Trump's war on remote work, struggling college grads, AI performance reviews, and more
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Here are 5 things to know about work this week.
1. Trump’s war on remote work clashes with RTO rebellion as some WFH roles spike
Despite President Trump’s order this week that federal employees working from home get back to their desks, the battle over remote work is far from over.
New data reveals a workplace revolution that’s still going strong in many sectors, even as some companies slam their office doors shut. And for HR managers navigating these waters, the latest research offers revealing insights into where the market is actually headed.
The message from America’s workforce? Not so fast on those RTO mandates.
2. Recent college grads are not ready for work — and HR leaders are fed up
Would you rather hire a robot or a recent college graduate?
For an alarming number of HR leaders, the machine wins.
A recent survey from Hult International Business School in Cambridge, Mass., reveals a troubling reality: Nearly 8 in 10 recent graduates say they learned more in their first six months on the job than in their entire four years of college. What’s more, employers are so wary of unprepared graduates that they’re taking drastic measures to keep from hiring them.
3. Trump order threatens transgender workers’ rights: Key actions for HR
Doing away with diversity, equity and inclusion programs is a key goal for the Trump Administration. And on his first day in office, he signed several orders seeking to reverse Biden-era rules around DEI.
One notable change is the reversal of rules covering gender identity protections in the workplace. Those rules spelled out that employers can not discriminate against workers for being transgender, or based on their sexual orientation.
It comes following much progress made in the area, with the use of preferred pronouns at work becoming commonplace, the addition of gender-neutral bathrooms in offices, companies extending gender transition healthcare benefits, and generally greater acceptance for gender and sexual orientation differences in corporate America.
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4. Remote work is now the top requested workplace accommodation
HR leaders and managers are getting buried under a sea of remote work requests.
The ability to work remotely was the most requested workplace accommodation last year, according to a survey from AbsenceSoft, a platform for leave of absence and accommodations management, which included responses from 2,400 HR leaders and employees.
It comes as more major companies shift away from the hybrid arrangements they were in last year, and are requiring staff to work from offices five days a week. JP Morgan is one example, along with others in finance like Goldman Sachs, and some in tech like Amazon. Meanwhile, agency holding group WPP caused waves internally when it announced staff would have to be back in the office four days a week from April.
5. Can AI make performance reviews less biased?
Workers’ attitudes toward using AI in their jobs may be starting to sour.
They’ve been oversaturated with AI talk, have struggled to learn how to use the tools, and in many cases have found it’s actually adding to their workloads and making them less productive. But there is one area they would like to see more AI use in — their performance reviews.
Over 80% of employees think algorithms could give more accurate and fairer performance reviews than their managers, an October survey of over 3,000 U.S. workers from Gartner found. Another similarly-sized survey from Gartner found nearly 60% of workers think humans are actually more biased than AI when it comes to making decisions around compensation.
Elsewhere in Digiday Media
Check out some of Digiday Media’s other stories on the future of work over the past week:
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This newsletter was curated by Courtney Marabella, senior social media/audience manager for Digiday. Let us know what you think, or what you hope to see more of, by dropping us a note at [email protected].