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Featured analysis
Q3 2026 Benefits Wrap-Up: What the Latest Data Shows on Flexibility, Mental Health, and Pay
By Andrew Mitchell, Senior Correspondent, Benefits & Total Rewards The third quarter of 2026 brought clarity to the U.S. benefits landscape. After years of experimentation during the pandemic and the post-pandemic recalibration, the data shows a workforce benefits market that has settled into a stable, evidence-based configuration. Organizations that understand what’s working — and what…
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Year in Review: The Top 10 HR Trends That Defined 2026
By Andrew Mitchell, Senior Correspondent, Market Trends As 2026 draws to a close, it’s clear that this year will be remembered as a pivotal moment in the evolution of human resources. The trends that defined the year are not incremental improvements —…
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February 2026 DEI Trends: Intersectionality, Pay Equity, and the Data-Driven DEIB Function
By February 2026, the DEIB (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging) function had transitioned from advocacy-driven to data-driven. Companies that treated DEIB as a strategic business function — with defined metrics, executive accountability, and technology enablement — were seeing measurable progress on representation,…
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DEI Goes Beyond Buzzword: The Measurable Business Case for Diversity in 2026
DEI Has Matured From Compliance Exercise to Strategic Imperative By 2026, the diversity, equity, and inclusion movement has evolved past the era of vague aspirations and into the age of measurable outcomes. A large and growing share of Fortune 500 companies now…
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June 2026 HR Analytics: Predictive People Analytics at Scale
By June 2026, predictive people analytics had moved from experimental to operational for the most advanced organizations. Companies using predictive analytics to forecast attrition, skills gaps, and performance were seeing measurable returns on their investment, and the gap between predictive analytics leaders…
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HR Analytics in 2026: From Descriptive to Predictive to Prescriptive
HR analytics has matured from a descriptive reporting exercise — telling people what happened last quarter — to a predictive and prescriptive discipline that helps organizations anticipate workforce trends, model scenarios, and make data-driven decisions about talent strategy. By mid-2026, the capabilities…
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The Rise of Skills-Based Hiring: 2026 Procurement Guide
By the end of 2025, approximately 74% of large U.S. employers had formally adopted at least one skills-based hiring practice — up from 44% in 2023 and 28% in 2021 — marking skills-based hiring’s transition from an HR trend to a structural…
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March 2026 HR Tech Vendor Landscape: The Winners, Losers, and Disruptors
By March 2026, the HR technology vendor landscape had solidified into a new structure: a handful of platform leaders, a growing category of AI-native specialists, and a shrinking number of traditional point-solution vendors that hadn’t adapted fast enough. ## The Platform Leaders…
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How AI Is Reshaping Talent Acquisition in 2026
By mid-April 2026, artificial intelligence has moved from experimental tool to infrastructure in talent acquisition. The question is no longer whether to use AI in recruiting — it is how well organizations are managing the transition from AI-assisted to AI-driven hiring. Recent…
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Remote Work Policy Shifts: The Fall 2026 Return-to-Office Wave
By Andrew Mitchell, Senior Correspondent, Future of Work / Remote Policy The remote work debate has had a comfortable decade of ambiguity. Since 2020, companies have been announcing, modifying, rescinding, and re-announcing their remote work policies with the regularity of a quarterly…
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The Skills Gap Deepens — New Data on 2026 Hiring Challenges
The 2026 skills gap is not the same problem it was in 2023, 2024, or even 2025. What was once broadly described as a “talent shortage” has fractured into a complex pattern of simultaneous shortages and surpluses — where companies struggle to…