RECRUITMENT & RETENTION

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To be (someone who brings an iced coffee to a job interview), or not to be…that is the question.

A fierce debate about job interview etiquette took the internet by storm last month, when Caitlin Wehniainen, a corporate recruiter, posted a TikTok warning job seekers against a habit she’s observed among her Gen Z candidates: bringing iced coffee to job interviews.

“Don’t show up with iced coffee or the iced latte,” she said. “Save that for well before the interview or after the interview. Go and get one, but don’t, like, waltz into your interview all casual with an iced coffee.”

Candidates have a short period of time to make an impression on prospective employers, and having iced coffee in hand can be distracting, unprofessional, or as if the applicant is treating the job interview as another item on their list of errands, she explained. Suffice to say, Wehniainen’s post elicited a lot of strong opinions. HR Brew asked HR and talent acquisition (TA) professionals to weigh in on the debate via email. (For any lurking job seekers, we have bad news: Opinions were nearly split.)

For more on where HR pros stand on the iced coffee debate, keep reading here.—PM

      

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Organizational risk looks totally different in 2026 and 2027. Between evolving federal regulations, surging state-level onboarding requirements, and shifting tax credit landscapes, the playbooks from previous years are basically obsolete.

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TOTAL REWARDS

Amelia Kinsinger

Pay transparency refers to the practice of openly sharing compensation information with prospective and current employees in an effort to reveal, and ultimately address, pay inequities within organizations.

Why did companies adopt pay transparency practices? Many US companies adopted pay transparency to comply with state laws mandating it. Starting in 2019, a number of state legislatures—including Colorado, California, New York, and Washington—passed laws requiring businesses to share an estimated salary range for jobs they posted. Prior to this wave of legislation, nearly two dozen states passed laws prohibiting employers from asking about or considering a job candidate’s salary history, as this practice is thought to put job-seekers at a disadvantage when they negotiate their compensation.

How widespread is pay transparency? While pay transparency isn’t mandated across the US, by the end of 2025 at least 14 states and Washington, DC will have transparency laws on the books. It’s become the default practice for most employers; even if organizations aren’t located in a jurisdiction that requires transparency, they may be looking to recruit workers that are. Increasingly, job-seekers and employees also expect companies to share this information when they post open roles.

For more on pay transparency, including legislation and goals, keep reading here.—CV

RECRUITMENT & RETENTION

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If anyone decided to take Green Day’s “Wake Me Up When September Ends” very, very literally, they’d be waking up right about now to find…a solid-ish job market.

Employers in the US announced 43,281 job cuts in September, about 18% down from the month before, according to an October 1 report from global outplacement and executive coaching firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas.

That marked the seventh time in 2026 that job cuts were “lower than the corresponding month one year earlier” the report noted. September’s job cuts also marked a 20% dip from September 2025, and “the lowest total for the month since 2022.”

“Companies are in a wait-and-see period right now. Employers are facing high energy costs, an uncertain war in Iran, a rate hike that could make hiring more expensive, plus the [likelihood] of surging healthcare costs,” Andy Challenger, workplace expert and chief revenue officer for Challenger, Gray & Christmas, said in a statement. “We’ve seen layoff activity subside over this year, and September continues to illustrate this point.”

For more on job cuts over the past month and year, keep reading on CFO Brew.—NP

      

Sponsored By Equifax

Experts offer clarity on new I-9 processes. Immigration enforcement and federal verification rules are shifting fast. For support keeping your organization up-to-date, attend Equifax’s upcoming webinar. I-9 authority John Fay will break down recent policy updates and provide important information to help keep your workforce authorized and your business audit-ready. Register today.

work perks

Francis Scialabba

Today’s top HR reads.

Stat: Nearly half of workers (45%) aren’t confident about using AI but feel pressured to do so. (Business Insider)

Quote: “Gig work can be really tough to build a career, especially for someone who doesn’t already have connections or a decent nest egg to weather dry spells.”—Shelly Steward, chief research officer at the Workers Lab, on why forgoing full-time employment can be challenging (the Washington Post)

Read: Some high-income workers are no longer maxing out their 401(k) accounts. Instead, they’re redirecting their money into other types of investments, such as those available through a brokerage account or Roth IRA. (Bloomberg)

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