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RECRUITMENT & RETENTION

Stuck on skills

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Morning Brew Design

Employers have a skill issue.

A few years ago, it seemed CHROs and CEOs were always talking about becoming a “skills-based organization.” And as ChatGPT took over the world in late 2022, executives, consultants, and academics alike hypothesized that, thanks to AI’s ability to automate tasks, there would be an imperative for companies to focus on how work gets done based on the skills needed to perform it, rather than traditional roles and hierarchies. Thus, the skills hype was born.

But most company-wide transformations fail, and this one was no exception.

“We’ve seen a lot of companies talk about becoming skills-based, skills first, and the majority of them do not progress beyond pilots,” Suketu Shah, a managing director and member of the people and organization practice at Boston Consulting Group, told HR Brew. He co-authored a white paper examining why companies fail at becoming skills-based organizations, and how to avoid their mistakes.

For more on how HR leaders can make progress on their skills strategy, keep reading here.—PM

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COMPLIANCE

Glass houses

Saul Loeb/Getty Images

When President Trump tapped Sec. Lori Chavez-DeRemer to run his labor department in early 2025, the Republican former representative from Oregon was seen as one of Trump’s more sensible Cabinet nominations, even earning a moniker as “the one Trump pick Democrats actually like.”

Chavez-DeRemer had a history supporting organized labor. Her nomination was endorsed by the Teamsters. While in Congress, she cosponsored former President Biden’s signature Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act, an effort to bolster union membership and collective bargaining power. She was one of only three Republicans in the House to back the measure, which has repeatedly failed to pass the US Senate.

The Department of Labor’s remit is to help guide how American businesses interact with their employees and protect the American workforce. It’s an important agency HR pros look to for compliance, guidance, and data about the health of the labor market and economy. Once confirmed, HR leaders could ideally look to Chavez-DeRemer as a bridge of sorts between worker rights and Trump’s vision for America First.

What many didn’t see coming was a dearth of would-be HR violations.

For more on the controversy surrounding the labor secretary and her department, keep reading here.—AD

HR STRATEGY

Planned decoupling

Marvin Samuel Tolentino Pineda/Getty Images

In the largest buyout offer in UPS history, the shipping provider last week sent more than 100,000 van drivers a letter offering voluntary severance packages worth $150,000. The letters came after a federal judge dismissed a request by the Teamsters to prohibit the buyout, which the union argued was in violation of its labor contract with UPS.

Now that the judge has cleared the way for the offering—which the Teamsters said 10,000 drivers would likely accept—the company can move forward with the final phase of a restructuring plan designed to right-size its business and wean it off an increasingly independent Amazon, which for the moment remains its biggest partner.

“Amazon is doing a lot of its own trucking these days, a lot of its own delivery,” Zachary S. Rogers, associate professor of supply chain management at Colorado State University, told Retail Brew. “And I think it’s clear to UPS that they need to get a little bit leaner, and this buyout seems to be the way they’re going about that.”

For more on restructuring at UPS, keep reading on Retail Brew.—AV

Together With LHH

What employees want, what employees need. Read that with a little tune in your head? Here’s something else that has a ring to it: Stability without stagnation. Employees aren’t chasing the next big title. They’re seeking security, balance, and a sense of progress. LHH’s 2026 Talent Priorities Pulse Check is a data-backed way to benchmark your organization against workforce expectations.

WORK PERKS

A desktop computer plugged into a green couch.

Francis Scialabba

Today’s top HR reads.

Stat: The share of US workers who withdrew from their 401(k) retirement plans last year was 6%, up from 4.8% in 2024. (the Wall Street Journal)

Quote: “Individuals in that recovery process that are working a program, they’re actually the most productive workforce…They’ve done so much work to get to this place, and their program actually has been sitting in a space of gratitude and a place of being of service.”—Heidi Wallace, VP of recovery services at the Betty Ford Center in California, on how being in recovery from alcohol addiction can impact employees (FastCompany)

Read: Nearly one month after Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff “joked” about ICE at a company event, his C-suite colleagues tried to assuage employees’ concerns by telling them “that we’re listening and that we’re appropriately adjusting.” (Business Insider)

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Written by Paige McGlauflin, Adam DeRose, Alex Vuocolo, and Mikaela Cohen

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