Hello there, HR Pros! 🤗 “We care about your wellbeing” hits differently when your calendar has zero breathing room. This spooky season, let’s expose wellness washing and make employee wellbeing more than a costume.
In this issue:
📽️ Live GTM building
🏖️ Mini-retirements
◉ WEEKLY GOODY
Employee Handbook [template]
In case you missed it — less guesswork, more time to focus on getting the details right.
Only available for download to subscribers.
◉ THE HR SPOTLIGHT
The Wellness Washing Epidemic: 5 Workplace Initiatives That Can Miss the Mark
More wellness perks don't always mean healthier and happier employees. An Fleming’s Employee wellbeing study found no improvement in average employee wellbeing from individual-level mental health interventions, which means even well-intentioned initiatives can miss the mark when workplace problems go unaddressed.
Good Perks, Wrong Priorities — A wellness initiative becomes performative when it looks supportive on paper but leaves employees' real struggles untouched:
Mindfulness sessions: When employees are taught to manage stress while unrealistic workloads remain unchanged.
Step challenges & fitness contests: When participation earns incentives, but employees lack the time, flexibility, or support to take part.
Mental health apps and EAPs: When resources are promoted without addressing affordability, accessibility barriers, or long wait times.
No-limit PTO and flexibility policies: When employees technically have freedom but feel guilty taking time off or face backlash for setting boundaries.
Wellness surveys and awareness campaigns: When HR collects feedback, celebrates participation—but employees never see meaningful follow-through.
HR can make wellness more meaningful by addressing root causes, designing inclusive programs, and measuring outcomes—not just attendance. Remember: a meditation app can't fix a calendar packed tighter than a carry-on before a holiday weekend.
◉ TOGETHER WITH - HubSpot
Watch Us Build Your First Agent Workflow Live
Join HubSpot for Startups and Dust on October 28 at 11am EDT / 8am PDT for a live webinar.
If logging, enrichment, and routing are eating your team’s week, this one’s for you. We’ll build the agents that handle that go-to-market work in HubSpot and Dust, so your team can get back to selling.
You’ll watch us build a post-call automation and a Slack account ownership layer. Then you can set up the same thing for your team.
◉ CULTURE CUE - Try this with your team
Weekend Mood Forecast 🔮 — Ask everyone to describe their weekend plans using just three emojis. Guess the plans and compare everyone's Friday energy.
◉ THE HR PULSE - What’s shaping the workplace
🏖️ Mini-Retirements Bubbling Up — NTD
What’s unfolding: More workers are exploring extended career breaks to travel, recharge, or pursue personal goals without waiting for traditional retirement.
Why it matters: HR leaders can consider sabbaticals, unpaid leave, and flexible career-break policies to support retention while setting clear expectations around benefits and returning to work.
🔐 Major HR System Goes Offline — HCA Mag
What’s unfolding: BambooHR temporarily took its systems offline on October 21, 2026, amid critical PHP security vulnerabilities, disrupting HR and payroll workflows before getting restored later that day.
Why it matters: HR teams should maintain payroll contingency plans, confirm vendor security updates, and prepare employee communications for unexpected system outages.
🚗 The RTO Tax — HR Executive
What’s unfolding: A 2026 survey found that U.S. employees face rising office-related expenses, with working parents experiencing even greater increases due to additional childcare expenses.
Why it matters: HR leaders should weigh commuting and childcare expenses when reviewing return-to-office policies, considering commuter benefits, flexible schedules, and hybrid options.
◉ FUTURE FOCUS - Emerging people trends
Clocking Into the Future: What's Next for Frontline Workforce Management
What’s emerging: Deloitte recently announced a new Frontline Workforce Management solution that brings shift scheduling, time-off requests, labor forecasting, and compliance into one connected system. The platform aims to reduce manual work and improve workforce planning and flexibility.
Deloitte reports that a global airline using the solution reduced absenteeism by 15％ through automated shift swaps, alongside improvements in scheduling efficiency.
Why it matters: For employers in healthcare, retail, hospitality, manufacturing, and transportation, fragmented scheduling can contribute to staffing gaps, overtime expenses, and employee frustration. Connected workforce tools could help organizations balance operational demands with employees’ scheduling preferences.
How it will impact HR: HR teams may need to rely more on integrated workforce systems to forecast staffing needs, automate shift exchanges, and identify potential compliance issues. HR leaders should assess existing systems, data quality,employee privacy, and scheduling fairness before adopting new technology.
◉ RESOURCE ROUNDUP - To equip you for leadership
AIHR
Skills Gap Analysis Guide + templates
A 3-step guide with real-word examples, including handy Excel templates.
Explore the guide »
Workforce
Payroll Processing [checklist]
Customizable checklist to verify employee details, calculate earnings, and stay compliant.
Try the checklist »
PurelyHR
Out-of-Office (OOO) Generator
Create automated responses for when you’re unavailable
Start generating »
◉ FLASH VOTE - The community weigh-in
What's taking up the most space on your HR year-end to-do list?
◉ BREAKROOM - Your virtual watercooler
◉ SMART READS - Worth bookmarking
📄 How to Write a Layoff Letter
🏁 20 Motivating Workplace Competitions
📉 Managing Poor Employee Performance
A note from the editor
Before you close out your Friday, here's a little end-of-the-week reflection: progress at work doesn't always come from big changes. Sometimes, it's a better conversation, a clearer decision, or taking the time to listen. We hope you get a well-deserved break and a weekend filled with everything that brings you joy. See you next week!
📬 Missed Wednesday’s issue on ‘Verifying AI Skills’? Read it »
