HRinsidr

06/05/2026

People still want to flourish at work.

Engagement is struggling. Trust is low. Stress and isolation are up. And most organizations are still searching for ways to help people feel connected, valued, and supported — without getting caught in culture wars or corporate buzzwords.

That's exactly what this webinar tackles next week.

Joe Gerstandt brings 25 years of workplace DEI experience to a refreshingly honest conversation about what comes next — and what actually works.

You'll walk away with:
✅ A clear-eyed view of where DEI is headed
✅ Practical tools like empathy mapping and experience mapping
✅ Frameworks for employee experience design and team identity design
✅ Ways to build trust, belonging, and collaboration — without fueling division

The question at the center of it all:
How do we help humans flourish together at work?

If you're in HR, People & Culture, OD, or just someone who cares about workplace culture — this one's for you.

🔗 Register now: https://hrinsidr.com/webinar-sign-up/

06/04/2026

7 compliance developments HR teams need to know about right now — spanning wages, benefits, leave, AI, and arbitration.

Here's your June 2026 rundown:

📋 DOL issued 4 new FLSA opinion letters on compensable time and overtime calculations
💰 IRS finalized 2027 ACA penalty amounts — giving employers a longer runway to plan
🌿 Virginia enacted a paid sick leave law, phasing in over the next three years
🤖 California directed state agencies to develop AI workforce protection frameworks
👶 Illinois' NICU leave law took effect June 1
⚠️ Minnesota is weighing a proposal requiring advance notice before AI-related workforce reductions
⚖️ The U.S. Supreme Court unanimously limited when employers can require last-mile delivery drivers to arbitrate disputes

Every HR and compliance team should have these on their radar. The combination of new leave mandates, evolving AI rules, and wage guidance means action items are stacking up fast.

Full breakdown here 👇
https://shorturl.at/R53Gu

Jenny Kiesewetter is a practicing ERISA and employee benefits attorney who partners with HR teams on a wide range of workplace compliance matters — from benefit-plan obligations to day-to-day HR policies and regulatory requirements. Her guidance helps employers spot risks early, navigate

06/02/2026

95% of HR leaders feel overwhelmed. 81% report burnout.

And yet — who is carrying the carrier?

HR professionals hold the weight of every person in the building. Almost always without acknowledgment. Almost always without a people strategy of their own.

Written by organizational psychologist Dr. Tamara Stallings, this download names what's really happening inside HR departments and gives you a concrete path forward.

👉 Download your self-assessment: https://shorturl.at/l8x5G

Most HR leaders are trained to carry everyone else — but nobody builds a people strategy for the person running it. Written by organizational psychologist Dr. Tamara Stallings, this download names what’s really happening inside HR departments and gives you a concrete path forward.

05/28/2026

This HR team chose the second-best HRIS on purpose. It was the smartest call they made.

Sit through three demos and you will feel like you are losing your mind. The slides change. The logo changes. The account executive changes. The pitch does not.
“We’ll save you time and money.” “Our platform scales with you.” “Implementation is seamless.” “AI is built in.”

Your job is to get so clear on what your organization actually needs that the noise stops mattering.

Learn how to navigate your next conversation: https://shorturl.at/oNRUE

When an HR tech rollout fails, the software usually gets the blame. But in most organizations, the real issue is not the platform. It is alignment. Leadership, HR, managers, and operations are often not aligned on what the system is supposed to solve or how it will be used. Until that changes, even....

05/22/2026

“DEI is dead!” Maybe. Maybe not.

But one thing is clear: employees are struggling.

Engagement is low. Trust is fragile. Burnout, isolation, and disconnection continue to shape the employee experience across industries.

So where do we go from here?

In this upcoming webinar, Joe Gerstandt will explore how organizations can move beyond the noise and focus on creating workplaces where humans can actually flourish together.

This conversation will cover:
✔️ The evolving state of DEI
✔️ Employee experience design
✔️ Team identity and belonging
✔️ Practical ways leaders can improve culture without fueling culture wars

If you care about employee experience, trust, retention, and building healthier workplaces, this session is for you.

👉 Register here: https://hrinsidr.com/webinar-sign-up/

05/21/2026

May brought several employment law developments for HR teams to track.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission sued The New York Times under Title VII, Tennessee enacted its first broad noncompete statute, California added mandatory penalties for missed pay data filings, and Colorado scaled back its artificial intelligence law before the original compliance deadline arrived.

Federal agencies also changed rules affecting certain employment authorization documents tied to asylum applicants, while courts issued important rulings on arbitration jurisdiction and multistate Fair Labor Standards Act collective actions.

👉 Here’s what HR teams should know: https://buff.ly/7SnQbEg

Jenny Kiesewetter is a practicing ERISA and employee benefits attorney who partners with HR teams on a wide range of workplace compliance matters — from benefit-plan obligations to day-to-day HR policies and regulatory requirements. Her guidance helps employers spot risks early, navigate

05/19/2026

Have you ever been asked on a company survey, "Do you have a best friend at work?"

Our HR-certified webinar this month with TedX speaker and Founder, Jordana Cole, MAPP, PCC, answers questions about how to make the Gallup Q12 Survey actionable (https://buff.ly/gnFww5w) specifically why this question is asked and how important it is to engagement.

👉 Watch the full webinar on-demand: https://buff.ly/ee3GVUe

05/14/2026

It's never about the work. It's always about the relationships. You want a better product, result, higher profitability? Focus on the relationship you have with your people. This is what matters most and companies so often fail to grasp.

This story struck home for us. Recognition is important. Showing people that they matter. If they have offered value to your company, reward them appropriately. We all want to be seen, valued, and heard.

“Hit 5 years at my job last week. Company gave me a Slack shoutout, an engraved plaque, and some recognition points. Did the math — to save up for anything I’d actually want, I’d need another 15 years. The whole thing feels like it’s set up so the company can say they’re doing something without spending real money on it.”

— Reddit · 15 upvotes, 43 downvotes

Rob Sullivan
Executive Coach · 30+ years experience

ROB’S TAKE

This isn’t an isolated frustration — it’s a pattern with real consequences. Consider the engineer at a Big 3 automaker who identified a software flaw saving his company over $1 million a month in warranty costs. His reward? A $50 dinner gift card. He was job-hunting shortly after.

Recognition that doesn’t match the contribution doesn’t just feel hollow — it signals to your best people that the math doesn’t work in their favor. A plaque in a drawer and points that expire into a branded pen aren’t retention strategy. They’re a resignation letter waiting to happen.

05/08/2026

Every job has things that are energizing and draining.

Rob Sullivan, professional development couch, sat down with HRinsidr to share his top tips on how to motivate employees.

We built the Energy Audit — a structured 1:1 worksheet based on the Rob Sullivan Framework, designed to help managers understand what fuels and depletes each person on their team,

Download his energy audit here: https://shorturl.at/T3ZHt

05/05/2026

The Department of Justice closed its first False Claims Act settlement targeting alleged DEI discrimination by a federal contractor, with IBM agreeing to pay more than $17 million. The Federal Trade Commission turned a 700-location pest control giant into the test case for its new noncompete strategy. And Virginia’s governor signed a wave of worker-protection laws that lock in pay floors and pull salary history out of hiring.

👉 Here is what HR teams should track this week. https://shorturl.at/iIq8i

Jenny Kiesewetter is a practicing ERISA and employee benefits attorney who partners with HR teams on a wide range of workplace compliance matters — from benefit-plan obligations to day-to-day HR policies and regulatory requirements. Her guidance helps employers spot risks early, navigate