Picture this: Your company celebrates a big win, then two days later, it announces a massive layoff…that timing feels off, doesn’t it?

Paramount Global, owner of streaming platform Paramount+ and TV networks including CBS, MTV, and Comedy Central, announced layoffs on Feb. 13 affecting roughly 800 employees, or 3% of its workforce, CNN reported. While Paramount Global’s CEO, Bob Bakish, told employees on Jan. 25 that the company would “reduce our workforce globally” as a “path to earnings growth,” according to a memo obtained by CNN, the news came just two days after CBS’s broadcast of Super Bowl LVIII garnered 123.4 million viewers, up from 115.1 million in 2023, the New York Times reported.

“The optics are poor,” said Deborah Grayson Riegel, a communication and leadership expert who’s taught at Columbia and Wharton Business Schools. “When you are a company that is in the public eye around something so big and so current, there will likely never be a great time for pulling the rug out from under [employees], but I think the timing could and should have been better.”

Grayson Riegel and leadership consultant and author Cy Wakeman shared their thoughts on the timing of the cuts and how HR pros can handle tricky layoff situations.

Keep reading here.—MC

Does “global talent” bring to mind thoughts of limitless talent possibilities…or endless red tape? After all, sorting out global benefits, payroll, and compliance can be a heavy lift for any HR department.

Deel is changing that. They created a free international hiring guide to help you build a global team quickly and efficiently. It’s got you covered when it comes to:

• finding and attracting global talent
• knowing what labor laws to consider when hiring
• processing international payroll on time
• staying compliant with employment and tax laws abroad

Deel helps thousands of companies expand globally, handling and maintaining compliance for teams in over 150 countries. In other words, their guidance is gold.

Expand your team without getting bogged down by time-consuming administrative tasks. Download Deel’s handbook.

In a dog-eat-dog world where hustle culture is frequently rewarded, workers often feel obligated to reply to managers no matter the time of day (or night).

Some countries are passing laws protecting workers from unnecessary after-work contact. Earlier this month, Australia became the latest to pass such a protection, the Sydney Morning Herald reported.

Where in the world? The Australian Senate passed the amendment to the Fair Work Legislation Amendment on Feb. 8, allowing workers to ignore work-related messages outside of normal working hours. The law stipulates that workers who believe their employer is violating the law should address it directly with their company before filing a report with the Fair Work Commission. Repeated offending companies could be fined up to $18,000 AUD, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported.

Satellite view. Australia isn’t the first country to impose this type of law. Mexico, Argentina, and the Czech Republic all passed similar legislation as a result of the remote-work boom brought on by Covid, HR Brew previously reported.

Keep reading here.—KP

The Department of Labor (DOL) announced updated plans to support racial and gender equity in the workforce, it said in a press release on Feb. 14.

According to the DOL, the plan aims to remove barriers for workers and retirees by ensuring gender equity across DOL services, continuing to improve services for those whose primary language is not English, and making sure that individuals in underserved communities can access good jobs.

The plan will also focus on supporting workers in the Southeast, where there are fewer worker protections and more wage disparities, and workers are more likely to be unaware of their rights, according to the DOL. The department will also facilitate relationships between local governments and private companies to ensure employers use good hiring and retention practices.

The priorities are an update to the DOL’s Equity Action Plan, which it introduced in 2022.

Keep reading here.—KP

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Today’s top HR reads.

Stat: 62% of HR leaders said their organization began using AI for HR functions in the last year. (SHRM)

Quote: “My advice is for leaders to recognise who is not included at their company and to ensure their workforce reflects the talent that is available externally.”—Melonie Parker, chief diversity officer at Google, on companies that are reducing their DE&I efforts (BBC)

Read: Simple work tasks could be replaced by AI, but some argue time spent on busywork is valuable. (The Verge)

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