Howdy HR friends!👋

Hope you’re all having a relaxed Friday!

On Tuesday, we looked at the ai job apocalypse that never came. Turns out, the “AI revolution” isn’t replacing jobs as much as it’s revealing how unprepared most companies are to use it well.

Today, it’s time for a quick rundown of this week’s HR news. That’s right: 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!

Let’s jump in shall we?

🚦Coming up

In today’s edition

🤖 Amazon slashing HR jobs as AI takes over

📱 Your social media feed is messing with your workday mood

💡 Citi making 180k employees learn how to talk to AI

👶 Motherhood costing women £65k in lost earnings

🎭 Companies doing DEI for show not substance

Today’s edition is presented by

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💭The Friday Five

While companies cut HR jobs for AI, they're spending millions teaching employees how to prompt it—make it make sense

🪓 Amazon's HR department faces the algorithm's axe. The retail giant is cutting up to 15% of its 10,000+ HR workforce as it doubles down on AI investment, with CEO Andy Jassy's cost-cutting mission claiming another victim in the People eXperience and Technology division.

🔗 Read more - HR Grapevine

📱 Your Instagram feed is sabotaging your employee’s work performance. New research reveals that social media content directly impacts employee behavior—with political posts triggering anxiety and social withdrawal, while "thirst traps" and family photos boost self-assurance and productivity throughout the workday.

🔗 Read more - HRD America

🤖 Citi demands 180,000 employees learn to sweet-talk their AI overlords. The banking giant rolled out mandatory AI prompt training for most staff, teaching them how to effectively communicate with artificial intelligence tools because apparently, talking to robots is now a core job skill.

🔗 Read more - HR Dive

👶 The motherhood penalty hits women with a £65,618 bill by age five. UK mothers see their monthly earnings plummet 42% compared to pre-birth levels, losing over £65k in the first five years of their child's life as they face reduced employment likelihood and pay gaps.

🔗 Read more - The Guardian

🎭 Nearly half of employees call BS on performative DEI efforts. A staggering 45% of UK workers believe diversity initiatives prioritize external image over genuine change, with 51% saying companies focus on "ticking boxes" rather than building truly inclusive cultures.

🔗 Read more - HR Magazine

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! 🧠

We know you’re super busy and as ever, we really appreciate you saving some room for us in your inbox 😀

Have a great weekend!