🌀 Holiday Chaos Action Plan, 2025's Mega HR Bundle, Post-Layoff Cyberattacks - Nov 28, 2025

On today’s agenda:

🌀 Mindspace in the madness

🛍️ 2025’s HR mega bundle

🛡️ Post-layoff cyberattacks 

THE HR SPOTLIGHT

🌀 Mindspace in the Madness: Guiding Teams Through Holiday Chaos

The holidays can feel like a mental obstacle course: tighter deadlines, short-staffed days, and cognitive overload all collide. Teams need strategies to stay focused, calm, and productive without burning out.

🧐 The backdrop: Holiday overload & brain fog - The holiday season brings cheer — and stress. A 2025 survey by Modern Health found 57％ of U.S. workers say the holidays are the most mentally draining time of year.

Cognitive overload + short-staffed weeks = scattered priorities and higher burnout risk.

🎯 Action plan: Keep teams focused & calm

• Prioritize ruthlessly: Limit daily tasks to 2–3 must-dos.

• Block mental space: Schedule 15–30 min “quiet windows” for deep work.

• Quick check-ins: 5-min huddles to share wins, stress points, or reassign work.

• Recognize the pressure: A simple, “It’s OK if this week is messy,” eases tension.

• Promote real recovery: Encourage unplugging over the weekend to recharge for Monday.

Simple shifts like these protect mental bandwidth and help teams survive — even thrive — during holiday chaos.

📍 Thriving between Thanksgiving & Cyber Monday »

BLACK FRIDAY’S STEAL

🛍️ The 2025 HR Mega Bundle: Massive Value, One Unmissable Toolkit

🛡️ Post-Layoff Cyber Attacks Surge — HCA Mag

• What’s unfolding: Ransomware attacks spike sharply after layoffs: 60％ were after major corporate events, and 43％ hit U.S. organizations after redundancies, often during weekends/holidays when security staff is lighter.

• Why it matters: HR leaders should flag this risk, coordinate with IT to maintain security‑coverage even with fewer people, and ensure departing staff no longer have access to systems.

• What’s unfolding: A recent MIT “Iceberg Index” study finds current AI tools could replace ~11.7% of U.S. jobs — roughly $1.2T in wages — especially in admin, finance, health‑services, and back‑office roles.

• Why it matters: It’s not about doom — but real disruption. For HR, this means rethinking job definitions, upskilling talent, and preparing teams for evolving work. Start planning reskilling or redeployment, not just layoffs.

• What’s unfolding: Majority of U.S. employees say they’ve experienced “quiet firing” — subtle pressure to quit, heavier workloads, micromanagement or strict return‑to‑office mandates — while layoffs continue across industries.

• Why it matters: As organizations shrink or restructure, these tactics may save costs — but they erode trust and tank morale. Facilitate open, honest communication, monitor workloads and support mental wellbeing now, before quiet burnout turns into turnover.

WEEKLY GOODY

COMPLIANCE CORNER

• What’s unfolding: A U.S. federal judge dismissed a lawsuit brought by a former delivery driver who claimed the EEOC wrongly dropped her complaint alleging gender‑biased bathroom‑break policies at Amazon.

• HR implications: HR leaders should proactively audit workplace policies (like breaks, scheduling, pay structures) for equity rather than relying on regulators to do it.

• What’s unfolding: An appeals court revived a lawsuit against FedEx Freight, Inc. after it fired a freight‑handler who took time off to care for his high‑risk pregnant wife.

• HR implications: The ruling highlights that FMLA protections can apply before childbirth — not just after. HR teams must ensure managers understand that leave requests related to pregnancy complications qualify and must be handled carefully.

• What’s unfolding: Misconduct — such as harassment during office holiday parties — in small, closely held companies can trigger “shareholder oppression” claims. Minority owners may have legal grounds for a forced buyout if majority owners’ behavior jeopardizes the business.

• HR implications: This underscores the need for clear conduct policies, especially around holiday events. Treat holiday parties like any workplace event: set ground rules, monitor behavior, and follow up on complaints — to protect both employee safety and owners’ liability.

BREAKROOM

QUICK POLL

📬 Missed Wednesday’s issue on ‘Turkey Day Team Builders’? Read it »