As companies rolled out DEI goals following protests against racial injustice that occurred in 2020, some sought to track their progress by tying these goals to employees’ compensation.

Linking DEI metrics to executive compensation became a common practice in the private sector, with more than three-quarters of S&P 500 companies doing so as of 2023, according to a report from The Conference Board and ESGAUGE. In some cases companies made DEI a KPI, or key performance indicator, by asking employees to detail how they contributed to these goals in annual performance reviews, possibly affecting their compensation.

Such practices had already landed some employers in legal hot water, but they’re under much more intense scrutiny now due to President Donald Trump’s crackdown on DEI. On Mar. 17 Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) Chair Andrea Lucas sent a letter questioning US law firms about their DEI practices, and specifically asked them if they’d tied “partner or associate compensation to DEI or diversity efforts.”

For more on employer concerns about tying DEI to compensation, keep reading here.—CV

Human resources professionals across Health and Human Services (HHS) agencies were laid off last week, part of the Department of Government Efficiency’s (DOGE) efforts to slash spending and personnel across the federal government.

In a fact sheet about layoffs, which are expected to affect some 10,000 workers, HHS said HR would be centralized with a number of other departments, including IT, external affairs, and policies.

“Open to work” posts poured in on LinkedIn from HR pros who’d been employed by HHS looking for their next role. Those affected have HR experience in areas like talent acquisition, labor relations, employee engagement, workforce planning, benefits, and retirement, Julie Broussard Berko, HR director at the National Institutes of Health, wrote in a post on behalf of colleagues who lost their jobs.

For more on how the cuts caught HR in the crossfire, keep reading here.—CV

While more and more companies are implementing five-day RTOs, some employees are continuing to work from home.

More than one-fourth (26.8%) of workers whose companies require in-person attendance report doing “some work” remotely on Friday, according to WFH Research’s latest Survey of Working Arrangements and Attitudes (SWAA). Anywhere from 9.3% to 17.6% said the same for the remaining workweek.

Despite “chatter” around RTOs, and large employers like Amazon and JPMorgan remaining bullish on in-person work, the average amount of time spent working remotely hasn’t changed much in the last few years, Jose Maria Barrero, an assistant professor of finance at the Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México’s business school in Mexico City and co-founder of WFH Research, told HR Brew.

For more on the findings in this survey on work arrangements, keep reading here.—MC

Recruiting benchmarks are shifting—are you keeping up? Join us virtually on April 24 for a data-packed event analyzing 136m+ applications across four years. You’ll walk away with actionable insights on hiring trends, funnel performance, and recruiter workload to guide smarter, more strategic hiring in 2025. Sign up here.