Engaging employees is a growing challenge for HR leaders.

Just 32% of full- and part-time US employees felt engaged in 2022, according to research from Gallup, continuing a trend that started in 2021 when employee engagement declined for the first time in a decade to 34% from 36% year over year.

But there is a secret weapon HR can use to increase engagement and employee retention: value alignment. And that is exactly what one organization is aiming to do. Mineral, an HR and compliance company, has established four core values that they use to connect with and engage employees so they not only do their best work, but they take pride in their company as well.

“The name of the game is engagement,” said Carla Yudhishthu, chief people officer at Mineral. “Our turnover has almost come to a screeching halt. So, now we want to make sure that’s real, that they’re staying for the long haul, and that we are prepared for when the market turns around.”

Keep reading here.—AS

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A growing economy usually offers more job opportunities. India, despite its booming economy, is struggling to create desirable jobs for young workers.

Where in the world? India’s unemployment rate has been falling since the pandemic, according to the State of Working India 2023 report from the Center for Sustainable Employment at Azim Premji University. However, the unemployment rate for recent graduates under 25 remains high, with 42% unemployed. That number drops to 21% for people who have completed some level of higher education, and indicates that people with higher levels of education are more likely to land salaried roles.

Rosa Abraham, a coauthor of the report, told the Indian Express that people may choose to remain unemployed either because the minimum wage isn’t what they’re looking for, or because they come from higher income families.

“For those kinds of young people, they have the luxury to stay unemployed. They don’t necessarily have to bring in money, which is why you see higher unemployment numbers for that category,” she said.

Keep reading here.—KP

GPT-4 would like to add you to its professional network on LinkedIn.

The Microsoft-owned networking platform is adding new AI-powered tools to help recruiters more easily surface job candidates, as LinkedIn continues to take advantage of the generative AI resources of its tech giant parent.

After introducing AI-assisted messages for recruiters in May, LinkedIn will now let head hunters simply type in natural language describing the type of candidate they are looking for, allowing the company to combine profile insights with generative AI to cast a wide net. Other new additions include an AI-powered ad campaign creator and an automated coach for LinkedIn’s education products.

LinkedIn’s VP of product engineering, Erran Berger, told Tech Brew that the tools are designed to help recruiters expand the list of potential candidates by opening up a conversational format between the AI and the human, wherein the system can make suggestions based on insights and criteria the user mentions.

Keep reading on Tech Brew.—PK

Today’s top HR reads.

Stat: Some 64% of CEOs worldwide expect all employees to be working in the office full-time by 2026. (KPMG)

Quote: “It’s important that we all reach Ranger status this year, and I want to ensure that everyone has focus time to upskill on Trailhead.”—Lidiane Jones, CEO of Slack, on why the company is having employees pause work for one week to help them reach the 40-hour level on an external training platform (Fortune)

Read: Zoom’s CEO purports a perhaps surprising motivation behind the company’s hybrid work policy. (the Washington Post)

Tend to your talent: Curious about the current state of hiring? Check out our latest article to see how HR decision-makers adapt to change—and how top companies retain their best and brightest. Together with CareerBuilder.*

Technically HR: AI’s on everyone’s minds, and for good reason. Lauded for tackling mundane tasks, it could also threaten the growth of junior professionals. Read our article to learn about the future of work.*

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