RECRUITMENT & RETENTION

Francis Scialabba

Do you think AI is the biggest threat to the labor market? Experts say, think again, it might be a smaller piece of the problem. Demographic changes may actually pose a greater risk, according to Svenja Gudell, Indeed’s chief economist.

Labor shortages stemming from falling fertility rates, rising baby boomer retirements, and declining immigration loom large over the US job market. The civilian labor force shrank from 171.5 million to 169.7 million between December and August, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. By around 2030, it’s projected that there will be more deaths than births in the US, Reuters recently reported.

“That’s a pretty big deal, because this stuff usually doesn’t happen. Our population has continuously grown, and sure, during history there were a bunch of dips along the way, but nothing like what is happening right now,” Gudell told an audience of HR and talent acquisition (TA) leaders during a keynote address at Indeed’s Futureworks conference in Phoenix last week.

And while some sectors may be able to use AI to perform or augment certain tasks associated with unfilled roles, industries less exposed to AI—including education, healthcare, and manufacturing—are expected to be hit hardest by demographic shifts, Indeed data found. To minimize labor shortage pains, employers must rethink who they hire, and how they attract talent.

For more on how HR can adapt to a shrinking labor force, keep reading here.—PM

      

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COMPLIANCE

Courtesy of SHRM

The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) case involving a former candidate’s request for a disability accommodation is moving closer to a courtroom—or a settlement conference.

A federal judge Thursday denied SHRM’s motion for summary judgment in Torres v. Society for Human Resource Management, finding there is a “genuine dispute of material fact” related to the disability discrimination and failure to accommodate claims by the plaintiff, Fiona Torres, under both the Americans with Disabilities Act and Virginia Human Rights Act.

The two-page order doesn’t settle any disputes or find that SHRM violated any law. Rather, US District Judge for the Eastern District of Virginia Patricia Tolliver Giles, determined the factual disagreements were significant enough that they cannot be decided as a matter of law on summary judgment.

This week’s order leaves the claims in place for further court proceedings, including the possibility of a jury trial, previously scheduled to begin on Oct. 6. The judge in her order also encouraged the parties to contact the magistrate judge’s office to schedule a settlement conference.

For more on what HR needs to know about the lawsuit, keep reading here.—AD

      

TOTAL REWARDS

No HR team can escape it—the rise of healthcare costs is a dark cloud hanging over all of us.

In the most recent episode of HR Brew’s People Person podcast, Kate Noel, SVP and head of people operations at Morning Brew, sat down with Colleen Locke, director of benefit solutions at Nava Benefits, to unpack what exactly is driving healthcare costs higher and higher—from the rise of GLP-1a to consolidation across PBMs—how best to explain it to employees, and what to do when 100% coverage is no longer sustainable for your organization.

For more from our conversation with Locke, keep reading here.—LH

      

Sponsored By Equifax

The compensation conversation. Equifax and Brightmine designed Dynamic Pay Data: A New Standard for Compensation Benchmarking to share employer-provided pay data for HR leaders. This solution categorizes data simultaneously by location, industry, and role while maintaining reliable, reportable benchmarks updated 12 times a year. Check it out to help empower faster, evidence-backed pay decisions.

work perks

Francis Scialabba

Today’s top HR reads.

Stat: Only 40% of leaders agree that their organizations are effectively developing internal talent to fill critical roles. (i4cp)

Quote: “Their population growth has entirely been due to international immigration. What we’re worried about now going forward is, given a world of net-zero immigration, that source of growth…is going to be gone.”—Pia Orrenius, a labor economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, on the economic impact of the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown on cities in the sunbelt (Bloomberg)

Read: How to succeed at work and in your career, according to experts including consultants, board executives, and CEOs. (the Wall Street Journal)

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Jobs

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