Office attendance has increased by only 1% to 3%

Hey HR Pros!

Welcome back from the Labor Day weekend—I hope you had a chance to rest before the busy fall season kicks in.

This week, we’re spotlighting the rise of the “hushed hybrid” workplace, where employees quietly defy return-to-office mandates and managers, too burnt out to enforce them, look the other way. It’s a story not just about policy, but about people: strained middle managers, disengaged staff, and a shifting culture that’s rewriting what compliance really means at work.

Upcoming In This Issue:

• 🎙️ Today’s Featured Podcast: Redefining Mental Health at Work with Sarah Harris

• 🕵️‍♂️ New Data | Hushed Hybrid: Office attendance has increased by only 1% to 3%

• 🤖 Tips from an HR Pro | Skillsoft’s HR Chief on Building a Workforce That Works with AI

• 📊 Case Study: How RSM Is Reinventing Early-Career Programs in the Age of AI

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HR pros like Aislynn are saving time and stress with SSR’s free HR software matching service. See how she found the right HR tools - without the overwhelm of researching different HR vendors 👇️ 

 📰 Latest in HR News

• HR professionals on the move in August

• Holding Layoffs at Bay, Avaya Offers Voluntary Exit Packages to All Employees

• Nestlé CEO Laurent Freixe fired over workplace relationship

• Tech CEO lets employees cancel meetings to experiment with AI

🎙️ Today’s Featured Podcast: Redefining Mental Health at Work with Sarah Harris

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

🕵️‍♂️ New Data | Hushed Hybrid: Office attendance has increased by only 1% to 3%

Employees are showing up less than required—and not just because they’re sneaky or rebellious. Behind the scenes, many managers are simply too burnt out to enforce return-to-office (RTO) mandates, giving rise to what’s now being called the “hushed hybrid.”

This article unpacks new research from Flex Index that reveals how widespread this silent flexibility has become—and why managers may actually be fueling it more than stopping it.

Key Insights

• 😮 Office attendance has barely budged
  Despite a 12% rise in required office days since early 2024, actual attendance has only grown by 1–3%, per Flex Index data.

• 🔥 Managers are too burned out to enforce rules
  Executives may want stricter RTO, but middle managers—overwhelmed and unsupported—often lack the energy or motivation to push it.

• 🤖 Most of a manager’s day is spent on grunt work
  Deloitte found 40% of managers’ time is spent firefighting or doing admin, with just 13% going toward mentoring their teams.

• 📉 A “manager crash” is looming
  meQuilibrium warns of a looming crisis where exhausted managers lose the ability to lead, worsening retention and team morale.

read the full 645-word article here

😄 Comic Relief (HR Edition)

🤖 Tips from an HR Pro | Skillsoft’s HR Chief on Building a Workforce That Works with AI

When the rules of work start shifting, the people at the center of those changes aren’t just tech leads—they’re HR leaders like Ciara Harrington.

As Chief People Officer at Skillsoft, Harrington has spent the last three years guiding her organization through AI transformation in real time. Her approach is refreshingly clear: Don’t fear AI—design around it.

Below are some of Harrington’s most actionable insights, shared from the frontlines of change.

Insights and Tips from Ciara Harrington

• 🔄 “There is no role that’s not a tech role”
  Harrington emphasizes that every employee, not just those in engineering, needs a baseline of tech fluency. As AI agents embed deeper into workflows, the ability to work alongside these tools becomes essential for career growth, collaboration, and relevance.

  For HR leaders, this means shifting L&D strategies from siloed digital training to organization-wide tech enablement.

• 🧩 Break HR–IT silos to manage AI responsibly

  At Skillsoft, HR and IT don’t operate on separate tracks—they co-own the AI transformation. This partnership ensures that AI isn’t just bolted onto people systems, but is embedded with intention, trust, and a shared understanding of risks and opportunities.

• 📈 Rebuild jobs around skills—not org charts

  Harrington leads with a simple but powerful question: “What part of this role is best handled by a human, and what by an AI agent?” This shift helps Skillsoft target talent more flexibly, reskill faster, and create roles that evolve with business needs—rather than locking people into outdated boxes.

• 💬 Keep humans in leadership—even when AI assists

  While AI agents are increasingly managing tasks behind the scenes, Harrington insists that human leadership remains the heart of transformation.

  According to Harrington, navigating ambiguity, building trust, and making tough, empathetic decisions are still squarely in the human domain—and always will be.

read the full 1,144-word article here

📊 Case Study: How RSM Is Reinventing Early-Career Programs in the Age of AI

Challenge: As AI tools increasingly automate the repetitive tasks once handled by entry-level hires, many large firms—including Big Four consultancies—have scaled back early-career recruitment. This trend left a critical question: if AI takes over foundational work, how can firms justify entry-level programs while still ensuring long-term talent pipelines?

Solution: RSM chose a different path. Instead of shrinking its early-career program, the mid-sized accounting and consulting firm doubled down on developing junior talent.

Strategy & Implementation

• Invest in technical foundations — New hires are trained in role- and industry-specific knowledge to bring immediate value to client projects.

• Layer in durable skills — As employees advance, RSM integrates leadership, communication, and relationship-building training into their learning paths.

• Leverage AI as an amplifier — Entry-level staff learn to use AI tools for tasks like account reconciliation while developing the judgment to interpret outputs.

• Accelerate client exposure — Unlike larger firms, RSM puts juniors in front of clients early, fostering confidence and deepening business acumen.

Results

• Increased productivity and decision speed — AI tools enhance—not replace—employee capabilities, driving efficiency without reducing headcount.

• Stronger client relationships — Early exposure to clients improves service delivery and strengthens trust at the midmarket level.

RSM demonstrates that AI doesn’t have to threaten early-career roles—it can enhance them. By reframing junior positions around skill-building and client impact, the firm turns AI into a force multiplier for human talent rather than a replacement for it.