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- 🌎 Engage Through Culture, Choosing an HR System, Friendships Over Paycheck - Sep 15, 2025
🌎 Engage Through Culture, Choosing an HR System, Friendships Over Paycheck - Sep 15, 2025
Turning cultural awareness into engagement, finding the right HR software, the value of workplace friendships, and more HR tidbits inside...
Hola, culture catalysts! 👋 Happy Hispanic Heritage Month. We know culture isn’t just salsa nights and team lunches—it’s the heartbeat of engagement. Let’s explore how culture drives connection, retention, and real results.
On today’s agenda:
🌎 Engagement through culture
👥 Friendships > paycheck
🌟 Walmart’s AI certification
 | WEEKLY GOODY |
THE HR SPOTLIGHT
🌎 Culture That Connects: Turning Recognition into Engagement
Hispanic Heritage Month kicks off today! It’s more than a calendar event—it’s a chance for HR leaders to use cultural recognition as a springboard for year-round inclusion and engagement.
🧐 The situation:
One-off cultural nods can feel performative. Recognition without follow-through erodes trust. This midyear 2025, only 32％ of U.S. employees are engaged at work, with engagement levels hitting a 10-year low. (Gallup)
💡 What HR can do:
Listen first: Ask Hispanic/Latinx employees what real recognition looks like. Use ERGs, surveys, and feedback loops.
Go beyond the month: Mix cultural learning into meetings, L&D, and recognition programs.
Measure impact: Track how inclusion links to retention and promotions—then act on the gaps.
Empower managers: Train leaders to recognize, empathize, and model inclusivity daily.
Culture isn’t built on brochures—it’s built on trust, empathy, and action.
🚀 Get more ideas on creating real, lasting company culture: How to Build a Great Company Culture »
TOGETHER WITH HR PARTNER
✏️ Free workbook: A simpler way to choose the right HR system for your SMB
If you handle HR (or part of it) in an SMB, you know how much time manual admin tasks can steal from your day. This free workbook makes choosing a new HR system simpler, showing you what your team really needs, how to pick the right solution, and the first steps to get it running.
TODAY’S CULTURE CUE
🤝 5-Min Story Swap - Start your next team meeting with a 5-minute story share where one member highlights a cultural tradition or value. Builds inclusion, fast!
THE HR PULSE
🤖 AI + Humans = Best Customer Service — HR Grapevine
What’s unfolding: Gartner predicts no Fortune 500 company will be fully agentless by 2028—AI will handle basics, but humans remain vital for complex, emotional work.
Why it matters: HR must reskill staff for high-value roles and highlight emotional intelligence as a differentiator in customer experience.
🌟 Smart Upskill: OpenAI + Walmart AI Certs — The HR Digest
What’s unfolding: OpenAI and Walmart will roll out an AI certification for associates in 2026 to build workforce AI fluency.
Why it matters: HR should treat AI literacy as core, offering upskilling programs that improve retention and career growth opportunities.
🔍 Cut the Jargon: Federal Job Title Clean Up — Fed News Network
What’s unfolding: OPM is urging agencies to replace jargon-heavy job titles with clear, private-sector-friendly terms.
Why it matters: Simpler titles attract more diverse applicants, improve employer branding, and make roles easier to understand.
RESOURCE ROUNDUP
 | Peas in a Pod Consulting |
 | AvaHR |
 | Zoho |
COMPLIANCE CORNER
🧑⚖️ Tribunal Hits Sainsbury’s for Sex Discrimination — HR Mag
What’s unfolding: A former Sainsbury’s manager was awarded ~£60,000 after a tribunal found she’d suffered repeated verbal abuse from a male colleague, linked to sex discrimination and whistleblowing.
HR implications: HR leaders should audit their workplace behaviour standards and grievance procedures, especially for gender-based harassment, ensuring investigations are taken seriously; waiting until claims escalate can cost dearly in compensation and reputation.
🚕 Uber Sued for Disability Discrimination — HR Grapevine
What’s unfolding: The U.S. Department of Justice has sued Uber alleging systemic discrimination: refusing rides to people with service animals or mobility aids, imposing illegal fees and denying access in violation of the ADA.
HR implications: Any org with customer-facing roles must ensure accessibility policies are robust, staff training covers ADA compliance, and audits are in place; noncompliance risks large penalties and serious impact to brand trust.
🪪 Visa Rule Shakeup for International Hires — RN Law Group
What’s unfolding: As of September 6, 2025, the U.S. Department of State ended “third-country stamping” for most non-immigrant visas, requiring applicants to interview in their country of nationality or legal residence.
HR implications: Global mobility and talent acquisition teams must adjust timelines and planning for international hires, communicate visa delays to new/existing employees, and revise immigration budgets; failing to anticipate new processing times could delay onboarding significantly.
TREND WATCH
👥 Friendships Over Paychecks
Digesting the data: A recent KPMG survey of 1,019 full-time U.S. professionals reveals more than half would give up ~20％ of salary to work alongside close friends; 57％ would take a job paying 10％ below market if it meant meaningful connection, rather than higher pay without it. Remote and tech/media/telecom workers report high isolation, nearly double 2024 levels, even as Gen Z places especially high value on workplace camaraderie.
Outlook for HR: HR leaders shouldn’t rely on pay alone to attract or retain talent—fostering meaningful relationships at work must be baked into culture, policies, and physical or virtual workspace design. Initiatives like peer-buddy programs, social time, team rituals, and manager training in relational leadership will become key levers for engagement, well-being, and performance.
👀 Check out KPMG’s full report and see how friendships are becoming a form of workplace currency.
UPCOMING EVENTS
 | Sept 16, Virtual - AIHR |
 | Sept 22, Virtual - Gartner |
 | Sept 23, Virtual - HR Morning |
HR TECH WATCH
🔧 A Review of SAP SuccessFactors HCM: Powering People Potential
Why we selected it: SAP SuccessFactors HCM offers AI-enabled, cloud-based tools that manage everything from payroll to talent planning, used by thousands of orgs globally.
Key features:
Unified HR Core & Payroll – central HRIS, payroll, time & attendance in one system.
Talent-Management Suite – recruiting, onboarding, learning, performance, compensation all built in.
AI & People Analytics – scenario modelling, skills-based recommendations, workforce insights.
Adaptive Compliance & Updates – auto-updates for legal/regulatory changes; field workforce via Fieldglass.
Pros:
| Cons:
|
HRAddict rating: ★★★★☆ 4.0
SAP SuccessFactors HCM is a robust, globally trusted HCM suite that unifies HR, talent, analytics, and compliance so organizations can scale with insight and agility.
This is an independent review using aggregated insights and publicly available data.
BREAKROOM
SMART READS
🎨 Tips & Policies for Tattoos in the Workplace
🚪 Conducting an Effective Exit Interview
✨ Employee Relations: The Key Skills Required
QUICK POLL
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