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TECH

Use case

Morning Brew Design

AI delivers. At least, that’s what a new report from the Josh Bersin Company found after researching its tangible impacts on HR.

The human capital advisory firm used a combination of quantitative and qualitative analyses of organizations using various AI and decision support tools from enterprise software leader SAP from, the study confirms, tangible AI-driven improvements oft boasted by platforms and software companies about the impacts of their new AI-powered tools.

The research found that there were marked improvements to efficiency, which was largely expected, but also a positive impact on the employee experience (EX), effectiveness, and overall productivity.

“Everybody wants to know whether this is worth the money they’re going to spend on it,” Bersin told HR Brew. “This stuff isn’t free, and the vendors are starting to charge premium prices for all these products. The number of use cases is so expansive that people don’t know where to start. So there needs to be a business case around: Is this worth the money from an IT standpoint? Where is the big return on investment? And how do we prioritize which projects we work on first?”

For more on the findings, and what HR can make of them, keep reading here.—AD

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DEI

Erased

Graphic of a DEI sign being painted over

Francis Scialabba

UnitedHealth Group (UHG) is the latest company to scrub its website of much of its DEI programming, in an apparent capitulation to directives from the Trump administration, which has threatened to investigate companies that practice DEI.

The company has taken down several DEI-related pages and blog posts, TechCrunch reported. UnitedHealth Group was previously transparent about specific actions it was taking toward diversifying its workforce, including “integrating programs that prepare diverse communities for the workforce,” and working with universities to source talent. In addition to deleting on Wednesday a webpage touting that the company is “committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion,” it changed its “diversity and inclusion” language to focus on “belonging.”

HR Brew also found that UHG took down its disability hiring page on Wednesday. While the company still has an accessibility blog post, it has removed information about its disability internship program and past recognition of being a best place to work for disabled people.

Joy Fitzgerald, the company’s chief diversity officer since 2021, appears to have maintained her role, at the time of this reporting.

For more on UHG’s approach to DEI, keep reading here.—KP

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TECH

Now what?

Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

The federal government is not pushing to recover hardware that some members of USAID staff received before the agency was effectively closed in February, a perplexing decision that raises concerns about security.

Two USAID staffers currently on paid administrative leave, speaking with IT Brew on the condition of anonymity, said that their devices are still at their houses. The administration has not given clear instructions on how to return the hardware, they told IT Brew, leaving them in limbo. Complicating things is the ongoing legal wrangling over the constitutionality of the administration’s shuttering of the agency in the first place.

Without clarity, the devices remain in the sources’ homes. However, one source told IT Brew that they were told in a meeting their government-issued devices should be treated as “hot mics,” though they emphasized that it was unclear where this information came from originally.

For more on the USAID staffers’ dismissal, keep reading on IT Brew.—EH

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WORK PERKS

A desktop computer plugged into a green couch.

Francis Scialabba

Today’s top HR reads.

Stat: Some 64% of frontline workers in the US and Canada are engaged. (Material Handling & Logistics)

Quote: “Your worst fear has come true that we’re sitting there all together and we’re looking at an idea that’s not that great. I mean, sometimes they’re pretty good, but ultimately not that great…I think that opens the door to creativity because it already happened. You already failed.”—Evan Spiegel, Snap’s CEO and co-founder, on why his company’s new hires are assigned a presentation on their first day (CNBC Make It)

Read: Employers that want to support working parents must move beyond hybrid and remote flexibility. (Forbes)

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