Kelly Services Impact & Insights

AI in the workforce: A planning guide for employers.

Nadja Burns — Tue, 02 Jun 2026 22:29:28 GMT

Every workforce planning model I’ve worked with over the past two decades followed the same basic equation: add people, then add technology for those people to use. As companies grew, teams expanded, software stacks expanded with them, and operating costs followed.

Skills-based hiring: How employers can move faster.

Marvin Figaro — Tue, 02 Jun 2026 21:59:01 GMT

Most of the barriers that slow hiring down share an origin story. They were requirements someone wrote years ago for a specific context, and over time they became defaults that no one revisited. Degree requirements for roles that have never needed them. Experience thresholds that screen out candidates with strong transferable skills. Screening steps that add days to every interview journey without improving quality.

Workforce Planning Guide: How Employers Can Build a Strategy That Lasts

Matt Yeager — Tue, 02 Jun 2026 21:08:27 GMT

Workforce planning is an organization's ability to look across the enterprise and plan for future labor needs, typically three, five, or even 10 years out, so they aren't reacting to immediate gaps as they arise. That definition sounds simple enough, but it means bringing together a cross-functional group to map strategic initiatives against the full range of talent the organization will need to execute them.

Need to Know Briefing | Kelly

Hilary Sargent — Tue, 26 May 2026 22:59:32 GMT

The Layoff Headlines Are Misleading. Weak Hiring Is the Real Story.

Despite a string of high-profile workforce reductions, U.S. layoffs remain near pre-pandemic norms — roughly 1.75 million per month in Q1 2026, in line with March 2019. The actual problem is on the other side of the ledger: employers added just 115,000 jobs in April, well below March's 185,000, and the number of people already on unemployment and still searching nudged up to 1.78 million. Some executives appear to be attributing cuts to AI productivity gains even when the technology isn't the actual driver — a pattern observers have started calling "AI washing."

Need to Know Briefing | Kelly

Hilary Sargent — Tue, 19 May 2026 00:00:21 GMT

Inflation Hit 3.8% in April — And Workers Lost Ground

April CPI came in at 3.8% year over year, the highest since May 2023, driven largely by energy costs tied to the Iran war. Average hourly earnings rose 3.6% — below the inflation rate — and real wages fell 0.3% annually. It's the first time in three years that inflation has outstripped year-over-year wage growth. Rate cuts are off the table; traders put the odds of a Fed rate hike by year end at about 30%.

AI in HR: Practical Applications, Common Mistakes, and How to Get Started in 2026

Ridge Carpenter — Fri, 15 May 2026 22:08:43 GMT

Most HR organizations have heard the pitch for AI by now, but surprisingly few have seen it pay off. According to SHRM's 2026 State of AI in HR report, more than half of organizations have not adopted AI in their HR functions and have no plans to do so this year. Among those that have, usage clusters around a handful of tasks, with much of the technology's broader value still untapped.

The HR Compliance Checklist Every Employer Needs in 2026

Nicholas Kowalczyk — Fri, 15 May 2026 21:28:19 GMT

When employers think about HR compliance, what they most often underestimate is the state and local complexity. There are still federal requirements that belong on every checklist, but the growing interaction of laws at the state and local level has made the regulatory environment significantly harder to manage. Gridlock at the congressional level means we don't see a lot of federal laws being passed to address issues, so states and localities are driving their own rules on pay transparency, paid leave, data privacy, and more.

Need to Know Briefing | Kelly

Hilary Sargent — Mon, 11 May 2026 20:49:48 GMT

April Jobs Report: Economy Added 115,000 Jobs, Defying Expectations

The U.S. economy added 115,000 jobs in April, more than double the 55,000 analysts had forecast, with the unemployment rate holding steady at 4.3% and 7.4 million people out of work. Health care led sector gains at 37,000 new jobs, consistent with its 12-month average of 32,000 per month. Transportation and warehousing added 30,000 jobs, driven largely by couriers and messengers, while retail trade grew by 22,000. The federal government shed another 9,000 positions, and the information sector lost 13,000 — extending a decline that has now eliminated 342,000 jobs, or 11% of the sector, since its November 2022 peak.

Delivering on the demands of the patient support contact center

josh.gadberry@kellyconnect.com (Josh Gadberry) — Thu, 07 May 2026 17:44:47 GMT

How operations leaders can prepare for the contact center capacity gaps driven by the increased patient care demands of complex, specialty medications.

Pharmaceutical companies face a quiet operational crisis that has nothing to do with R&D pipelines or regulatory hurdles. Instead, it's a workforce capacity gap within the contact centers that deliver the expanding scope of patient support expected today.

Specialty medicines are projected to represent 43% of global drug spending by 2028 — and more than 55% of total spending in leading developed markets such as the U.S. The GLP-1 class alone has reshaped expectations. An estimated 25 million Americans will be on GLP-1 therapy by 2030, up from roughly 6 million in 2024.

This rapid growth in specialty medicines is expanding the demand for direct-to-patient support programs. And those programs add pressure on operations to scale contact center capacity with skilled care professionals.

8 Vendor Management Best Practices for Your External Workforce Program

Ben Decker — Tue, 05 May 2026 21:56:37 GMT

Managing an external workforce across multiple staffing vendors is harder than it looks on paper. According to Kelly's 2025 Re:work Report, 40% of business professional and industrial executives say their organization is already outsourcing or considering outsourcing parts of its workforce to attract top talent, and another 37% are using strategic MSP partners to supplement their existing teams. For organizations buying external labor at any real scale, the vendor relationships behind that workforce have a direct line to program performance. Most companies are leaving measurable value on the table by treating those relationships as a logistics problem instead of a strategic opportunity.