The news from the Israel-Hamas war is affecting everyone, and HR leaders, as well as the entire C-suite, have important roles to play in communicating with and supporting their employees. One communication expert offered HR Brew advice on best practices.

Reality check. As a people leader, the first step is to acknowledge what’s happening, Deborah Grayson Riegel, a communication and leadership expert who has taught at Columbia and Wharton Business Schools, said.

“It’s bad news for everyone, but different perspectives of bad news,” Grayson Riegel told HR Brew.

HR leaders should process and “separate out” their personal feelings about the events with a loved one or colleague, she advised, and acknowledge, “‘I’m feeling angry about X,’ or, ‘I’m feeling embarrassed that I don’t have feelings like [I think] I’m supposed to,’” before having conversations with employees.

Keep reading here.—MC

AI technology is reshaping the world of talent acquisition—and Paradox has the lowdown on this high-tech recruiting change.

Get the full rundown in their on-demand webinar, AI 101 in talent acquisition, for answers + insights on:

• how TA and HR leaders can adapt to today’s changes and prepare for the future of AI in talent acquisition
• understanding forthcoming AI hiring legislation and risks to avoid
• how organizations can future-proof their hiring processes
• the keys to maximizing the impact of AI and automation

Tune in for a deep dive into where we stand on the AI adoption curve and what the future holds.

Watch the webinar here.

Microsoft announced on Tuesday new capabilities for its employee experience platform Viva. The new service, Skills in Viva, harnesses the power of AI to help companies address the skills gap and plan for tomorrow’s workforce.

Sunita Khatri, Microsoft’s senior director of product marketing for Viva, said AI is going to “fundamentally change the talent landscape,” and with it how companies handle the skills gap.

“[Skills in Viva] helps organizations understand these workforce skills gaps, and it delivers much more personalized, skills-based experiences, and will power all sorts of new experiences directly in the Viva platform, as well as throughout Microsoft 365 experiences,” Khatri told HR Brew at the HR Tech conference in Las Vegas after the announcement.

Zoom out. Navigating skills and planning a learning curriculum for individual contributors to grow professionally while meeting the current and future needs of the business can be a tough task.

Keep reading here.—AD

Santa needs fewer elves in the workshop this year.

This year’s forecast for seasonal hiring in retail is the lowest since 2008, according to a report from Challenger, Gray & Christmas, an outplacement firm that tracks seasonal hiring trends. The firm predicts an additional 410,000 seasonal positions will be posted this year. In contrast, retailers added about 100,000 more jobs over the same period last year.

“There’s still going to be hiring that’s happening; 400,000 jobs isn’t nothing,” SVP Andy Challenger told Yahoo Finance. “We’re not hearing quite the scramble that we heard the last three years with companies offering no interview positions, hearing back from applications within 30 minutes because it was so competitive. That atmosphere seems to have cooled this season.”

The Amazon exception. Amazon is—so far—the lone outlier.

Keep reading here.—AD

Today’s top HR reads.

Stat: Employees are 68% less likely to burn out when they feel connected to a company’s culture. (Forbes)

Quote: “Really developing that personal connection and getting out of this false idea of ‘leave your personal stuff at home’ because we know that when people feel seen, they feel more committed and engaged…And then create opportunities for people to do that with one another.”—Zach Mercurio, researcher at Colorado State University, on how employees’ job satisfaction is linked to meaningful work (Denver7 ABC)

Read: Why you might want to start promoting younger workers into leadership roles. (Harvard Business Review)

Unleash the potential of diversity, equity, and inclusion and empower your organization’s DE&I efforts by joining the conversation at our HR Brew virtual event. Hear Mel Marshall, vice president of people and organization at Banfield Pet Hospital, discuss strategies to embed DE&I seamlessly into your goals and initiatives. Reserve your spot now and stay committed to inclusivity.

Register here.