🥱 Tired After Every Meeting? It’s a Hangover

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Good Morning!

HR leaders are under more pressure than ever to create workplaces that perform—and actually support people. But support only works when employees can access it.

This edition looks at how complexity, confusion, and outdated systems quietly undermine engagement, retention, and trust.

Let’s get into it.

⬇️ Upcoming in this issue

• 🧠 Curing the Meeting Hangover

• 🤖 The AI Fix for a Broken Benefits Experience

• 🧑‍💼 Is the PMP Certification HR’s Secret Career Upgrade?

• 🚨 What HR Needs to Know About Harassment and Violence

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🧠 Curing the Meeting Hangover

You know the feeling: your calendar is packed, the video calls blur together, and by mid-afternoon, your brain feels like it ran a marathon it never signed up for.

Turns out we are calling it a meeting hangover.

Nearly half of employees say these hangovers leave them disengaged from their work. And while meetings aren’t going anywhere, the way we run them desperately needs a rethink.

Here’s how one CEO is solving the problem—with structure, intention, and a little help from AI.

Key Insights

• 📝 Start with an agenda
  Only hold meetings when necessary, with a clear plan and relevant attendees—like a grocery list for your time.

• 🎯 Stay focused, not polite
  When meetings veer off-track, steer them back. Tangents waste time, even if they feel like good conversation.

• 🤖 Let AI do the heavy lifting
  Use AI-powered agents to track, summarize, and assign deliverables—so humans can focus on thinking, not typing.

• ⏰ End early, not empty
  If a meeting wraps in 45 minutes instead of 60, stop. Don’t fill time for the sake of it—energy matters.

Read the full 658-word article here

🧑‍💼 Is the PMP Certification HR’s Secret Career Upgrade?

Whether it’s implementing a new HR tech system or rolling out a company-wide DEI strategy, these responsibilities look a lot like project management.

That’s why more HR leaders are turning to the PMP certification, seeking a formal edge in organizing, leading, and delivering real business outcomes.

Key Insights

• 📌 PMP sharpens HR’s strategic edge
  Certification equips HR pros to manage high-impact projects like HRIS rollouts, making them more visible across the organization.

• 💼 It opens doors to transformation roles
  PMP holders often move into senior roles—HR Project Manager or Transformation Lead—by proving they can lead with structure.

• 🛠 Real-world HR work = project work
  Rolling out benefits systems, DEI programs, or upskilling efforts? PMP techniques help manage timelines, teams, and outcomes.

• ✅ Getting certified takes planning
  Applicants need 36–60 months of experience, clear project documentation, and serious prep—coaches and training help you get there.

Read the full 738-word article here

🤖 The AI Fix for a Broken Benefits Experience

Employees know their companies offer benefits—but finding the right info at the right time? That’s another story. Even the most robust resources can get buried under clunky systems, HR jargon, and outdated intranet portals.

But a new wave of AI tools promises to close the gap between what companies provide and what employees can actually access—with simplicity at the center.

Key Insights

• 📉 Most employees waste time hunting for benefits
  Over two-thirds spend 30 minutes to several days locating info—hurting productivity and draining HR and manager bandwidth.

• 🧠 Mental health and financial support are hardest to find
  These two benefit categories are the most requested—and most frustratingly inaccessible—despite being critical to employee retention.

• 🤖 AI can surface resources in the flow of work
  AI-driven platforms like Inclusively now guide employees to relevant tools without the need for long searches or HR intervention.

• 🧭 Complex systems block adoption and innovation
  When platforms are confusing or “HR-speak” heavy, a third of employees abandon them—making benefits harder to use, not easier.

Read the full 738-word article here

🚨 What HR Needs to Know About Harassment and Violence

Dealing with harassment is already part of HR’s job—but what happens when it’s coming from outside the organization?

As customer aggression climbs, employers are waking up to a tough reality: external harassment carries legal, emotional, and operational risks that can’t be ignored.

From subtle bias to physical threats, HR leaders need more than good intentions—they need clear policies, de-escalation training, and an understanding of when to step in, and when to escalate.

Key Insights

• ⚖️ Companies can be liable for third-party harassment
  Legal cases show that ignoring discriminatory or hostile customer behavior can result in major lawsuits and brand damage.

• 🚫 De-escalation beats dialing 911 (most of the time)
  With growing scrutiny around police involvement, many companies are training staff in middle-ground tactics before things escalate.

• 🛠 Anonymous reporting builds safer systems
  Only 51% of employees would report harassment if they had to use their name—anonymous tools drastically increase reporting and awareness.

• 🧠 HR must prep for the full spectrum—from rude to dangerous
  Protocols should cover everything from microaggressions to physical threats, especially in retail or fast food settings with minimal on-site security.

Read the full 1,199-word article here