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ICE and workplace trauma

Roberto Schmidt/Getty Images

On Jan. 25 more than 60 CEOs of Minnesota-based companies issued a statement calling for “an immediate deescalation of tensions” in the state. It came one day after two Customs and Border Patrol agents killed Alex Pretti, and more than two weeks after Renee Good was fatally shot by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent.

For some business leaders and other members of the public, the statement didn’t go far enough. It didn’t specifically call out ICE, nor mention the names of Good and Pretti. “What they issued was hollow, and it was one of the more disappointing moments that I’ve had when I read it as a business person in Minnesota,” Fred Haberman, founder and CEO of Minneapolis marketing and communications firm Haberman, told the Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal.

Whereas many CEOs and other corporate executives issued statements within the week following the murder of George Floyd in 2020, the response to violent ICE operations in Minneapolis and beyond has seemed more muted. Many company leaders are more fearful of the current Trump administration than they were during his first term, the Minnesota Star Tribune reported, and have been pressured to dismantle DEI programs they put in place after Floyd’s death five years ago.

HR and mental health experts say there are ways for leaders to support workers affected by ICE operations, even if they don’t want to speak on the events publicly.

For more on how HR leaders can respond to traumatic events in Minneapolis and beyond, keep reading here.—CV

Presented By ADP

Tax season made simple

New federal income tax deductions for qualified tips and qualified overtime compensation could lead to meaningful savings for many employees—but only if they understand how the rules apply to them. That’s where ADP’s employee communication template comes in.

By proactively educating your workforce, you can help reduce confusion and build trust with your team. Your employees can feel confident heading into tax season, and you can reinforce your role as a trusted resource.

ADP’s ready-to-use workforce communication template helps you clearly explain upcoming changes by:

breaking down what the new deductions are and how they work
helping employees determine if they qualify
estimating how much employees could claim

Download the communication template.

DEI

Performative efforts

Rebecca Perrault

Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) may just be an acronym to some companies, but it means more to those that have gone beyond performative efforts.

Rebecca Perrault, VP of culture, diversity, and sustainability at workforce management platform Magnit, has been working in talent strategy and change management for most of her career, with a focus on diversity and inclusion work for the last decade.

For companies that are actually dedicated to improving diversity and inclusion, Perrault told HR Brew, “[DEI] wasn’t just about putting out statements, or doing things that were performative, or maybe even that people could see,” she said. “But really background processes that would block bias, that would create equity, that creates fairness.”

Perrault sat down with HR Brew to share how DEI work has changed over the years and what is, and is not, a performative effort.

HR STRATEGY

Mind the gap

Viktor Morozuk/Getty Images

If you had to pick a word to describe the state of hiring in 2026, we have a feeling the word “simple” wouldn’t exactly come to mind.

What’s a word that sounds like complex, looks like complex, and means complex? Because that’s closer to what we’re looking for.

“Businesses have entered into 2026 with more skills gaps and more complex hiring conditions,” Brandi Britton, executive director of contract finance and accounting at talent solutions and business consulting firm Robert Half, told CFO Brew. “Frankly, I think we’ve seen it [for] a long time.”

In a report released February 9 by Robert Half, of 2,000 hiring managers surveyed, 62% said skills gaps were more noticeable now than a year ago.

For more on the skills gap in finance, keep reading on CFO Brew.—NP

Together With Calm Health

How are your employees doing? Supporting employee mental health isn’t always straightforward. Sure, many healthcare plans have well-being options—but are they actually effective? What gaps exist? And how can HR fill those? We created a quiz with Calm Health to help you find those answers. Take it here.

WORK PERKS

A desktop computer plugged into a green couch.

Francis Scialabba

Today’s top HR reads.

Stat: The average stock-based compensation for OpenAI’s nearly 4,000 employees is $1.5 million. (Fortune)

Quote: “We should be clear-eyed about how painful these changes could be for affected workers and how challenging it would be for the government and the private sector to successfully manage the fallout.”—Michael S. Barr, governor of the US Federal Reserve, on how the federal government should regard the looming impact of AI on the workforce (Yahoo Finance)

Read: Spending more time in the office? You don’t have to dress like your Gen-Z peers. (the New York Times)

Take a (tax) break: Give employees the clarity they need about the impact of new federal tax deductions. ADP’s communication template helps explain eligibility and calculations while providing next steps for employees. Get your copy.*

^{*A message from our sponsor.}

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Written by Courtney Vinopal, Mikaela Cohen, and Natasha Piñon

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