Workday is facing a collective-action lawsuit alleging that its AI-based job applicant screening system discriminates based on age, race and disability. Workday denies the allegations, stating that its AI only matches qualifications and does not consider protected characteristics. The case highlights the broader issue of AI bias in recruitment, with experts urging companies to demand transparency and conduct regular audits.

People operations is evolving into a strategic function that leverages AI to maximize human capital and drive growth, writes Brandon Stevens. Stevens highlights three pillars for this transformation: strategic user education and development, the "inside-out" methodology to optimize internal talent and predictive people analytics technology. Stevens notes that this approach can lead to time savings, cost reductions and revenue increases, while enhancing employer branding and employee experience.

Startup company Paraform plans to use AI to enhance human expertise rather than replace it. This approach would allow recruiters to focus on high-stakes hiring decisions. "Our conviction is that in this new era, highly skilled recruiters are more important than ever, and this decade will mark their ascendance as closer to sports agents, navigating complex, high-stakes hiring on behalf of companies," says John Kim, CEO of Paraform.

The shift to hybrid work has created new challenges for benefit managers who must support employee well-being to maintain productivity and satisfaction. Strategies include prioritizing mental health through employee assistance programs and counseling, promoting physical well-being with ergonomic tools and wellness programs, and fostering community to combat isolation.

New estimates suggest that Medicare's hospital insurance trust fund will no longer be able to pay full benefits in 2033, and Social Security's trust funds won't be able to pay full benefits starting in 2034. The so-called go-broke dates have moved up compared with last year's estimates.

With the proliferation of AI and other digital tools, you are in danger of developing "digital amnesia," or the tendency to forget information stored digitally, which Debbie Jenkins, the founder of "Postnoted: The Antidote to Digital Amnesia," writes can erode your cognitive abilities and institutional memory. You can counter this phenomenon by writing things down in notebooks, engaging in memory rituals that boost the retention of information and writing out summaries of interesting articles and information instead of saving the file to your computer, Jenkins advises.

IT help desk scams are increasingly targeting businesses with sophisticated techniques, using multichannel approaches and impersonating legitimate services. The scams exploit fake help desk domains and trick both employees and IT workers into granting system access. "The premise is that you are being contacted by your company's or a supplier's IT help desk, in order to handle an important issue, or to make some kind of upgrade," says Matt Aldridge of OpenText Cybersecurity.

HR professionals are crucial in managing change driven by digital transformation, hybrid work and automation. Key tasks include assessing workforce readiness, defining the purpose of change, involving employees early, building future skills, communicating transparently and tracking key performance indicators.