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Human Times helps you stay ahead of the latest news and trends that impact the HR industry. Every weekday, our unique blend of AI and team of expert HR and employment editors and researchers monitor 100,000s of articles, and social posts to create summaries of the most relevant and useful content to help you lead, innovate and grow. The award winning Human Times newsletter has four geographical editions with news tailored to your region.
From HR leadership to diversity and inclusion, hybrid working, organisational data, performance management, and retention strategies, Human Times is the only trusted free online news source dedicated to covering the most up to date headlines, articles, reports and interviews to make sure you’re abreast of changes in the HR industry.
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Recent Editions
Human Times
North America
Healthcare costs are rising sharply for U.S. workers, with employees who receive workplace coverage expected to spend an average of $5,297 in 2026 on premiums and out-of-pocket expenses, according to Aon, up $388 from 2025. The pressure is expected to intensify in 2027, when employers project an 11.1% increase in healthcare costs, potentially the largest rise in more than two decades and the fifth consecutive year of accelerating increases. Employers are increasingly passing some of these higher costs to workers through larger premium contributions, deductibles, copayments, and coinsurance. The increases are being driven by factors including higher hospital prices, greater use of medical services, expensive cancer treatments, and growing adoption of GLP-1 diabetes and weight-loss drugs, with employee use of GLP-1s for weight loss rising 75% among Aon clients in 2025. As healthcare spending outpaces income growth, employers are increasingly treating benefits costs as a company-wide financial issue rather than solely an HR concern.
Full Issue
Human Times
UK
Trade unions warn that proposed rules implementing Labour’s ban on exploitative zero-hours contracts risk falling short of the party’s manifesto commitment. Usdaw, GMB and Unite are concerned that an upper hours threshold and a proposed "regularity requirement" could exclude significant numbers of workers from the right to guaranteed-hours contracts, creating loopholes that would weaken the reforms. The TUC has also rejected business claims that the measures could cost employers up to £2.9bn a year as "scaremongering," arguing that much of the estimated cost assumes no changes in employers’ scheduling practices. A government spokesperson said ministers are "absolutely committed to ending exploitative zero-hours contracts," adding that the planned reforms will give workers "greater income security and predictability of hours." They added that while no final decisions have been made, ministers are consulting with business and trade unions "to get the detail right and ensure this works in the real world."
Full Issue
Human Times
Europe
Plans to reform zero-hours contracts may hinder job opportunities for young people, UK industry leaders say. The government aims to provide guaranteed hours and notice for shifts, but organisations including the British Retail Consortium, UKHospitality and the British Chambers of Commerce warn this could worsen the jobs crisis. The government’s impact assessment estimates the changes could cost employers up to £3bn a year through higher staffing and administrative costs, lost revenue and reduced flexibility. Research by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development found that 65% of employers using zero-hours contracts expect higher HR and management costs, while 31% anticipate possible redundancies. A further 33% expect to increase their use of self-employed, temporary or casual workers.
Full Issue
Human Times
Middle East
Israel now has 250,000 legal and illegal foreign workers, the highest number ever, according to Israel Population and Immigration Authority data. The figures show that 26.5% of all current legal and illegal foreign workers are from Thailand, 21.7% from India, 11.8% from China, 11.2% from Sri Lanka, 9.5% from the Philippines, 8.9% from Uzbekistan, 4.4% from Moldova, and 1.7% from Nepal. The surge follows the closure of borders to Palestinian workers after October 7, 2023. The government plans to increase this number to 330,000, but housing remains a significant challenge. Many foreign workers face overcrowded and inadequate living conditions. Yoki Moshonov, chief executive of Ovedly, a company that provides services to foreign workers in Israel, observed: "Here they get five or six times the average salary than in their countries of origin. They come to Israel for just one purpose - to earn money for their families. They send 80% of their salary to their families . . . and are regarded as excellent workers."
Full Issue
Read the latest HR highlights
How HR is Tackling Long Covid?
Fingers remain tightly crossed around the world that the rampant hospitalization and fatality stage of the Covid-19 pandemic has generally peaked. Vaccination programmes are accelerating, and restrictions are gradually being lifted...
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ESG Is Not Just Another Name For CSR
Back in the distant 1980s if you wanted to demonstrate your environmental and ethical credentials it was sufficient to shop at or purchase shares in retailer The Body Shop. The charismatic Anita Roddick, founder of the “hippy” tinged retail chain, heralded a new age of environmental concern, caring capitalism and corporate awareness that evolved into what became known as Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). CSR was much talked about and lauded, but in reality often ended up being a lot of a hot air (excuse the pun) and often never progressed much beyond a footnote in the annual report.
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Have Older Workers Paid The Highest COVID-19 Price?
Across the world the pandemic is slowly but surely moving into its next phase. Recovery beckons. As furlough schemes across the U.S. and U.K. are being wound down, restrictions eased or lifted, and workforces moving back up the gears, early signs indicate that older employees are more likely to be casualties of the pandemic aftermath than their younger colleagues. Here at the we have witnessed an increasing number of stories supporting the growing belief that older workers are disproportionately paying the highest Covid-19 price.
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Bosses. What's not to like? Plenty, say employees
“You’ll never have another boss like me, someone who’s basically a chilled-out entertainer”
So said, David Brent, the fictional manager of Slough-based paper merchant Wernham Hogg in the seminal TV comedy The Office. Ricky Gervais’s portrayal of Brent as a flawed, narcissistic, incompetent, and deluded manager was so well observed that many (including me) believed it was a genuine fly-on-the-wall documentary when they alighted accidentally on the first ever episode.
Rolling with the Payroll
To mark National Payroll Week the team at the Human Times has provided some insight into the industry that we hope you’ll find useful.
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