It’s been a tumultuous year for DE&I practitioners. They’ve seen high turnover and budget cuts, and have been on the receiving end of an onslaught of misinformation surrounding what DE&I is and isn’t.

Several large companies, including Ford, Lowe’s, Toyota, and Molson Coors, have rolled back DE&I efforts since the summer. Many are also cutting ties with workplace accountability indexes and cutting back on employee resource groups.

Following the re-election of former President Donald Trump, the industry is preparing for more potential obstacles. Trump issued an executive order during his first term banning racial sensitivity training at federal agencies and government contractors, and called diversity education “un-American.” He’s since threatened to have the Department of Justice investigate schools with DE&I programs, and fine and tax the endowments of those that do racial equity work, using that money to provide “restitution” to “victims” of the initiatives, the Grio reported.

HR Brew asked DE&I leaders on LinkedIn how they believe the next Trump term will impact their jobs and industry. The majority of the more than 40 respondents were uncertain about the future of DE&I, and their ability to pursue such efforts openly.

Keep reading here.—KP

Sitting in traffic on the way to work may give you time to catch up on your favorite podcast, but it can also give you a headache, as many workers in the middle east have been experiencing.

Where in the world? Dubai’s population has exploded in recent years, growing by 400,000 since 2020 to 3.8 million in 2024. The city has grappled with accommodating the roughly 3.4 million cars on the road during commuting hours. In response, its government is encouraging public and private employers to allow more employees to work remotely, Wired reported.

The Dubai Roads and Transport Authority, and Dubai Government Human Resources Department, released a report in November examining flexible hours for 332,000 public and private sector workers. It found that while just 32% of private companies offer remote work options, 58% are considering more, and 31% have flexible start times. The report contends that wider adoption of these policies could lead to up to 30% less congested streets. It recommends that employers offer remote work up to five days a week and a two-hour flexible start time.

Satellite view. Dubai isn’t the first government to try to influence HR policies, and likely won’t be the last.

Keep reading here.—KP

AI may be losing some of its out-of-the-box sheen for office workers.

Slack’s latest Workforce Index report found that adoption in the US has slowed considerably in recent months as employees seem to be fretting about the stigma of tapping such tools at work. Workforce adoption grew just one percentage point in the last five months—from 32% to 33%. That’s an especially stark dropoff from the start of the year, when usage jumped six points in a single quarter.

Slack’s report, based on a survey of more than 17,000 global workers, attributed some of the slowing to uncertainty around when AI use is appropriate. Among the nearly half of US workers who reported being uncomfortable admitting AI use to managers, the top reasons included feelings that AI might be considered cheating and fear of being seen as incompetent or lazy.

“Workers are very confused about when it is socially and professionally acceptable to use AI at work,” Christina Janzer, Slack’s SVP of research and analytics, said in a press briefing. “We learned that people really struggled to know how and when they should be using it.”

Keep reading on Tech Brew.—PK