Some employers appear to have made concessions to espousers of anti-DE&I propaganda over the last two years, with Meta seemingly becoming the latest company to fall last week.

On the same day Meta announced it had dissolved its DE&I team, reports surfaced that Amazon had changed some of its DE&I language. In contrast, Apple was doubling down on its diversity commitments.

Despite the headlines (and move by Meta) Amazon, like Apple, appears to have maintained a robust DE&I program.

A closer look at Amazon. While headlines proclaimed that Amazon is “halting” some DE&I programs, referencing a December internal memo from Candi Castleberry, its VP of inclusive experiences and technology, it appears that these reports may have been overblown.

Keep reading here.—KP

Every elder millennial probably remembers the sheer stress of playing Oregon Trail in the ’90s. Traversing the country in spite of bad weather, animal attacks, and broken-down wagons, only to end up dying from dysentery before reaching the finish line.

Now, imagine playing that game in your late 30s, but make it corporate.

That’s what Chief just did with a new free game dubbed The Corporate Trail. Players navigate their own corporate journeys, earning points for likeability and well-being along the way. They can choose from four different departments—tech, marketing, operations, and, of course, HR—and play through scenarios like taking on more mentees and skipping a family event to handle a work crisis. But wait! There are also traps that lead to burnout, and inevitably, falling off the corporate ladder.

The game might seem a bit cringe at first, but the makers at Chief, a women’s forum for budding executives, said it’s meant to show the tightrope that women have to walk as they advance their careers.

Keep reading here.—KP

This year was a tough one for recruiters.

As hiring demand declined amid a labor market cooldown, they were pummeled with a rapidly growing volume of applications from job seekers desperate to get their foot in the door—and angered when hiring teams didn’t respond.

So, when asked what trends they’d like to ditch in 2025, it’s arguably no surprise that many HR leaders focused on breaking the cycle of bad recruiting habits.

Keep reading here.—PM