Forcing workers to keep mum for cash is going out of style faster than the metaverse, as last month the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) banned non-disparagement and non-disclosure clauses in severance agreements. This means companies can no longer effectively buy the silence of former employees who may feel it necessary to voice misgivings about their experiences on the job.

The new law could portend pretty vast changes, at least in the near term, for employers and workers alike, Kara Govro, senior legal analyst at the compliance consultancy Mineral, explained to HR Brew. If companies “have toxic environments…and then as people are leaving, they’re telling them, ‘You can never speak of this again,’ other people get suckered into working there, when otherwise there might be reviews on the internet, warning people.”

HR pros we spoke to are hopeful that the new rule may compel employers to more carefully consider employee experience, and incentivize them to improve a multitude of HR initiatives, particularly onboarding and offboarding. “Employers will see this and recognize the need to improve their workplace culture, and improve their onboarding processes [so] that people don’t want to go online and say negative things about the company,” said Sarah Morgan, director of equity and inclusion at the HR consultancy Humareso.

But the hope is tempered by political realities. Keep reading.—SB

At SAP, Megan Smith has worked in learning and development, been an HRBP, integrated divisions that joined the corporate umbrella via acquisition, and was the head of HR for SAP Canada before taking over in her current role as the head of HR at SAP North Americas. Through that time, she’s learned how people can be a company’s “secret sauce.”

In a conversation with HR Brew, Smith shared how she’s added specialized expertise to her team, while also encouraging HRBPs and others to build their technical skills in order to better support their goals.

As a longtime HR leader, how have you seen the field evolve in recent years?

Over the last decade in particular, there’s been a really strong realization that HR is not a back-office function. It is a role that works directly as part of the effectiveness of the business strategy. [It] comes with the recognition that people are the greatest strength of any organization—essentially the secret sauce, the intellectual property, the talent that can be the differentiator in your market. As companies have had highly volatile economic situations [and] highly competitive market space, things changing rapidly, [so] having really strong talent who can have the resilience and the capacity and the skills to work through those challenging times really is quite a differentiator. Keep reading.—AK

If there was a Spotify Wrapped for the most commonly heard phrases in the healthcare industry in 2022, “staffing shortages” would probably be No. 1 on every health system CEO’s list. With nurses, lab techs, home health aides, and numerous other positions facing widespread shortages, you may be asking yourself, “Are there any healthcare jobs not in short supply right now?”

Healthcare Brew set out to answer that question, and it turns out the answer is…not many.

Analysts from consulting firm Mercer projected in their most recent healthcare labor market report (published in 2021) that every state would have “major” labor shortages by 2026. John Derse, a senior partner at Mercer who leads the firm’s healthcare provider industry practice, told Healthcare Brew that while the data is “a little bit anecdotal,” based on the recent projections, “I don’t see anywhere where it’s getting better. I don’t see any positions that are improving.”

But which positions are facing the worst shortages depends on where you look. Keep reading.—MA

Today’s top HR reads.

Stat: 51% of women from marginalized racial and ethnic groups in the US, UK, South Africa, Canada, and Australia experience racism at work. (Catalyst)

Quote: “We will endeavor to provide a deeper understanding of our culture and priorities, including our industry-leading benefits offerings and our long-standing commitment to support the shared success of our more than 450,000 global partners (employees).”—Zabrina Jenkins, acting Starbucks EVP and general counsel, in a letter to the US Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (Fortune)

Read: The “perk-cession” is here: Companies are looking to scale back nontraditional employee benefits in an effort to cut costs, sometimes before or alongside layoffs. (the Wall Street Journal)

Team time: A reenergizing HR conference for teams? Yep, Transform 2023 is happening March 27–29 in Las Vegas! If you buy tix for 4+ team members, Transform Impact will contribute $1,000 to a selected charity. Register.*

^{*This is sponsored advertising content.}