August 27, 2026

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Hello there! Feeling a little underappreciated? The fine folks who make up holidays must’ve heard your sighs, because according to our calendar, it’s National Just Because Day. So go ahead, treat yourself to that extra large coffee—just because (you deserve it).

In today’s edition:

🗓️ Soft Fridays

❌ Triple penalty

🔥 At risk

—Mikaela Cohen, Kristen Parisi, Billy Hurley

HR STRATEGY

If it’s not broke, don’t fix it

Picture of calendar with someone working Monday through Friday and doing activities on the weekend

Illustration: Shannon May, Photos: Unsplash

For today’s edition of “Where are they now?” HR Brew checked in with Codeword, a company that piloted a four-day workweek in 2024.

As some other companies have rolled back flexibility in recent years, the communications design agency has doubled down on its program, dubbed “soft Fridays,” which has since blossomed into a year-round initiative embedded in the company’s culture, the agency’s chief of staff, Alli Ray, told HR Brew.

“Our team has really appreciated the autonomy where they’re able to work when they need to work, but they can use the time that they have for their lives,” Ray said. “We trust you to get your work done. We don’t need to know that you’re sitting at your metal box nine to five.”

For more on how Codeword’s four-day workweek policy has evolved over the past two years, keep reading here.—MC

Sponsored By Paradox, a Workday Company

The exact price of an empty shift

For the first time, Paradox (a Workday Company) has the exact math on restaurant understaffing.

Being short just one employee costs a restaurant 7%–8% of its daily revenue per shift. That translates to up to $1,500 lost in a single day.

In front-line hiring, moving fast doesn’t mean lowering your standards. It means getting your first pick. Candidates are applying to 15 jobs a week, mostly on nights and weekends. The employer who screens and schedules in hours rather than days can actually be more selective.

In this podcast episode and blog, Workday Head of Paradox Marketing Joshua Secrest and National Restaurant Association SVP and Chief Economist Chad Moutray discuss the cyclical cost of understaffing—and hiring for a workforce that actually exists.

Read the blog post or listen to the podcast to learn more.

DEI

Hiring crater

Drawing of two women working, one at home with a cat by her side and one woman working in office

Getty Images

The news about women in the workforce keeps coming, and so far, none of it has been good. Now, it seems the AI hiring boom may be having a disparate impact on women.

The data. Women make up just 13% of executive leadership roles at AI companies, according to a new global report from LinkedIn that examined women’s representation in AI at companies in 27 countries.

LinkedIn said women trying to advance in AI face a “triple penalty”: By roughly 15 percentage points, there are fewer women in C-suite roles at AI companies than “comparable” non-AI firms, while the gap between men and women in AI roles and at AI firms are 10 and 5 percentage points, respectively.

Big picture. This isn’t the only concerning report to come out in recent weeks. The latest jobs report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics showed that 32,000 women left the workforce in July; 9,000 men, meanwhile, landed new jobs.

For more on the findings, and the factors affecting women’s representation in the workforce, keep reading here.—KP

HR STRATEGY

Understaffed, overwhelmed

Healthcare cross with red and green digital shields preventing attacks

Francis Scialabba

Jason Elrod, VP and CISO at MultiCare Health System, a healthcare network in the Pacific Northwest covering 13 hospitals, describes his more than 30-person team as a “lean, mean, fighting security machine.”

But even lean and mean comes with challenges, especially when the job involves keeping critical healthcare machines on and attackers away, all while ensuring the cybersecurity team doesn’t become too tired and perspired.

Cybersecurity and IT burnout is a familiar story that hits all sectors. Nonprofit training organization ISC2, which conducted a cross-industry survey in 2025 of over 16,000 global cybersecurity professionals, found that almost half (48%) admitted to “feeling exhausted from trying to stay current on the latest cybersecurity threats and emerging technologies.” Meanwhile, 47% said they’re often overwhelmed by their workloads.

One way to prevent burnout, according to Elrod, is to eliminate not the hard tasks, but the pointless work.

For more on how to reduce the risk of burnout, keep reading on IT Brew.—BH

Sponsored By Paradox, a Workday Company

Is there an echo in this restaurant? Yep, because it’s understaffed. Paradox (a Workday Company) actually has the exact math on restaurant understaffing: Being short just one employee costs a restaurant 7%–8% of its daily revenue per shift. That translates to up to $1,500 lost in a single day. Learn more in this podcast episode and blog.

work perks

A desktop computer plugged into a green couch.

Francis Scialabba

Today’s top HR reads.

Stat: No more than seven Taylor Farms facilities filed workplace injury logs to the US Occupational Safety and Health Administration between 2021 and 2025; Since 2021, it has racked up nearly $1.8 million in citations from both OSHA and state safety regulators . (Reuters)

Quote: “You have a chance to act now, before unemployment rises sharply, communities are hurting, and public trust has eroded. You can make sure that your government handles the problem holistically, rather than divvying it up into multiple bureaucratic fiefdoms. You can make sure AI benefits everyone. And you can work with other governments to meet this national and global challenge.”—Bill Gates, cofounder of Microsoft and the Gates Foundation, on how the dangers of AI need to be addressed by world leaders (Gates Notes)

Read: Everyone lies a little on LinkedIn, right? Some professionals might be fibbing more than others. (Bloomberg)

Staff meeting: In this blog, Workday Head of Paradox Marketing Joshua Secrest and National Restaurant Association SVP and Chief Economist Chad Moutray discuss the cyclical cost of understaffing. There’s also a podcast episode.*

^{*A message from our sponsor.}

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Written by Mikaela Cohen, Kristen Parisi, Billy Hurley, and Vicky Valet

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