Markets dislike uncertainty. People feel it more sharply. This week delivered a run of stories about disruption: mass layoffs wrapped in productivity rhetoric, gaps in public jobs data that leave leaders flying on partial instruments, and glossy “best workplace” lists landing alongside stories about tracking tools and failed office experiments. The space between the story told and the day-to-day reality is where employer brands either mature or get exposed.
Helping HR, talent acquisition, employer branding, and company culture professionals find careers worth smiling about.
Underneath the arguments about AI and remote work sits a different theme: confidence. Candidates want to know whether your company can make hard calls without dramatics, adopt AI without hollowing out jobs, and manage flexibility without turning culture into a loyalty test. This edition connects four strands: layoff signals, the AI skills race, remote work reality, and the optics economy of lists, standards, and pay.
This Week’s Paper Cut's
