🫥 Are You Hiding At Work?

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In today’s edition, we look at how the rules at work are being rewritten—from who gets time off, to how we measure performance, to whether humans even get hired at all.

For HR leaders, the challenge is to step up: rethinking policy, rewriting norms, and reimagining what fairness, inclusion, and productivity really look like in 2025.

Before we dive in, a quick HR tip for our readers:
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⬇️ Upcoming in this issue

• 🏳️‍🌈 Hidden in Plain Sight: The Silent Struggles of LGBTQ+ Workers 

• ⏳ The Price of Pause: Inside Google’s Strategy to Hold Top AI Talent

• 🧳 PTO Inequality: How Company Size Shapes Your Time Off

• 🤖 AI or Bust: How HR Is Being Rewired for a Machine-First Workforce

📰 Latest in HR News

• 🧑‍💼 HP's new CPO to prioritize 'culture, innovation, and inclusion'

• 🏢 Onsite work top choice for employees who started during pandemic

• 📜 Are Trump’s executive orders really affecting private employers?

• ☀️ The great reset is here: Tech layoffs in 2025 spark fresh starts

🏳️‍🌈 Hidden in Plain Sight: The Silent Struggles of LGBTQ+ Workers

Walking into work should never feel like walking into battle. But for many LGBTQ+ employees, especially those who are transgender, daily workplace life can feel exactly that—exhausting, isolating, and unsafe.

Even with legal protections in place, subtle and overt discrimination continues to shape how queer professionals navigate their careers, limit their self-expression, and manage their mental health.

A global report unpacks how modern workplaces still fall short—revealing the persistent, often invisible roadblocks that LGBTQ+ workers face not just to succeed, but to simply be.

Key Insights

• 🌈 Discrimination drains productivity and mental health: 21% of LGBTQ+ workers said bias affected their mental health, while 16% reported drops in productivity.

• 🧢 Most LGBTQ+ workers hide their identity at work: 67% avoid discussing their orientation; 1 in 3 are not out to anyone in the workplace.

• 🚻 Trans workers face the steepest barriers: Just 66% of non-LGBTQ+ employees support trans identities, and only 50% support inclusive bathroom access.

• 📉 Federal policy backlash is shifting workplace norms: Some employers, like Deloitte, now ban pronouns in email signatures on federal contracts.

Read the full 625-word article here | Read the full report here

⏳ The Price of Pause: Inside Google’s Strategy to Hold Top AI Talent

In the race for AI dominance, slowing someone down can be as strategic as speeding up.

By offering up to a year of paid leave paired with strict non-compete clauses, Google creates a unique form of professional limbo—generous, yes, but also immobilizing. It’s a tactic that protects intellectual property but also stirs global debate over what it costs a career to stay still.

Key Insights

• 🧠 Google DeepMind enforces up to 12-month non-competes: Departing AI staff are paid but barred from working elsewhere, depending on role and project sensitivity.

• 🌍 Employees consider relocating to escape contracts: Some U.K.-based staff weigh moving to California to sidestep lengthy post-exit restrictions.

• 🚫 Fast-growing startups can’t wait out non-competes: Six to twelve months off sidelines talent from key roles in AI’s rapidly evolving ecosystem.

• ⚖️ HR leaders must rethink retention strategies: The approach highlights ethical tension between protecting IP and enabling fair, global career mobility.

Read the full 622-word article here

🧳 PTO Inequality: How Company Size Shapes Your Time Off

It’s easy to assume paid time off is a standard perk in today’s working world. But how much PTO you get can hinge almost entirely on one thing: how big your company is.

• For smaller organizations, access to personal, sick, or vacation days isn’t guaranteed—and the numbers show just how wide the gap can be.

• Bigger teams may come with more bureaucracy, but when it comes to time off, they tend to offer a lot more breathing room.

Key Insights

• 📊 Large companies offer significantly more leave across the board: 90% of employees at companies with 500+ staff get sick leave, vs. 72% at firms with under 50 workers.

• 📉 Only 36% of small-company employees get personal leave: That’s nearly half the rate of those at large organizations (65%), revealing a major disparity in flexibility.

• 🧠 PTO policies directly impact retention and morale: Experts say clearly written, fairly enforced policies help reduce favoritism and keep employees satisfied long-term.

• 💬 HR leaders must fight for better leave access: Advocates stress the importance of getting executive buy-in to ensure competitive and equitable PTO strategies.

Read the full 471-word article here

🤖 AI or Bust: How HR Is Being Rewired for a Machine-First Workforce

Today, where CEOs expect AI to be the starting point for performance, not the bonus, HR leaders are now tasked with reshaping everything from hiring to performance reviews.

The future of work is no longer about humans vs. machines—it’s about how fast teams can adapt to work with them. And that future is arriving faster than anyone anticipated.

Key Insights

• 📈 AI is now a hiring gatekeeper at some firms: Shopify won’t approve new hires unless teams prove AI can’t do the job first.

• 💡 Performance reviews will now assess AI fluency: Employees will be evaluated on both output and how effectively they use AI to scale it.

• 🔁 Workforce planning is shifting toward AI-agent integration: Teams must design workflows as if autonomous AI agents are already part of the team.

• 🧭 HR must lead the AI transition across org design: CHROs are expected to guide how AI tools reshape org structures, talent strategies, and team dynamics.

Read the full 895-word article here