HR Brew // Morning Brew // Update

May 21, 2026

Hey there, HR pros. It’s been a busy 2026 for HR managers and labor union representatives in the New York City region, as workers in professions such as nursing and transportation have gone on strike. But at least one work stoppage was averted this week after a union representing hotel housekeepers secured a contract settlement with a trade group of nearly 250 hotels in New York City.

The deal comes with a hefty pay raise, as the average housekeepers are set to earn more than $100,000 under the new terms.

In today’s edition:

Rethinking retirement

Legislative lowdown

Tech turnover

—Courtney Vinopal, Natasha Piñon

TOTAL REWARDS

Not a match

Hand placing money in a bucket labeled 401k

Francis Scialabba

Could the beloved 401(k) match be next on the benefits chopping block?

That looks to be the case for at least one technology services and outsourcing firm. TTEC recently paused 401(k) matches for its US-based employees, Business Insider reported on May 8. The company, which is headquartered in Austin, has about 16,000 staff in the US.

TTEC’s chief people officer, Laura Butler, said in an April 30 memo that the pause would last nine months, and that the company hopes to resume its 3% match “if our business performance supports it.”

Employers often make changes to their retirement plan contributions during periods of economic strain or uncertainty, sources told HR Brew. And while many ultimately resume their match, they don’t always do so at the same level.

For more on how employers are rethinking 401(k) matches, keep reading here.—CV

Sponsored By General Assembly

How’s your AI usage lookin’?

There’s a training gap with AI, and it’s showing up in how leaders work day-to-day.

As they built their program on strategic AI fluency, General Assembly (in partnership with Ezra, an LHH brand) found compelling insights about how leaders approach AI.

For starters, those who haven’t attended leadership-specific AI training were more likely to use AI to draft emails and less likely to use it for qualitative data analysis or competitive intelligence.

They also found a growing gap between AI usage and good AI usage. While 93% of leaders said they encouraged their teams to use AI, less than half had a rubric to assess what good AI usage actually looks like.

General Assembly and Ezra’s program helps leaders close these gaps and drive enterprise-wide AI adoption. Get the details.

COMPLIANCE

Legislative lowdown

Francis Scialabba

The Department of Labor (DOL) recently rescinded a rule that would have raised the salary threshold for white-collar workers to qualify for overtime.

The rule, which was issued by President Joe Biden’s administration in April 2024, would’ve raised the annual overtime salary threshold for executive, administrative, and professional (EAP) employees from $35,568 to $58,656. It was expected to extend overtime pay to 4 million additional workers, but it never took effect due to legal challenges; a federal judge blocked the regulation in November 2024.

On May 14 the DOL announced it was rescinding the 2024 overtime rule and restoring a 2019 rule for determining overtime. The overtime salary threshold for white-collar professionals remains at $684 per week, or $35,568 annually.

“Put simply, this action is a technical correction accounting for changes in the law that have already occurred,” the agency said in a technical amendment published in the Federal Register.

For more on what this rescission means for HR, keep reading here.—CV

RECRUITMENT & RETENTION

Hard to keep track

Getty Images

You’d be forgiven for losing track of tech layoffs. But no matter who’s doing the counting, the numbers just keep rising.

In recent days (yes, days, not weeks), we’ve gotten news of layoff plans from LinkedIn and Cisco amounting to thousands of job cuts, while automaker GM cut hundreds of IT roles.

It’s all adding up to a particularly grim tech landscape: There have been over 135,700 people either laid off or part of announced cuts at tech companies thus far in 2026, according to data from TrueUp, a job search platform that tracks layoffs. By comparison, TrueUp said, in the whole of 2025, there were approximately 246,000 tech layoffs.

For more on turnover in tech, keep reading on CFO Brew.—NP

Sponsored By 4AllPromos

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WORK PERKS

A desktop computer plugged into a green couch.

Francis Scialabba

Today’s top HR reads.

Stat: 80%. That’s how many HR managers are concerned employees’ financial issues have a negative impact on their productivity. (Morgan Stanley)

Quote: “People think we hire migrant workers because they’re cheap labor…It’s not because they’re cheap labor; it’s just that their skill set fits our industry better.”—Samantha Jones, a general contractor based in South Florida, on how losing workers to the Trump administration’s deportation push has affected her business (the New York Times)

Read: Some 47,000 Samsung Electronics workers are going on strike. Among their demands is bonus payouts that would let them reap a larger share of the company’s record-breaking profits. (CNBC)

Moving right along: General Assembly (in partnership with Ezra, an LHH brand) created an AI program for leaders. The goal? Develop fluency that can move organizations beyond task automation and into enterprise-wide adoption. Check it out.*

^{*A message from our sponsor.}

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Written by Courtney Vinopal and Natasha Piñon

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