Human Times

European Edition

4th September 2026

Together with

THE HOT STORY

Volkswagen board backs job cuts

Volkswagen's supervisory board has approved a transformation plan that will see around 50,000 jobs being cut, in addition to a 50,000-job reduction already under way. The plan, which is the most extensive restructuring in the automaker's 89-year history, includes exploring alternatives for four plants in Emden, Zwickau, Neckarsulm and Hannover. The company said the changes are necessary amid rising global competition, shifting demand, and technological advancements. Volkswagen aims for an operating margin of 9% by 2030, up from 3.8% in H1 2026. "This is a strong signal for the future of the Volkswagen Group. We are taking responsibility for our entire workforce, for our partners and for industrial jobs worldwide," CEO Oliver Blume said. Asset manager Union Investment has warned that VW's credit rating could be cut to 'junk' status unless it cuts costs.

NEUROINCLUSION

Free virtual event: Unlocking neuroinclusion at work

Neurodivergent talent already brings valuable strengths to every workplace. Neuroinclusion helps create more room for those strengths to show up, while making work better for everyone.

At Everway Unlocked, gain insights from 30+ global experts across 20+ leading organisations as they share what’s working across workplace design, culture and belonging, technology and AI, and leading neuroinclusive change. Explore practical approaches to reducing workplace friction, strengthening belonging, supporting different ways of thinking, and securing leadership buy-in to scale your impact.

Register to join on 6 Oct.

LEGAL

Finns helped to decide what a job is worth

A new model from Finland's Ministry of Social Affairs and Health, linked to the EU's pay transparency rules, assesses jobs using six criteria - skills, responsibility and impact, interaction, problem solving and independence, psychosocial demands and physical demands - to make it easier to identify jobs that are equally demanding, even when their day-to-day work looks very different, and then compares how they are remunerated. The new guidance could help challenge some old assumptions about "men's work" and "women's work," Yle reports.

Yle

STRATEGY

Dutch central bank to cut 290 full-time jobs

De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB) is set to eliminate 290 full-time jobs as part of a reorganisation plan. Most job cuts will occur after contracts expire, although forced layoffs are not “unavoidable.” The Dutch central bank said it aims to reduce its workforce to approximately 2,090 by 2030, primarily affecting IT, Finance, HR, and communication departments. The reorganisation is expected to save over €70m. DNB noted that its budget has increased significantly since 2020, reaching €576m due to various factors, including new legal jobs and IT investments.

NL Times

TAX

Germany approves €10bn income tax reform

Germany has approved tax cuts worth about €10bn ($11.6bn) aimed at boosting disposable income ‌for low- and middle-income households. Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil said a middle-income family with two children would have more than €600 a year extra available from 2028. Meanwhile, the existing 45% top income tax rate will apply from taxable income of €250,000, and a new 47% rate will be levied on annual income above €280,000. Klingbeil's party, the Social Democrats, call the measure a "super-rich tax." He told reporters in Greenville, South Carolina, following a ‌meeting ⁠of G20 finance ministers: "We have . . . decided to make the tax system fairer," adding: "Those with the very highest incomes must make a somewhat greater contribution."

U.S. News

WORKFORCE

Sick workers cost UK £87bn

Poor workforce health cost the UK economy £87bn last year, according to a Simplyhealth analysis. The largest expenses included £51.6bn from sickness absence and £20bn in lost productivity. Employees reported losing an average of 2.1 working days due to difficult access to healthcare. Simplyhealth said: "The impact of workforce health on the economy is significant and requires urgent attention."

The Times

CYBERSECURITY

OpenAI says its new model can build attacks without human help

OpenAI has said that its upcoming Astra AI model is the company's first to reach the "Critical" cybersecurity capability threshold under its Preparedness Framework. The model is capable of independently discovering and exploiting zero-day vulnerabilities across hardened systems without human guidance, crossing a cybersecurity threshold that until recently belonged largely to expert hacking teams.

CNBC

CoinDesk

ECONOMY

Most Brits say Brexit was a ‘wrong turn'

The majority of Britons believe Brexit was a “wrong turn,” with 55% agreeing with Prime Minister Andy Burnham’s assessment, compared with 21% who disagreed. Around one in ten (11%) said neither and 13% were unsure. The view is strongly divided by voting intention: 78% of Labour’s 2024 voters considered Brexit a wrong turn, compared with 59% of Reform voters who viewed it as a right turn. Mr Burnham has argued that Brexit compounded decades of problems including deindustrialisation, privatisation and austerity, contributing to low growth and stalled regeneration outside London and the South East of England.

The Independent

INTERNATIONAL

Trump’s new bid to curb birthright citizenship is blocked

A federal judge has blocked the Trump administration from carrying out the president's latest effort to impose new limits on automatic birthright citizenship, granting a preliminary injunction against an executive order that the White House said would target so-called “birth tourism,” whereby women travel to the United States to give birth. U.S. District Judge Deborah L. Boardman in Maryland issued the injunction until a class-action lawsuit brought by immigrant families and advocacy groups is resolved. “The Supreme Court has spoken: Children in the certified class are ‘citizens at birth,’” Boardman, appointed by President Joe Biden, wrote. Shana Khader, legal director at We Are CASA, one of the groups that brought the case in Maryland, said that “the White House must recognize it will not succeed in stripping children of their right to citizenship, evading binding court decisions or placing the president’s anti-immigrant agenda above the Constitution.”

AP News

Bloomberg

Reuters

The unseen workforce behind commercial AI

The sociologist Antonio Casilli has spoken with the Democracy Now website about the hidden workforce - primarily in the Global South - behind commercial AI. These workers perform repetitive work to train and maintain the systems, even though the technology is often presented as if it is autonomous. Casilli says public discussion about AI often focuses on future job threats, but the technology is already changing working conditions for millions of people, many of whom are in unstable, underpaid gig-style arrangements, precipitating demands for fair wages and employment protections.

Yahoo News Australia

Democracy Now

Maternity leave cannot cost women their careers, Delhi HC says

The Delhi High Court has ruled that women returning from maternity leave must be reinstated to their previous roles without facing professional disadvantages. The court ordered an employer to pay ₹10 lakh in compensation and ₹1.5 lakh in costs to a chartered accountant who said she was demoted after her leave. Justice Sachin Datta said that the Maternity Benefit Act, 1961 protects women from adverse employment actions due to pregnancy.

The Times of India

OTHER

Dutch central bank moves 86 tonnes of gold to London from US and Canada

The Dutch central bank has moved 86 tonnes of gold reserves out of the US and Canada to London. De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB), citing “increasing geopolitical unrest,” said gold reserves held in London could be traded more easily than those held in New York and Ottawa. “This makes it the quickest for DNB to deploy in a crisis situation . . . With this step, we have improved the deployability of the gold reserves. We assume that we will never need to deploy the gold, but it is nevertheless necessary to strengthen our resilience and preparedness,” explained DNB’s president, Olaf Sleijpen.

The Human Times is designed to help you stay ahead, spark ideas and support innovation, learning and development in your organisation.

The links under articles indicate original news sources. Some links lead directly to the source material. Others lead to paywalls where you may need a subscription. A third category are restricted by copyright rules.

For reaction and insights on any stories covered in the Human Times, join the discussion by becoming a member of our LinkedIn Group or Business Page, or follow us on X.

Online

Advertise

This e-mail has been sent to [[EMAIL_TO]]

Click here to unsubscribe