NHRDN - HR Bandit

2025 is turning out to be quite the year. After a tumultuous January, February was just as eventful. Tune in as Ankita and Apoorva recap the top three events from the world of work and then some more. Elf Cosmetics turned heads with their DEI campaign, Meta rubbed a lot of employees the wrong way by laying off who they labelled as top performers and one CEO’s leaked audio clip on working from home went almost viral. Also - March happens to be the birthday month for one of the hosts and they have an ask. So settle in for the best one yet. We’re back!! 

ELF’s So Many Dicks campaign

Meta’s culling of ‘low performers’

JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon’s leaked audio slams WFH

Gen Z has turned against taking middle management roles

Hermes shares its success with employees

LinkedIn 2025 workplace learning report 

We're back! After Apoorva's maternity leave and Ankita's "me-ternity" leave, HR Bandits returns with a special episode to grade our 2024 workplace predictions, unveil our crystal ball forecast for 2025, and analyze if the workplace landscape will maintain its course or face major disruptions.

What's in store for the world of work in 2025? 

Listen in as we break down the trends, challenges, and opportunities ahead.

🎙️ Share Your Thoughts: 

Do our predictions align with what you're seeing? 

What are your workplace predictions for 2025? 

Drop a comment or message - we'd love to hear from you!

P.S. Stay tuned for our return to regular programming in our next episode!

2024 Predictions episode 

https://blog.perceptyx.com/2024-perceptyx-benchmarks-finds-employee-engagement-back-to-normal-with-one-big-exception

https://time.com/7209960/companies-rolling-back-dei/

Gallup study on AI at the workplace

https://universumglobal.com/resources/blog/figuring-out-skills-in-an-ai-world/ 

Meta killing its IDE initiatives

rise of incivility 

We are more than halfway through the year and halfway through summer. The world of work has not thrown as many surprises at us over the last month but enough to ensure that Greece’s six day work-week did not feature in our top three. With Foxconn keeping married women out from certain roles, a promotion recession and neurodiversity becoming a valuable qualification for some, July had enough to keep us busy. 

Join Ankita & Apoorva as they chat about what they’ve been up to along with the latest on work. 

And don’t forget to take a vacation before the summer is out! 

Greece 6-day work week: https://www.dw.com/en/greece-a-six-day-work-week-the-country-hopes-to-kick-start-economy-through-longer-hours/a-69421393?utm_source=pocket-newtab-en-gb

Foxconn: https://www.reuters.com/investigates in/special-report/foxconn-apple-india-women/ 

Promotion Recession: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-06-09/entry-level-workers-struggle-to-get-jobs-senior-staff-misses-promotions?utm_source=website&utm_medium=share&utm_campaign=linkedin?sref=QnKyEnuc 

Dry Promotions: https://hrme.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/workplace/dry-promotions-a-sign-of-recognition-or-exploitation/109728482

https://www.fastcompany.com/91139510/when-should-you-turn-down-a-promotion 

Neurodiversity: https://www.wsj.com/lifestyle/careers/jobs-for-the-autistic-grow-beyond-tech-b4eee329?st=tzyuhny5pd1rpy1  

OpenAI: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-05-17/openai-dissolves-key-safety-team-after-chief-scientist-ilya-sutskever-s-exit

Vacation Read: https://www.fastcompany.com/91146223/if-youre-struggling-to-find-focus-after-vacation-read-this 

You heard us singing "Happy Birthday," and now it's time for a very special occasion on HR Bandit! The tables have turned, as host Ankita takes an unexpected seat in the guest chair while Apoorva fires off a round of questions just for her. 

Listeners are in for a real treat as they uncover the backstory behind the podcast's mysterious "HR Bandit" name, discover who's the show’s dream guest, and get the exclusive scoop on our latest exciting launch. 

Tune in for answers, laughs, and a few delightful twists you won't want to miss in this can't-miss episode filled to the brim with birthday cheer!

P.S: Also catch Ankita being way off with all timelines. It isn’t our 40th show yet. But soon! 

Episode with Tim Sackett: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/008-predicting-2022/id1569782493?i=1000549133949 

Show’s inspiration pods:

TBOY: https://tboypod.com/ 

April has been a whirlwind of developments. It was tough to choose, but here are our top stories from the month gone by. Google faced significant turmoil as a group of employees protested against the company’s cloud contract with Israel leading to 50 employees being terminated. Meanwhile, Microsoft's 2024 Work Trend Index report provides a fascinating look at how AI is transforming jobs and how we work, with interesting takeaways on what we can do to stay ahead. Lastly, Starbucks shareholders voted yes to a decision to remove DEI targets from executive pay, raising larger questions about DEI as a priority for organizations in an evolving legal landscape in the US. 

Join Ankita & Apoorva as they explore these three major developments, providing insightful analysis and context. They'll also touch on other significant stories that didn't make the main lineup. Expect some interesting tidbits with a fun fact about this very podcast to end the episode. May promises to bring even more intriguing updates.

https://fortune.com/2024/04/22/sundar-pichai-google-staff-no-political-debates-office-firing-28-employees-israeli-contract-protest/ 

https://www.hr-brew.com/stories/2024/04/05/starbucks-removes-de-and-i-requirements-from-executive-pay-structure?mbcid=34981484.113659&mblid=e0bd4ab22f3a&mid=2f9fbdbb9111c845d9ce3ea3959601a5&utm_campaign=hrb&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_source=morning_brew 

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/worklab/work-trend-index/ai-at-work-is-here-now-comes-the-hard-part/ 

https://www.wsj.com/real-estate/commercial/ge-sells-crotonville-campus-13fd35a0

https://www.tomsguide.com/ai/forget-the-humane-ai-pin-this-new-ai-pendant-from-limitless-actually-looks-useful

https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2024/04/ftc-announces-rule-banning-noncompetes 

To say that March has been eventful is an understatement. It was difficult to pick just three, but here are our top picks from the month gone by. Dell's move to block promotions for its remote workers is something we did not expect. 

Does this set the stage for others to follow suit? Novo Nordisk, on the other hand, is doing everything it can to bring down its stress levels. Currently at an already enviable 14%, the target is to bring it down to under 10%. Lastly BCG's latest report tells us which benefit pays for itself.

Join Ankita & Apoorva as they tackle these three events along with an insight into the other topics that didn't make the cut as well along with some fun facts and a glimpse of what's coming in our next episode. April is looking promising already.

Dell's announcement: https://www.businessinsider.com/dell-remote-workers-promotion-return-office-push-flexible-work-2024-3

Novo Nordisk's stressed staff: https://fortune.com/europe/2024/03/22/ozempic-maker-novo-nordisk-goal-management-team-no-more-than-10-staff-stressed/

The report that said 53% fear in-office work for the rest of their life more than climate change, and almost half (43%) are more afraid of RTO than getting divorced or losing their romantic relationship: https://www.livecareer.com/resources/remote-work-fears-and-sentiments

BCG Report: https://www.bcg.com/press/26march2024-childcare-benefits-pay-for-themselves

Envy office: https://www.fastcompany.com/91067896/pinterests-new-office-is-a-pinterest-board-come-to-life

Bernie Sanders on 4 day work week: https://eu.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2024/03/13/bernie-sanders-shorter-workweek-senate/72959569007/ 

Apple's news: https://www.fastcompany.com/91087217/apple-mass-layoffs-iphone-maker-cuts-jobs-car-project-2024

It has been four years since COVID-19 first appeared in the media across multiple countries around the world. With it came a host of changes, including multiple waves of layoffs. Meanwhile, startups have had their own peaks and troughs.

Welcome to our first of many bonus episodes this year. This episode, Saurabh Nigam, Vice President - Human Capital for Omidyar Network India, joins us as we talk about the destigmatization of layoffs, changing expectations of startup founders, the distance one now lives from the office and more.  

Saurabh’s LinkedIn profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/saurabhnigam/

Mckinsey women in the workplace report 2023: https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/diversity-and-inclusion/women-in-the-workplace 

A lot has been happening in February! 

Australia joins the growing list of countries to adopt the right to disconnect, the biggest four-day work week experiment ever celebrates its first anniversary and it’s pay season (almost). 

All this in addition to three other pieces of news we had to mention. 

Join Ankita & Apoorva as they dive into the top three work news from the month gone by that you should know. 

https://www.businessinsider.com/australia-right-to-disconnect-workers-ignore-calls-emails-after-hours-2024-2 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2023/02/01/right-to-disconnect-laws/ 

https://www.cnn.com/2024/02/22/business/four-day-work-week-uk/index.html  https://4dayweek.io/companies

https://hr.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/trends/yeh-dil-maange-more-average-2024-pay-hikes-likely-to-be-higher-at-9-8/105799365

https://www.shrm.org/topics-tools/news/benefits-compensation/salary-sway-pay-raise-turnover-bamboohr 

https://www.bamboohr.com/resources/guides/compensation-trends

Is 2024 going to be the year where we see some calm or is it more of the same? 

What do we expect to see in the world of work and what should we be prepared for?

Join Ankita and Apoorva as they take a quick look at the year gone by and make predictions for the year ahead. 

How many do you think we'll get right?

Apoorva’s LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/apoorva-singh-b546312a/

Apoorva’s Twitter:@singhapoorva16

Ankita’s Twitter: @ankitapoddar

Ankita’s LinkedIN: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ankitapoddar/

Ankita’s blog: https://thehrbpstory.com/

2023 has been quite the year!

Join Apoorva and Ankita as they put a bow on the year and walk through the top three trends and events from the world of work in 2023. Not surprisingly, GenAI and all other forms of AI get a mention along with the over 240,000 and counting layoffs in 2023 and the most apt ‘word of the year’.

We’ll be back next year and until then, wishing everyone Happy Holidays! We hope you take a well deserved break and enter 2024 with more energy than you ever have.

https://www.fastcompany.com/90990042/agi-ai-explained

https://www.fastcompany.com/90989422/openai-q-mysterious-ai-system 

https://web-assets.bcg.com/8c/26/b80dfaa64b1d92bed7b64d2e19dd/ai-at-work-what-people-are-saying.pdf 

https://techcrunch.com/2023/12/4/tech-layoffs-2023-list/

https://www.merriam-webster.com/wordplay/word-of-the-year?ref=dailybrief.net