57% of workers prefer lower pay with close friends

Hey HR Pros!

A new KPMG survey reveals that employees are putting a surprising premium on workplace friendships — even valuing them as much as a 20% salary boost. At the same time, nearly half of workers report rising loneliness, underscoring a paradox at the heart of today’s workplace.

For HR leaders, the findings highlight an urgent need to balance compensation with connection, and to design cultures where authentic relationships thrive

Upcoming In This Issue:

• 🤝 New Report by KPMG | The Value of Workplace Friendships Today

• 🧑‍💻 Rethinking Leave: A New HR Tech Category Emerges

• 🎙️ Today’s Featured Podcast: BambooHR's Nancy Boyce on Employer Brands

• 💸 HR Learnings | Making Pay Transparent: Why Employees Struggle With Pay Slips

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🤝 New Report by KPMG | The Value of Workplace Friendships Today

Source: KPMG

Employees are placing greater weight on the relationships they form with colleagues, viewing friendships as a cornerstone of job satisfaction.

Loneliness is creeping into professional life, raising questions about how organizations can create environments that truly support connection. Technology plays a complicated role — sometimes helping bridge gaps across teams, while at other times diluting the quality of human interaction.

Key Insights

• 💵 The Friendship Premium: 57% of workers prefer lower pay with close friends, valuing workplace relationships as equivalent to a 20% salary boost.

• 📉 Rising Loneliness: 45% report workplace isolation, nearly double from last year, with men and remote employees showing the steepest increases.

• 🤖 AI’s Paradox: 99% want AI tools to help foster workplace friendships, yet 49% say tech is replacing deep connections with superficial ones.

• 🏢 Culture as Currency: 87% believe friendship-enabling cultures are critical for retention, and 90% consider them essential when evaluating new opportunities.

read the full 717-word article here

🧑‍💻 Rethinking Leave: A New HR Tech Category Emerges

When employees take a leave of absence, the experience is often complicated, disconnected, and heavily outsourced.

I found that a new wave of HR tech is shifting this model, putting companies and their HR teams back at the center of the process. By leveraging automation and AI, leave administration is being reframed not as a burdensome task, but as a strategic opportunity to strengthen culture and retention.

Key Insights

• ⚙️ New Category Launch: Tilt unveiled “leave experience management” (LXM), using AI to simplify compliance, math, and paperwork while rehumanizing the process.

• 💸 Funding Momentum: The startup closed a $15M Series B round in August, led by Bramalea Partners, bringing total funding to $37M.

• 🤝 Culture Impact: Outsourced leave erodes trust and culture, while HR-led leave processes strengthen retention and protect companies from compliance risks.

• 🧠 AI as Enabler: Intelligent automation handles admin tasks, freeing HR to manage sensitive employee life moments with empathy and control.

read the full 548-word article here

😄 Comic Relief (HR Edition)

🎙️ Today’s Featured Podcast: BambooHR's Nancy Boyce on Employer Brands

☕️ Grab a cup of coffee and plug in to today’s featured podcast:

💸 HR Learnings | Making Pay Transparent: Why Employees Struggle With Pay Slips

When workers can’t fully understand their pay slips, the ripple effect extends beyond confusion; it erodes confidence, creates distractions, and adds to your team’s workload.

The challenge is not only to ensure accuracy, but to make pay information accessible and meaningful, empowering employees to take ownership of their finances.

New tools and approaches are emerging that can help HR simplify the pay experience, while reinforcing trust and saving valuable time.

Key Insights

• Knowledge Gaps: Only 29% in France, 54% in Spain, and 73% in the UK fully understand their pay slips, leaving many uncertain.

• 📊 HR Time Drain: Nearly half of UK employees — and up to 75% in France — rely on HR for pay clarification, diverting resources.

• 🔍 Confidence vs. Clarity: Despite confusion, 81–94% trust their pay slips are correct, showing confidence doesn’t equal true financial understanding.

• 💡 Practical Fixes: E-learning, AMA sessions, and interactive payslips with clickable definitions can reduce questions and build pay literacy.

read the full 660-word article here