⚠️ 4-day week, 100% pay, is it creating a hidden productivity trap?

Hey HR Pros!

The 4-day work week is everywhere, promising happier teams and better balance. But beneath the hype, HR leaders are asking tougher questions: what happens when reduced hours meet unchanged workloads?

Upcoming In This Issue:

• ⚙️ 66% of HR leaders predict continued rapid change for 2026

• ⚠️ 4-day week, 100% pay, but is it creating a hidden productivity trap?

• 🌍 1 in 12 employees at Colgate Palmolive has worked abroad

• 🛫 11+ paid days off cuts quit rates for men and women, new 18-year study finds

Is your ATS still working for how you hire in 2026?

Hiring is changing yet again in 2026. Teams are leaner, roles are more specialized, candidates expect better experiences, and recruiters are asked to move faster with fewer resources.

If you’re starting to wonder whether your hiring tech still fits the way your team works, SSR’s HR Software Advisor can help you step back and reassess. You’ll speak with an HR software expert who understands the HR software landscape and can help you explore platforms that support how you actually hire today. 🧑‍💼

 📰 Latest in HR News

• What leaders can learn from Amazon's layoff email accident

• Pinterest layoffs in 2026 bring us circling back to the era of AI investments.

• Trump 2.0 and immigration: What employers need to know

• Ex-Google engineer convicted for stealing AI trade secrets

⚙️ 66% of HR leaders predict continued rapid change for 2026

As HR leaders take stock of 2025’s turbulence, it’s clear that stability won’t arrive on its own. The return-to-office push, tech disruption, and burnout cycles have left cultures in flux and employees disoriented.

Still, there’s a sense that 2026 can offer recalibration, if leaders act with clarity, empathy, and intent. The findings from a survey of 1,500 HR and L&D professionals show where to focus.

Key Insights for 2026

• 🔄 66% of HR leaders predict continued rapid change, yet many employees remain hopeful—highlighting a trust gap and leadership opportunity.

• 📉 Only 30% say culture is improving, pointing to a pressing need to restore belonging and meaningful connection in a hybrid workforce.

• 🗣️ Communication tops leadership skill needs (64%), but poor transparency remains a common cause of confusion, disengagement, and missed innovation.

• 🤖 35% of leaders call tech education a major challenge, making AI fluency and strategic upskilling essential to workforce confidence and productivity.

(read the full 853-word article here)

⚠️ 4-day week, 100% pay, but is it creating a hidden productivity trap?

I’ve seen the excitement around the four-day work week ripple across HR circles, often framed as the silver bullet for burnout.

But behind the headlines and pilot praise, there’s a harder conversation happening: what happens when reduced hours collide with unchanged workloads Understanding how to redesign work, not just reschedule it, is the make-or-break factor in whether the model works, or completely unravels.

Key Insights

• 📉 A 4-day week assumes a 25% productivity boost, but unchanged processes often result in burnout and diminished long-term output.

• ⚖️ Equity issues emerge when frontline staff can’t flex, creating internal divides that erode collaboration, morale, and discretionary effort.

• 📊 Most pilots rely on short-term, self-reported data, making it hard to assess the long-term financial and cultural impact of the model.

• 🔧 Success hinges on full job redesign, with metrics, trust, and feedback loops—not just fewer hours—driving sustainable change.

(read the full 947-word article here)

Get 3 SHRM / HRCI credits this Feb:

• 4th Feb | AI Competence at Scale: How HR Can Lead the Charge on AI-Related L&D

• 13th Feb | Future-Proof Your Workforce: Building a Gen Z-Ready Workplace

• 25th Feb | Scaling Across Borders: The Hidden Complexities of Global Hiring

🌍 1 in 12 employees at Colgate Palmolive has worked abroad

Leadership development is about experience, adaptability, and global perspective. I’ve seen more companies shift from traditional career ladders to lattice-like models that include cross-border exposure.

One multinational is going all in: rotating talent internationally not only to fuel business insight but to shape the kind of agile, culturally fluent leaders today’s markets demand.

Key Insights

• 🌎 1 in 12 salaried employees has worked abroad, helping Colgate embed global thinking and reduce narrow, market-specific leadership styles.

• 👩‍💼 50% of senior leaders held international roles, reinforcing cross-cultural expertise as a core leadership competency—not just a career bonus.

• 🔄 33% of country-hub and division heads work abroad, proving that international rotation is now a prerequisite for promotion, not just enrichment.

• 📈 Rotations deepen strategic thinking, giving leaders first-hand insight into diverse consumer behaviors, operational models, and business decision frameworks.

(read the full 789-word article here)

🛫 11+ paid days off cuts quit rates for men and women, new 18-year study finds

I’ve noticed how even modest increases to PTO can change the retention calculus, especially for early-career employees.

This new longitudinal study brings long-overdue clarity to what HR leaders have long suspected: time off is a statistically proven retention tool. And the numbers show a clear tipping point, one that policy and benefits teams need to keep front and center.

Key Insights on Paid Time Off & Retention

• 📅 11+ paid days off sharply reduce resignations, with both men and women significantly less likely to quit at this threshold.

• 👩 Women see no major retention gains until 11+ days, while men benefit starting at 6–10 PTO days, revealing gendered usage patterns.

• 💸 Replacing an employee can cost a full year’s salary, making insufficient PTO a high-risk expense rather than a cost-saving strategy.

• 📉 Most state policies cap PTO at 5–8 days, well below the level where meaningful retention effects start to take hold.

(read the full 1,057-word article here)