Weekender Digest
WEEKLY EDITION BY ZIHAN LYU
Welcome to your latest HRD Connect's Weekend Digest, your go-to source for the week’s top insights tailored for HR professionals.
Here’s what’s inside:
◾ Rethinking leadership through the lens of kindness
◾ Preparing HR for the age of human-AI collaboration
◾ Top 10 AI HR tools every business needs in 2025
TOP LONG WEEKEND READS
INSIGHTS
Kindness is becoming a measurable performance driver. CHROs at companies like Microsoft and Unilever are embedding it into leadership frameworks, using data from 360 reviews, promotion velocity, and team engagement to track its impact.
Leaders who practice kindness under pressure—during restructures, Q4 crunch, or tough feedback moments—are seeing stronger morale and better output. The key is operational consistency backed by systems.
This piece explores why kindness is gaining strategic value in modern leadership—and how HR can build the infrastructure to support it.
FUTURE OF WORK
As agentic AI moves from theory to practice, HR leaders face a new reality: the rise of a hybrid workforce made up of both humans and autonomous AI agents.
Org charts may soon list digital co-workers alongside employees, with some functions operating as “zero-FTE departments.” In this new landscape, HR will need to oversee, onboard, and evaluate AI agents. From AI-led coaching and performance feedback to automated recruitment flows, agentic AI is already transforming key people functions.
The shift brings both promise and pressure—and HR has a pivotal role to play. This article also explores five proactive steps HR teams can take today to lead their organizations.
AI HR TOOLS
AI is now reshaping how HR hires, supports, and retains talent. With adoption rates soaring, this guide highlights 10 standout AI tools making an impact right now.
From Paradox streamlining candidate screening to Degreed personalizing learning at scale, and Lattice co-writing your performance reviews, these platforms are already changing the way HR operates. Get familiar with the tech your peers are testing—and the results they’re seeing.
MORE THAN A NEWSLETTER
Editorial
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