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North American Edition
25th April 2025
 
THE HOT STORY
Microsoft 'will now pay some employees to leave'
Microsoft is giving low performers the option to accept a payout and leave the company rather than be placed on a performance improvement plan (PIP), according to Business Insider, which has obtained an internal email outlining the company’s new performance management system. Microsoft's chief people officer Amy Coleman described the new system as having “clear expectations and a timeline for improvement.” A separation agreement that would be the equivalent of 16 weeks' pay is reportedly being offered to those who want to forgo performance management.
HYBRID WORKING
Intel employees instructed to return to the office four days a week
New Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan has told employees that they must be on site four days a week beginning September 1. “When we spend time together in person, it fosters more engaging and productive discussion and debate,” Tan wrote on Intel's website. “It drives better and faster decision-making. And it strengthens our connection with colleagues.” The chipmaker adopted a “hybrid-first” approach in 2021, which allowed most staff the flexibility to work from home much of the time, but more recently, the company has sought to have workers on site about three days a week. “Adherence to this policy has been uneven at best,” Tan said. “I strongly believe that our sites need to be vibrant hubs of collaboration that reflect our culture in action.”
TECHNOLOGY
Workers 'could save 122 hours annually by adopting AI in admin tasks'
The U.K. could gain £400bn ($533bn) from AI-driven growth if it trained its workforce, Google has said in a report on a pilot scheme which suggested workers could save more than 120 hours a year by using AI in administrative tasks. The AI Works pilots were conducted in a small business network, educational trusts and a union. Debbie Weinstein, Google's Europe, Middle East and Africa president, observed that workers' concern that using AI was not legitimate or fair was a barrier to adoption of the technology. "People wanted 'permission to prompt'", Weinstein explained. "'Is it okay for me to be doing this?' And so giving them that reassurance was really important."
WORKFORCE
Weekly jobless claims inch up to 222,000
U.S. initial jobless claims climbed last week, according to the Department of Labor, but remained close to recent levels. In the seven days to April 19th there were 222,000 initial claims, up 6,000 from the prior week and in line with economist expectations. The four-week moving average dropped 750 to 220,250, while continuing claims, reported with a one-week lag, fell 37,000 to 1.841m. "The jobless claims data for now are consistent with a labor market that is stable enough to allow the Federal Reserve to keep policy on hold while it monitors the path of inflation as tariffs kick in," said Nancy Vanden Houten, lead U.S. economist at Oxford Economics.
ENGAGEMENT
European workers remain the least engaged regional workforce
For only the second time in the past 12 years, the global percentage of engaged employees fell, from 23% in 2023 to 21% in 2024, according to Gallup's latest State of the Global Workplace report. For the fifth year in a row, European workers' engagement (13%) was lower than in any other world region. The primary cause for the global decline in engagement was a drop in managers' engagement. While engagement among individual contributors remained flat at 18%, managers' engagement fell from 30% to 27%. No other worker category experienced as significant a decline in engagement as the world's managers. Two types of managers were particularly affected: Young (under 35) manager engagement fell by five percentage points. Female manager engagement dropped by seven points. "Manager engagement affects team engagement, which affects productivity. Business performance - and ultimately GDP growth - is at risk if executive leaders do not address manager breakdown," said Jim Harter, Gallup's chief workplace scientist.
LEGAL
Starbucks faces lawsuit over slave labor
Labor rights group International Rights Advocates has filed a lawsuit against Starbucks, alleging the company sourced coffee from Cooxupe, a Brazilian cooperative linked to slave-like working conditions. The lawsuit, presented in U.S. District Court, claims Starbucks violated U.S. trafficking laws by continuing to purchase coffee from Cooxupe despite repeated citations for forced labor. Terry Collingsworth, founder of International Rights Advocates, said: “Consumers are paying obscene amounts for a cup of Starbucks coffee that was harvested by trafficked slaves”. Starbucks has denied the allegations, asserting that it only sources from a small portion of Cooxupe's members and adheres to ethical sourcing standards. Cooxupe has stated it is not involved in the lawsuit and lacks access to its details.
American Bar Association sues DOJ
The American Bar Association (ABA) has filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), alleging that the termination of $3.2m in federal grants was a retaliatory act for ABA criticism of the Trump administration. The ABA contends that the action violates the First Amendment and seeks a federal court's intervention to prevent the cancellation of funds that support training for lawyers representing victims of domestic and sexual violence. A memo from U.S. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche had barred DOJ attorneys from participating in ABA events. He described the organization as engaging in "activist causes." The ABA says it has lost nearly $69m in federal grants and had to lay off over 300 staff members.
Adidas sued by former employee in fresh racism row
German sportswear group Adidas is being sued by former U.S. employee April Burton, who claims she was unlawfully fired after complaining about racist and sexist comments made by senior directors.
STRATEGY
Meta cuts jobs at Reality Labs
Meta is cutting an unspecified number of staff from its Reality Labs unit. The cuts affect teams within Oculus Studios, Meta's in-house game development arm for Quest virtual reality headsets. Employees working on titles including Supernatural, a VR fitness game, are among those affected. "These changes are meant to help Studios work more efficiently on future mixed reality experiences for our growing audience," a Meta spokesperson said.
TAX
Taxing global workforces: a new challenge
The UN's Tax Committee has highlighted tax asymmetry and competition as critical issues affecting global workforce taxation. Richard Tonge from Grant Thornton noted that "regulators are looking to address key tax issues" in light of increased employee mobility post-Covid. The Committee's recent session proposed a draft for the Model Double Tax Treaty Commentary, aiming to clarify taxation rights between countries. However, challenges remain, particularly in defining what constitutes a mobile workforce and addressing the implications of tax asymmetry. The proposed treaty seeks to mitigate double taxation but faces scrutiny over its effectiveness and relevance to developing economies. Despite the slow progress, discussions continue among countries to improve tax regulations for cross-border work arrangements.
HEALTH & WELLBEING
Earlier and more sleep linked to better test performance
Researchers at the University of Cambridge in the U.K. and Fudan University in Shanghai have found that young people who go to sleep earlier, and who sleep for longer, tend to have better brain function and perform better in cognitive tests. The study, which tracked the sleep patterns of more than 3,000 adolescents, found that the 37% of young people who tended to go to bed and fall asleep earliest performed best in tests involving vocabulary, reading, problem solving and focus. Cambridge professor Barbara Sahakian said: "Even though the differences in the amount of sleep that each group got was relatively small, at just over a quarter-of-an-hour between the best and worst sleepers, we could still see differences in brain structure and activity and in how well they did at tasks."
INTERNATIONAL
Undocumented construction workers in Paris are still waiting for papers
In Paris, undocumented construction workers are still awaiting promised residency permits and health insurance over a year after a wildcat strike at the city's Adidas Arena. The CNT-SO union's Rafika Rahmani suspects the delays are a form of retaliation for the strike, which highlighted poor working conditions.  “It's like being in prison in France,” said Adama, a builder who has struggled to find comfortable housing. He sleeps in a room with 11 other people in the eastern suburb of Montreuil. “It's like if you don't have papers in this county, you don't have any value.”
OTHER
Financial uncertainty grips one third of U.S. adults
A Financial Literacy Month survey conducted by The Harris Poll on behalf of AICPA found that more than one third of American adults have felt cautious (37%) or uncertain (36%) about their financial situation in the past 12 months. The trend highlights a growing concern among individuals about their financial stability. When asked about new financial behaviors they have adopted in the past 12 months, 28% of Americans reported that they have been charging less on their credit cards. Over a quarter (27%) said they have started saving or increased their savings rate in the past 12 months, with those ages 18 to 44 significantly more likely to have done so than those ages 45+ (37% versus 19%). “Money is one of the biggest stressors in many Americans’ lives, at times causing anxiety and tension with a spouse, partner, or other family members,” says Dan Snyder, CPA/PFS, AICPA's director of personal financial planning. “Taking control of your financial situation and finding comfort with what you can and can’t control is a good starting point to help alleviate financial uncertainty.”
 


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