Compass Group and Hamra Enterprises got together to discuss how conversational AI is transforming talent acquisition and employee engagement. The POVs at the table: one massive global enterprise and one family-owned franchise.

Their discussion centered on how, surprisingly, AI has been humanizing the hiring process in their eyes. By automating heavy administrative burdens, managers can get time back to focus on building meaningful connections, training, and team development.

For example: Compass Group is implementing Paradox’s conversational ATS as the foundation for their hiring process to manage 150,000 to 170,000 hires a year, processing 7 million applications across more than 10,000 hiring managers.

Hamra goes beyond hiring by using their conversational AI assistant, “Sam,” to text and engage their existing workforce. This ensures important communications reach their front-line crew.

Watch the full conversation.

COMPLIANCE

Carte Blanche?

Getty Images

President Donald Trump nominated acting Attorney General Todd Blanche this week to permanently fill the top vacancy at the Justice Department, a promotion of sorts for the acting AG.

Blanche assumed the role of acting attorney general after Pam Bondi was ousted from the AG position on April 2. Blanche previously served as Bondi’s deputy, confirmed by the Senate for that role last March. He will face another round of Senate vetting expected sometime later this summer.

Prior to his work at the DOJ, Blanche was Trump’s personal defense attorney and defended the president in a hush-money case in New York, which he lost, as well as federal lawsuits over mishandling classified documents upon leaving office and interfering with the 2020 election.

At the HR’t of it. Separate from political slush funds, HR leaders are continuing to follow the activity at the Department of Justice and its interest in curbing diversity and equity programming.

For more on what HR should know about Trump’s AG pick, keep reading here.—AD

RECRUITMENT & RETENTION

A strong showing

Emily Parsons

New employment data for the tech sector shows the impact of AI on hiring.

Numbers from tech certification provider CompTIA, working off data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, show that AI hiring intent—job listings for specialized AI roles or that require a specific AI skill—has doubled since November 2025. It’s a sign both of the continued strength of tech sector employment and the importance of AI to the industry.

Seth Robinson, CompTIA VP of industry research, told IT Brew that the scale of the increase is even greater than the current intent indicates. CompTIA’s tracking of AI jobs already started at a high baseline in May 2024.

For more on the impact of AI on hiring, keep reading on IT Brew.—EH

Sponsored By Radancy

Put AI on probation. AI showed up to talent acquisition with big resume energy. Now it needs results, preferably before the next budget meeting. Join Radancy on June 17 to learn how human-guided AI and a unified platform can connect hiring workflows to measurable ROI.

WORK PERKS

A desktop computer plugged into a green couch.

Francis Scialabba

Today’s top HR reads.

Stat: Only 13% of knowledge workers believe AI use has significantly improved their company’s performance. (HR Dive)

Quote: “Before using AI would be cheating; now [hiring managers] want to see it being used.”—Ken Schumacher, founder of recruitment verification service Ropes, on assessing candidates for their AI use and knowledge becoming a staple in recruitment (Financial Times)

Read: Both JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs are relaxing RTO requirements for the World Cup, allowing staff to request to work from home on match days. (InvestmentNews)

Hiring, humanized: HR leaders at Compass Group and Hamra Enterprises got together to discuss how conversational AI is transforming talent acquisition and employee engagement—and how Paradox’s tools help make it happen. Watch the full convo.*

^{*A message from our sponsor.}

JOBS

More focus, less fluff. CollabWORK filters out the noise and delivers jobs that actually match what HR Brew readers are looking for. Click here to see the full board of curated roles.

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Written by Paige McGlauflin, Adam DeRose, and Eoin Higgins

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