More than 90% of US CEOs believe a recession is coming in the next 12 months, according to a recent KPMG survey. With payroll generally the biggest expense on a business’s books, some are eyeing hiring freezes or layoffs to meet the moment.

But for others, investing in employees might just be the smartest way to become recession proof, and some workplace leaders are exploring the best ways to retain and reshuffle teams in a leaner economy.

Thoughtful companies “know that they need their really great people when times are uncertain to face all the challenges that their business is about to face,” said Michael Bush, CEO at Great Place to Work, an HR consulting and research firm that works with companies to improve organizational culture.

Bush told HR Brew that companies that are “obsessed” with their employees understand that workers are crucial to achieving business goals. For them, making sure top talent stays and stays engaged is the name of the game.

Let employees know you’re with them. At HR tech company UKG—which acquired Great Place to Work in 2021—that means transparently reacting to the headlines.

“I can’t ignore what’s happening in the broader world because employees want us to translate, ‘What does this mean for me?’” said Pat Wadors, UKG’s CPO.

Wadors said that UKG is combining its “disparate allowances” into one reimbursement benefit program, launching in January. Employees will be able to choose how the company can best financially support them, whether that’s with commuting, childcare, or paying for dog walkers.

Retain and develop your workforce. The HR team at multinational electric and energy company Schneider Electric are recession-proofing by doubling down on employee development with an internal AI-driven platform called Open Talent Market. Keep reading here.—AD

Do you work in HR or have information about your HR department we should know? Email [email protected] or DM @adamderose on Twitter. For completely confidential conversations, ask Adam for his number on Signal.

Dilip Rao is the co-founder and CEO of Sharebite, a startup that seeks to drive retention, engagement, and connection through the power of something essential to humanity: food. The meal-ordering platform works with companies to offer lunch as an employee benefit. In doing so, it intends to beef up retention and foster community by allowing employees to eat together. Since starting in 2015, the company has raised almost $63 million from a variety of investors, including RiverPark Ventures and the London Technology Club. We spoke to Rao about how something simple, like lunch, can be a means of tackling important HR issues.

What product or service does your company offer? We’re the leading food benefits platform that’s built exclusively for the workplace and for the modern workforce. It helps companies provide a meal benefit program for all their employees, and have these benefits utilized, no matter what their workforce strategy is…[Employers] provide a daily subsidy, employees get a daily email saying, ‘Here are some really nice restaurants that you can order from’...All the food arrives in your building in one delivery. And it really brings employees together.

What specific issue in HR does your company intend to solve? The number one thing that we hear a lot [that] CHROs, heads of people, even CEOs lose sleep about is employee engagement…We hear a lot of companies saying, ‘Look…we’re spending $1,700 per employee per month maintaining an office space…but they’re coming in twice a week or three times a week.’ We want to make it so that they can use their Sharebite allowance, they can use their meal benefit…Especially in this environment, every dollar helps.

What kind of companies are your primary customers? Keep reading here.

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Whether it’s recruiting, engaging, or supporting increasingly diverse and dispersed workforces, this much is true: HR runs on tech. We’ve spent the past month examining the technological advancements driving the field into the future—here’s what we discovered.

How HR can help disabled employees get the tools and accommodations they need

Picture this: You’re running a marathon without a shoe. Sure, you might make it across the finish line, but not without a struggle. The same can be said about employees without workplace tools. Accessibility challenges can make it difficult for disabled workers to get and keep jobs, but there are steps HR pros can take to help them succeed.

Web3 talent marketplaces want to be the next LinkedIns, but what exactly do they do?

A wave of startups are attempting to reinvent talent marketplaces for a new era—the Web3 era, that is. A conceptual iteration of the internet that aims to place ownership in the hands of users, Web3 is often touted by technocrats as transformative. But will they revolutionize the hiring landscape, or prove to be just a lot of hype?

There are more HR tech tools than ever before. How does an HR team decide which ones are best?

HRIS and ATS and HCM: There’s no shortage of HR tech on the market, and figuring out what products best suit people pros’ needs is making their heads spin. But HR can avoid what Tripp Mansfield, senior talent acquisition specialist at Nift, calls “analysis paralysis” by taking a 10,000-foot view of what they have and what they need.

Having too many HR platforms can create confusion, survey says

People pros aren’t the only ones with too much tech on their hands. HR Brew partnered with Harris Poll to survey US employees about their experiences with workplace tech. While almost 70% of respondents who use one HR platform reported feeling confident in their ability to find information, just 49% of those who use more than one tool said the same.—VV

Do you work in HR or have information about your HR department we should know? Email [email protected] or DM @VickyValet on Twitter. For completely confidential conversations, ask Vicky for her number on Signal.

Today’s top HR reads.

Stat: There were over 2 million Google searches for excuses to miss work in 2022, up from 1.9 million in 2021 and about 300,000 in 2018. (Bloomberg)

Quote: “We’re very much at the two-minute warning of this law going into effect, and many employers are still scrambling.”—Ian Carleton Schaefer, chair of Loeb & Loeb’s New York employment and labor practice, on companies’ rush to comply with New York City’s pay transparency law (the Wall Street Journal)

Read: Big Tech’s “rocket-ship days” are over, writes Peter Kafka of Vox. What will it mean for all of its would-be workers? (Vox)

Retirement revamp: Congress is considering a bill that could improve retirement security for thousands of Americans. Betterment at Work explains how the proposed legislation could affect you and your employees in this report.*

^{*This is sponsored advertising content.}