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Weekend Roundup: Hiring, Opportunistic Hiring, HR and Whistleblowers


In today’s Weekend Roundup, the Harvard Business Review takes a look at hiring during COVID-19. SHRM reports on savvy employers who are investing in opportunistic hiring amid the pandemic. Finally, in Texas, a high-profile whistleblower case: The attorney general’s office has fired two aides and placed two on leave, sparking employment attorneys to say there could be an impending whistleblower lawsuit. Click the headlines below to learn more.

Why Hiring During COVID-19 is Different Than in Previous Downturns

In the past, the intensity of competition for talent followed the ups and downs of the economic cycle. It’s therefore unsurprising—given the COVID-19 downturn—to hear that a number of thought leaders are concluding that we are back to an employer’s market. But a closer look at the data, as well as our frontline experience of recruiting executives, indicate that the situation is more complex. Assuming that we are in an employer’s market could lead companies to miss out on talent they desperately need to boost their revenues – and help revive the economy. Here is a better way for employers to think about the current job market.

Stocking Up on Talent

Internationally renowned speaker, author and management consultant Claudio Fernández-Aráoz was at a summit in Washington, D.C., surrounded by CEOs from the world’s largest companies. Their fear was palpable. The growing worldwide crisis was shaping up to be a disrupter of massive proportions, and many were focused on slashing costs in order to survive.

But Fernández-Aráoz, an Argentine who had experienced firsthand a major economic collapse in his native country, knew that visionary leaders must think beyond survival to take advantage of the extraordinary opportunities at hand.

The Texas Attorney General’s Office Has Sidelined Four Of The Seven Whistleblowers

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office has sidelined four of the seven senior aides who weeks ago told law enforcement they believed Paxton had committed bribery and abuse of office — firing two and placing two more on leave — in what employment attorneys say looks like a clear act of retaliation against legally protected whistleblowers.

The aides, who represented a large share of the agency’s most senior staff, alerted law enforcement and then agency human resources that they believed Paxton was using the power of his office to serve a political donor, Austin real estate developer Nate Paul. The agency had taken the unusual step of weighing in on a lawsuit that involved Paul, and Paxton personally hired an outside investigator — in a process aides called highly suspect — to vet the donor’s complaints

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