| You have to spend money to make money. |
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History doesn’t repeat itself, but it often rhymes. Manhattan has been home to many a glory day for different businesses. The 1960s had its Mad Men era, when advertising companies dominated on Madison Avenue, and the 1980s saw the “decade of greed,” when Wall Street firms gobbled their way to new heights of power. Now, AI companies are staking their claim on the 2020s via downtown, where firms like Anthropic are growing footprints and competing with Wall Street giants for top young talent. That said, what comes after the boom period is perhaps more defining of each era. Crack open an encyclopedia if you’re unsure. In today’s edition: ✂️ Restructuring realities ❌ Guidance rescinded 🔓 Data breach —Paige McGlauflin, Kristen Parisi, Caroline Nihill |
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HR STRATEGY Spend to make  Getty Images | “You have to spend money to make money” is one of the most painful adages in business. Oracle’s recent layoffs are especially exemplary of this paradox. The enterprise software giant disclosed last month via an annual regulatory filing that its global workforce had fallen by 21,000 from May 2025 to May 2026, to around 141,000. It previously announced in late March plans to lay off 20,000 to 30,000 workers. The company also disclosed that restructuring costs, including employee severance, contract terminations, and other exit costs, had nearly quadrupled, from $374 million in FY2025 to $1.8 billion in FY 2026, as Oracle implemented a new restructuring plan during that period. Total costs are estimated to be as high as $2.1 billion as the company continues restructuring. “This is the cost of cost-cutting; you have to spend money to stop spending money,” Jason Schloetzer, an associate professor of accounting at Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business, told HR Brew via email. “The asymmetry between immediate employee severance costs and later savings makes restructuring a consequential management decision.” For more on restructuring efforts at Oracle, keep reading here.—PM |
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DEI More pullback  Getty Images | The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is continuing its journey back to the 1960s. On June 29 the Republican-controlled EEOC voted to remove guidelines from section 607 of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, claiming in a press release that they contradict Title VII and violate Supreme Court precedent. The guidelines were issued in a 1979 rule to offer employers a three-step process for implementing affirmative action programs. Rescinding them means employers are without a valuable tool to combat workplace discrimination, Kalpana Kotagal, the sole democrat EEOC commissioner, wrote on LinkedIn. She further argued that the guidelines were necessary to prevent present-day discrimination. For more on this and other anti-DEI actions by the EEOC, keep reading here.—KP |
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TECH HCM, compromised  Sopa Images/Getty Images | A zero-day exploit of Oracle’s PeopleSoft offerings exposed data at auto manufacturer Nissan, including payroll, tax data, social security numbers, and other sensitive employee information. According to a breach notification submitted by Nissan, the attack reportedly took place between May 27 and June 9. The company said in a statement that it “quickly activated incident response protocols” and has been communicating with authorities about a response. Lloryn Love-Carter, senior manager of corporate communications at Nissan, wrote in an email to IT Brew: “While the investigation is ongoing, certain employee information was accessed without authorization. We are communicating directly with employees and will provide updates as appropriate.” For more on the employee data breach at Nissan, keep reading on IT Brew.—CN |
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work perks (2).jpg) Francis Scialabba | Today’s top HR reads. Stat: Jobs with “AI” in the title make up one in 12 listings on Indeed—a 3x increase from 2022. (NBC) Quote: “We knew it was coming. It’s kind of like standing on a beach watching a tsunami headed toward you and not being able to flee.”—Rachel Bernier-Green, a small business owner, on having to drop healthcare coverage for her six employees due to rising costs (Stat News) Read: More workers are taking leaves of absence for mental health reasons. (Bloomberg) *A message from our sponsor. |
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Jobs  | More focus, less fluff. CollabWORK filters out the noise and delivers jobs that actually match what HR Brew readers are looking for. Click here to see the full board of curated roles. |
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