This week’s headlines rhyme, yet the plot advances. Office mandates carry teeth and real attrition follows. AI agents stop auditioning and show results, which triggers a fresh fight over how to score human work when software is the quiet partner. The labor market looks jittery in places and strangely resilient in others.
Candidates keep adjusting faster than employers. They trade credentials for proof, transparency for trust, and slogans for receipts. If your policies read like a test of loyalty, people will pick the exam room with the better odds. If your metrics chase activity, your best contributors will do the work and still lose the scoreboard.
Helping HR, talent acquisition, employer branding, and company culture professionals find careers worth smiling about.
Here is the practical read for employer brand and leadership: design commutes that matter, publish a skills ledger you can defend, and make culture an operating choice instead of a poster.
This Week’s Paper Cut's
