The Question Isn’t Whether Your Employees Are Using AI at Work (They Are), But Whether You’re Prepared for It
Jon Hyman, Ohio Employer Law Blog
Employees using AI at work will be the workplace issue of 2026 … Because employees are already using it — to draft emails, summarize documents, create work product, prepare presentations, and even help with performance reviews — whether employers have approved it or not … If your organization doesn’t have a workplace AI policy, you don’t have an AI strategy — you have an unmanaged risk. Every business, regardless of size or industry, should have a clear, practical AI “Responsible and Approved Use” policy that covers at least these 10 essentials.
The ‘Invisible Pay Cut’ of Return-to-Office
Jen Colletta, HR Executive
As organizations increasingly lean into return-to-office mandates, they are being met with sharp pushback from employees—and growing evidence suggests strict RTO policies could push out an organization’s most valuable talent. Largely, American workers who are resistant to full-time, in-office work decry the lack of flexibility and loss of empowerment.
But there’s another byproduct of return-to-office that may not be on the immediate radar of decision-makers, but could affect engagement and retention in the long term: finances.
A new analysis by MyPerfectResume found that, on average, U.S. workers spend 223 hours ever year commuting to an office. That translates to about six unpaid 40-hour workweeks. Factoring in the average hourly wage nationwide, that lost time translates to about $8,158 annually per employee.
U.S. Employee Engagement Declines From 2020 Peak
Younger workers are experiencing the biggest drops in engagement.
Jim Hartner, Gallup
Between 2020 and 2025, younger U.S. workers experienced the largest drops in engagement. The percentage of Generation Z and younger millennials who are engaged at work dropped by eight points, while older millennials (born 1980 to 1988) dropped by nine points. Generation X declined in engagement by six points, and baby boomers saw no change in engagement since 2020.
In what ways is engagement suffering for younger members of the U.S. workforce? The data show that Generation Z and young millennials are reporting the biggest drops in feeling cared about, having opportunities to learn and being developed at work.
How Leaders Can Deliver the Social Connection Most of Us Crave
Aaron Hurst, Carolyn Thayer-Azoff & Vickery Prong – Big Think
In early 2026, a new national snapshot of social connection revealed a striking finding. 52% of U.S. adults fall into at-risk or vulnerable ranges associated with lower access to relationships, support, and shared place.
… The findings suggest a needed shift in how the connection challenge in America should be understood. This is not a crisis of motivation or awareness. It is a systems challenge shaped by predictable barriers, life transitions, and cultural shifts. Addressing it requires clearer pathways, shared language, and better designed social infrastructure.
Below are five takeaways that help explain what is happening and what leaders across sectors can do differently.
Has Pay Kept up with Inflation?
Wendy Edelberg and Noadia Steinmetz-Silber, Brookings
There are various ways to evaluate recent trends in real pay (nominal pay adjusted for inflation), including using different pay and inflation measures and reference periods. These factors can lead to different conclusions about trends in real pay in the United States. In October 2023, we published a detailed analysis breaking down these differences. The interactive figures in this updated piece allow you to explore changes in real pay using five different pay measures and two inflation measures, relative to a base period of your choice, relative to prior business cycle trends, and across sectors. The interactives will update each quarter as new data are released.
Take 5: We Can Work It Out
Office disputes can be stressful and disruptive. Kellogg faculty offer strategies that can help.
Conflicts crop up all the time in the workplace, regardless of the job or industry. So it’s critical for business leaders and workers at all levels to know how to respond when conflicts occur, either within or between organizations. Below, faculty at the Kellogg School offer strategies for handling different types of work conflict, based on their research and expertise.
Front-Line Supervisors Are Often Promoted without Leadership Skills, Gallup Says
Lara Ewen, HR Dive
Employees tend to “rise to a level of respective incompetence,” being promoted “until their performance declines,” a report found. Only 30% of front-line supervisors said they were placed into their role based on supervisory skills, experience as a supervisor or because they began their career as a supervisor, according to recent data from Gallup.
HR News Roundup: Quick Takes
- Trader Joe’s, Google Top Forbes’ Best Employers List
- The New Hire Isn’t Working Out: Eleven Ways to Handle a Bad Hiring Decision
- Span of Control: What’s the Optimal Team Size for Managers?
- The Fallacy of Treating AI Agents as Fellow Employees
- Is the Traditional Career Ladder Broken?
- 5 Ways ‘Night Owl’ Workers Can Thrive
- Federal Student Loan Wage Garnishment Is Looming — and 5M Borrowers Are at Risk
- 7 Questions I Ask Myself in Times of Disruption
- Are Employees Beating Back a Career Crisis with an Adult “Gap Year” from Work?
- CEOs Who Experience Natural Disasters Are More Likely to Lead Safer Workplaces
- Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries Summary, 2024
- Employers Plan to Hire ‘Aggressively’ in 2026 — But Only for Certain Roles
- DOL’s Annual Minimum Wage Increase for Certain Federal Contractors Leaves Compliance Uncertainty
- Healthcare Jobs Account for over Half of U.S. Job Gains in January Surge
From the Lighter Side …
- Have you been enjoying the snowy winter this year? For avid winter sports fans, it’s been great, but for many others, not so much. Here’s a fun article with clips about how animals at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo enjoying the snow.
- The recent northeastern blizzard was a doozy – Providence, Rhode Island had more than 3 feet in some spots. Check out some of photos from the Blizzard of ’26. Heavy winter snowfalls is the norm in some climates. Take Montreal – they are very efficient about snow removal (déneigement) – here’s an interesting article on how Montreal clears the streets of snow. For mesmerizing look at snow removal around the world, get your fill in this 30-minute video: Powerful Snow Blowers & Removal Machines – Extremely Fast Snow Plowing.
- Speaking of snow removal, here’s an infographic and safety tips for sharing the road with snowplows.
- Keith C. Heidorn spent more than 45 years studying and photographing the snowflake in his spare time during winters, earning the title of “The Snowflake Man of Vermont.” By combining a bellows camera with a microscope, he managed to photograph the intricate and diverse structures of the snow crystal. Check out some of his photos and what he learned.
HR News – Blog posts you may have missed