We’re approaching the hottest months of the year, yet employers’ hiring plans are experiencing a deep freeze.

Late last year, an HR Brew survey found that HR pros planned to hire fewer workers in the early months of 2025 compared to 2024. Now, based on a new survey of 336 HR Brew readers, those plans remain unchanged for the rest of the year, largely due to economic headwinds prompting continued uncertainty.

Stalled. Around 50% of respondents to HR Brew’s survey say they plan to hire about the same amount of people in the second half of 2025 as they did in the first half. Another 26% will hire fewer workers, while just 21% plan to hire more (4% were unsure).

When comparing hiring plans year over year, the hiring cooldown becomes more notable.

For more on the hiring outlook for the rest of 2025 and what’s driving the changes, keep reading here.—PM

If 2025 has been anything, it’s been unpredictable. Businesses are navigating geopolitical tensions, the back-and-forth on tariffs, and political discourse permeating workplaces.

As if that wasn’t enough to make business leaders somewhat queasy, the attacks on DEI have ramped up since the Supreme Court’s ruling on affirmative action in college admissions in the summer of 2023, and have taken on new life since President Trump’s reelection in November.

DEI practitioners and the millions of employees they support are being impacted by ongoing political rhetoric, government directives, and business fears. So far, at least 50 companies have adjusted DEI language or rolled back initiatives since January, while others have stood firm on their principles.

President Trump issued at least four executive orders aimed at quelling DEI across the federal government and private sector since he returned to office in January, and several states, including Indiana, Arizona, and Kentucky passed anti-DEI measures.

For more on the changing landscape for DEI and why many companies are turning to softer language, keep reading here.—KP

Recent history has not been kind to pension plans. The good news for employees who benefit from pensions is that after “a record number of plan terminations in recent years,” half of CFOs said they want to retool plans rather than eliminate them, according to a new survey from consulting firm Mercer.

The organizations that planned to terminate their employee pension plans have done so, and the remaining ones are now figuring out how to make the numbers work, Mercer concluded.

To be sure, changes are still on the horizon. More than half of the 173 finance execs Mercer surveyed said they plan to make changes to pension plan designs this year. Considerations include hybrid structures and flexible arrangements like cash balance plans.

According to Mercer, this “signals a move towards more adaptable pension solutions” that both meet workers’ needs and maintain tolerable levels of organizational risks.

For more on the findings and what’s on the horizon for employee pension plans, keep reading on CFO Brew.—AZ