Howdy HR friends!👋

Happy New Year! Hope you're still riding that holiday high because 2026 is already coming in hot.

Jobless claims are dropping, AI is taking over interviews and training, the H-1B system just got completely overhauled, and yes, cannabis may now be a workplace benefit. HR, the future called and it's... complicated.

Welcome to the Friday 5 - five articles, five takeaways. Five minutes away from the chaos to grab a coffee and get caught up on everything that's been happening in HR this week!

🚦Coming up

In today’s edition

📉 jobless claims hit near-yearly low

🤖 AI-powered learning goes multilingual

💼 hiring interviews enter the AI era

🛂 H-1B visa system gets major overhaul

🌿 medical cannabis becomes a workplace benefit

Today’s edition is presented by SelectSoftware Reviews

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💭The Friday Five

Is 2026's workplace going to get a makeover?

📊 Jobless claims drop to second-lowest of the year. Weekly unemployment applications fell to 199,000, marking three consecutive weeks of decline and signaling steady labor conditions despite ongoing concerns about job market sluggishness heading into 2026.

🔗 Read more [Forbes]

🎓 Pluralsight's AI assistant now speaks your language. The learning platform added AI-powered translations in Spanish, German, and French with natural-sounding audio in the original instructor's voice, plus real-time knowledge checks across 3,000+ courses to help tech professionals learn faster.

🔗 Read more [Pluralsight]

🤝 Tech interviews now test how well you work with AI. Karat launched NextGen Interviews where candidates solve complex coding problems alongside AI assistants while expert interviewers assess their judgment and reasoning—reflecting how 70% of engineering leaders plan to hire for AI capabilities in 2026.

🔗 Read more [Karat]

🎫 H-1B visa lottery gets replaced by skills-and-salary system. Starting in 2026, the U.S. will prioritize higher-paid, higher-skilled foreign workers instead of random selection, with a new $100,000 application fee and mandatory social media screening for all applicants and dependents.

🔗 Read more [The HR Digest]

🌱 Medical cannabis reimbursement enters the benefits package. CannaLnx platform now helps employers offer up to $175 monthly for medical cannabis purchases and doctor visits, aiming to bring 10 million patients into compliant, HIPAA-protected medical cannabis programs as attitudes shift nationwide.

🔗 Read more [Employee Benefit News]

For easy reading

That’s it for today.

Thanks for reading to the end and we hope today’s edition helped saved you a few hours in scouring the web for the latest news! 🧠

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Have a great weekend!