Howdy HR friends!👋

Hope you're settling into the new year with some clarity and a bit of breathing room!

The job market everyone predicted would explode in 2026? It's staying stubbornly quiet. Workers aren't job-hopping with abandon, they're hunkering down. And the disconnect between what employees need and what companies are offering is widening, not closing.

This edition unpacks why the 2026 workforce might be fundamentally different from 2025's, and what HR leaders need to understand about hiring, retention, and flexibility in a market that's moving slower but demands more intentionality than ever.

Today’s edition is presented by SelectSoftware Reviews

🔁 43% of HR Leaders Are Prioritizing Tech in 2026. Are You One of Them?

According to a survey by Paycom, the average HR team uses 6+ vendors and stores data across multiple systems. The result? Lost time, bad insights, and tech that gets in the way of people work. And the cost? 7.3 hours/week lost per employee, adding up to $183B/year nationwide.

The Challenge: With so many systems, vendors, and promises out there, choosing the right path forward isn’t always simple.

The Fix: SSR’s free HR software matching service helps HR leaders make smarter, faster, and more strategic tech decisions. Whether that means reducing vendor sprawl, finding the right-fit HRIS, ATS, Payroll or building a future-ready tech roadmap tailored to your organization’s size and goals.

Talk to an SSR HR Software Advisor to turn today’s pain points into tomorrow’s competitive edge.

👇️ Coming up

In today’s edition

🔒 The Workforce Freeze: why everyone's staying put in 2026

🛋️ The Break Room: Which 2026 workforce challenge keeps you up at night?

📚 Human Readsources: Balancing productivity demands in hybrid environments, navigating religious conduct policies in the workplace, and addressing nepotism concerns in your organization.

💭 Opening thoughts

🔒 the workforce freeze: why everyone's staying put in 2026

Last year, workers operated with cautious optimism - testing the market, exploring options, genuinely believing better opportunities were out there. Flash forward to now, and that energy has completely flatlined. Monster's WorkWatch Report shows only 43% of workers are planning to job search, compared to 93% who said the same thing last year. Let that sink in for a second.

Robert Half's research backs this up, though with a slightly different angle: 38% of workers say they intend to look for new roles in the first half of the year (up from 29% last year), but here's the catch—employers are responding with highly selective hiring. We're talking critical roles only, strategic priorities, business cases that need to be ironclad before anyone gets a req approved.

Workers are prioritizing income protection, building side hustles, and upskilling over making career moves.

For easy reading

🧠 Let’s unpick

What's driving all this caution? Well, it's not just one thing. It's a perfect storm of economic anxiety, layoff fears, and the looming question mark that is AI. Let's break down what workers are actually worried about:

The Inflation Problem

• 58% cite salary not keeping up with inflation as their biggest concern

• 57% say their pay has already fallen behind inflation

• Without a raise, 47% would have to cut back on expenses, 38% would look for a new job, and 23% would add a side hustle just to stay afloat

Layoff Anxiety Is Back (Did it ever go away?)

• 52% believe nationwide layoffs will increase this year

• 47% say layoffs at their own company are somewhat to extremely likely

Most workers weren't directly affected by layoffs last year, but they're still bracing for impact

Workers Are Building Their Own Safety Nets

• 32% already have a side hustle, and another 30% are planning to start one

• 64% plan to pursue upskilling or training this year—it's shifted from "nice advantage" to "survival requirement"

• The definition of career success has evolved from "advancement and growth" to "resilience and optionality"

The Flexibility Fight Continues

• FlexJobs found that 85% of workers still value remote work over salary when evaluating jobs

• But reality check: 50% of workers are required to be in the office five days a week

• 31% say they won't even apply to fully in-office roles—making it the top job application deal-breaker

• Meanwhile, 51% claim they're more productive in the office

The bottom line? Workers are staying put not because they're thriving, but because moving feels riskier than staying. They're managing risk more carefully, protecting income, and planning for a future where uncertainty isn't just a phase.

For HR leaders, this is time for intentional workforce planning that actually acknowledges what workers need: stability, real flexibility (not the performative kind), and transparent compensation. The market's defined by caution now, not confidence. Adjust accordingly.

You can read more at...

🔗 Workers Adapt to Uncertainty with Caution and Side Hustles (Monster)

🔗 Hiring with Intention: 2026's Selective Labor Market Landscape (Robert Half)

🔗 Remote Work Trends: Flexibility Matters More Than Salary (FlexJobs)

🎬 Lights, camera, action!

Takeaway and try

1. 🌐 Create a "Flexibility First" policy that prioritizes work arrangement options over rigid office mandates—85% of talent values flexibility more than salary, so stop fighting this reality.

2. 🔄 Develop transparent "Career Resilience Programs" that combine upskilling opportunities with clear job security communications to address the 50-point drop in job search intentions.

3. 🎯 Shift from "Always Hiring" to "Hiring with Intention"—with job search intent dropping from 93% to 43%, the days of posting and praying are over. Define what success looks like in each role, move fast when strong candidates emerge, and stop wasting everyone's time with reqs that aren't truly critical.

4. 🤖 Transform AI anxiety into AI literacy with structured learning paths. 49% are worried AI will threaten their jobs, but only 42% aren't using it at all. Close that gap with role-specific AI training that shows workers how to use these tools to become more valuable, not more replaceable.

👀Too long didn’t read

TLDR

Workers are embracing job security over mobility (93% to 43% drop in job search intentions) while demanding flexibility (85% value remote work over salary), forcing HR to navigate this new reality of economic caution, side hustle normalization, and leadership trust gaps.

☕The break room

What’s your take?

📚 Additional reading

Human Readsources

1. "📊 Amazon Demands Proof of Productivity from Employees (The HR Digest) - Amazon demands proof of productivity in enhanced review process.

2. ⚖️ Court Backs Religious Employers' Faith Conduct Rules (HCA Mag) - Religious employers can require all staff to follow faith rules.

3. 👔 70% of Workers Say Nepotism Plagues U.S. Workplaces (HR Executive) - Most workers believe nepotism harms workplace culture and opportunities."

That’s it for today.

Thanks for reading to the end and we hope today’s edition sparked some new ideas for your workplace! 🧠

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