Amazon is among the companies issuing new RTO mandates for 2025, but it’s taken its policy a step further. The company recently announced a strict new review process for disabled employees who want to work remotely, but disability advocates say such policies are unnecessary and can create a culture of distrust.

Catch up. After announcing in September that employees will be expected to report to the office five days a week in 2025, Amazon recently introduced new requirements for disabled employees to work remotely as a reasonable accommodation, Bloomberg reported. The new roadmap is a “multi-level executive review” of an employee’s disability and need for accommodation.

Disabled employees who want to continue or begin working remotely will need to provide medical documentation to an “accommodation consultant” and may need to work in the office for up to a month to prove to the company that they need the accommodation. Even if the request is approved at one level, it could be denied at the next, according to Bloomberg. Some Amazon employees with disabilities have reportedly been asked personal medical questions and have had to repeatedly answer others.

What HR leaders should consider. Remote work has been found to be largely responsible for recent record employment of disabled people, but it isn’t a guaranteed accommodation under the Americans with Disabilities Act. Workers must prove that their job can be done effectively and (like other accommodation requests) without an “undue burden” on their employer. Many disabled workers being called back to the office have been doing their jobs at home for years, and remote work has allowed them to be more productive.

Keep reading here.—KP

Mass layoffs may have dashed HR pros’ hopes of hiring picking up.

Roughly 25% of the global workforce is anticipating being laid off in the next six months, according to a recent ManpowerGroup report. While the US job market has been steady, many workers are concerned about how the economy and hiring might be impacted by the incoming Trump administration.

“While we all talk about the fundamentals of the job market being fairly steady, there’s not a lot of hiring happening…Hiring is definitely paused,” Rajesh Namboothiry, SVP at Manpower US, told HR Brew. He said he’s heard from candidates and recruiters alike that the hiring is “not at the pace they’d like to see.”

What’s in store. Namboothiry said he expects hiring to continue at its current pace for the rest of 2024 and into the first few months of 2025. Some companies, he said, may have held off on 2025 budget and hiring planning until after the US presidential election. Now that it’s over, he said companies have more clarity on what the future may hold and how they can budget and hire accordingly.

Keep reading here.—MC

As the labor market has cooled, many companies have focused on getting the most from their current workforce.

“[Companies] are making sure that they’re managing their attrition and churn. They’re engaging their workforce, and that’s the strategy they’re going to be on for the rest of the year,” Rajesh Namboothiry, SVP at Manpower US, previously told HR Brew.

As people pros lead their employees into the new year, Vijay Pendakur, keynote speaker and talent effectiveness coach and author, shares how leaders can increase team productivity and maximize performance, in his forthcoming book, The Alchemy of Talent: Leading Teams to Peak Performance.

HR Brew spoke with Pendakur about what talent pros can learn from his book.

Keep reading here.—MC