Nobody’s perfect. It’s a good mantra, except when delivering bad news to employees. Then you want to be as perfect as possible.

HR leaders and their teams are often tasked with delivering bad news—whether it be earth-shattering (layoffs, firings) or lower-stakes (smaller raises, the end of a beloved perk). Missteps along the way can create uncomfortable, yet critical, lessons.

HR Brew spoke with two HR leaders about instances in their careers when a sensitive conversation went haywire, the lessons they learned, and their advice for practitioners in similar situations.

For more on communications missteps, and what two HR leaders learned from them, keep reading here.—PM

Welcome to the inaugural edition of our Business of Benefits series, where we’ll spotlight benefits that are driving value for HR leaders, digging into their design and ROI.

If you’re interested in talking about a workplace benefit you love for an upcoming edition, click here to get in touch. You can also reach out directly to HR Brew’s total rewards reporter, Courtney Vinopal: [email protected]

Since 2022, employees at AT&T’s Dallas headquarters have had access to a full-time, onsite therapist through a third-party provider.

The benefit became so popular that AT&T decided to add another therapist to serve Dallas workers, and expanded the service to additional locations like El Segundo, California, and Bedminster, New Jersey. AT&T currently has 10 onsite therapy clinics at offices and call centers across the US, and hopes to open 20 by the end of the year.

Ben Jackson, VP of global benefits for AT&T, recently told us how he and his colleagues pitched the benefit to leadership. He also provided details about how AT&T is measuring the return-on-investment of onsite therapy.

For more on AT&T’s onsite therapy benefit, keep reading here.—CV

Tired? Using AI frivolously at home. Wired Required? Using AI frivolously at work.

For many, using AI at work is no longer optional. A September 2025 AI Resume Builder survey found that more than half (58%) of 1,295 surveyed companies require a certain number of employees to use AI tools, with Microsoft and Shopify just a few of the mainstream companies following the trend.

Some companies are even trying to incentivize employees to integrate AI into their workflows by tying it to career advancement opportunities. Accenture recently made headlines after a leaked internal memo to senior staffers revealed the consulting giant has linked the use of AI to promotion eligibility. Earlier this month, The Information reported Meta’s AI-powered performance review platform will track and evaluate developers based on AI usage. Tracy Clayton, a Meta spokesperson, clarified in an email that they do not base performance reviews on AI usage, but rather the “impact generated by these tools.”

For more on the companies factoring AI into performance reviews, keep reading on IT Brew.—BM

The feeling of getting a 5/5 on the Brew’s weekly news quiz has been compared to getting a company-wide shout out from your boss. It’s that satisfying.