Natalie Marshall started creating social media content in 2020 just for fun.

Before long, she became known as “Corporate Natalie.” And what started as a hobby turned into a small business, Corporate Natalie LLC, inclusive of Marshall’s social media platforms, influencer marketing agency, and virtual assistant platform, that she runs as its CEO.

Marshall has picked up many titles along the way, including being boss. She has three full-time and about a half dozen part-time employees, with whom she said she’s collaborated with to create a company culture that values fulfillment.

“It’s important to us that we have a company culture that makes sense, that is beyond just my face on the channels,” Marshall said. “We’ve worked hard to establish what those company values are, and one of those are just that we try to find joy, and we try to find happiness, and we try to find fulfillment across both of our jobs.”

For more on how Marshall built her company’s culture, keep reading here.—MC

Here’s this week’s edition of our Business of Benefits series, where we spotlight benefits that are driving value for HR leaders, digging into their design and ROI.

If you’re interested in talking about a workplace benefit you love for an upcoming edition, click here to get in touch. You can also reach out directly to HR Brew’s total rewards reporter, Courtney Vinopal: [email protected]

Nearly every employee at Staffbase, an employee experience platform based in Chemnitz, Germany, is out of office each Friday in August.

The company permanently adopted “Recharge Fridays” after a successful pilot in 2021. While some workers in essential roles like customer care and sales remain on call, the rest of the 600-person workforce—which is located not only in Germany, but also the US, UK, and Japan—can turn off their notifications.

Tina Böhringer, global director of rewards and PX operations, told us more about the perk.

For more on Staffbase’s four-day workweek benefit, keep reading here.—CV

A new conundrum is emerging in IT: Do you hire specialized professionals, or burn through the IT budget on AI tokens? While some companies are replacing workers with AI, other leaders are deciding they need humans in seats to meet their IT goals.

According to executive outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas, AI is the most cited reason for the recent burst of tech layoffs, which hit 97,000 in May. One example is crypto exchange Coinbase, which laid off 14% of its staff at the beginning of May, reportedly in response to market conditions and the rise of AI. In an X post, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong described how the company is embracing “reduced pod sizes, including ‘one person teams’ with engineers, designers, and product managers all in one role.”

Meta also cited AI in its decision to reduce its workforce by approximately 10% in May, along with roughly 8,000 employees expected to see their roles eliminated as a result of the technology, NPR reported.

However, not all companies are embracing the idea of substituting staff for AI.

For more on the tension between hiring and AI, keep reading on IT Brew.—CN

The week’s biggest HR stories, now in quiz form. Test yourself on the latest headlines in DEI, hiring trends, workplace strategy, and more in a quick, competitive challenge built for HR pros. Challenge your coworkers and see how your score stacks up!