Workforce Optics: June 2026 Hiring Trends + Insights
In this issue of Workforce Optics, we explore a labor market that remains resilient today while facing growing long-term workforce challenges. Strong job growth, rising manufacturing activity, and stabilizing hiring demand point to continued economic strength, but demographic shifts, talent shortages, employee trust issues, and cautious hiring behavior are creating new pressures for employers.
Finding Heart In the Agentic Era – Part 3
Agentic AI cannot be proven in theory. It has to perform in real hiring environments, with real recruiters, real candidates, and real client pressure. In the final installment of the series, Staffmark Group CEO Stacey Lane and VP of Digital Strategy and Transformation Radi Jaarsma reveal how the company’s Mobile Innovation Lab takes agentic AI directly to the field — testing, tuning, and scaling only what protects heart in the hiring journey.
Workforce Optics: May 2026 Hiring Trends + Insights
In this issue of Workforce Optics, we explore a labor market that remains resilient on the surface but increasingly cautious underneath. Hiring is slowing, wage pressures are easing, and employers are shifting focus from expansion to productivity, efficiency, and retention as AI adoption, economic uncertainty, and demographic constraints continue reshaping workforce strategy in 2026.
Finding Heart In the Agentic Era – Part 2
Part 1 in our Agentic AI series established why speed-only AI erodes trust. In Part 2, Staffmark goes deeper to demonstrate why all AI agents are not the same and how treating them the same is where many businesses get AI wrong. Ready to learn about the importance of clear agent roles and human escalation paths?
Workforce Optics: April 2026 Hiring Trends + Insights
The April edition of Workforce Optics explores a labor market that has bounced back from February’s soft patch but is still cooling beneath the surface. We unpack what this “soft but stubborn” environment means for employers as AI, demographic shifts, and rising cost pressures reshape where and how you compete for talent in 2026.
Spring Into Compliance: 3 Safety Priorities for Employers to Keep in Mind
Spring is here. For many high-volume employers in manufacturing, distribution, and logistics, the promise of spring often includes more work, more workers, and additional safety considerations to keep in mind.
I recently sat down with Staffing Industry Analysts’ senior editorial director, Craig Johnson, to talk about what this shift really means. Here are a few of the key insights I shared about the opportunities and the growing pains of this new era:
Finding Heart In the Agentic Era – Part 1
AI is reshaping hiring at speed — but speed alone won’t build the trust, engagement, and retention that workforce success demands. Staffmark CEO Stacey Lane shares how intentional AI creates space for the human moments that make work work.
Workforce Optics: March 2026 Hiring Trends + Insights
The March edition of Workforce Optics explores a labor market that appears steady on the surface but is shifting underneath. February saw nonfarm payrolls decline by 92,000 and unemployment tick up slightly to 4.4%, while participation and total unemployment (7.6 million) remained largely unchanged. With insights from Daniel Zhao (Glassdoor) and Svenja Gudell (Indeed), this issue examines the trends shaping hiring, worker behavior, and workforce strategy in 2026.
Workforce Optics: February 2026 Hiring Trends + Insights
The February edition of Workforce Optics is here. This month, we examine a labor market showing early signs of stabilization after a year of slow growth. January payrolls rose by 130,000 and unemployment edged down to 4.3%, signaling renewed momentum even as gains remain concentrated in select sectors.
Workforce Optics: January 2026 Hiring Trends + Insights
December’s Workforce Optics features a return visit from economists Svenja Gudell of Indeed and Daniel Zhao of Glassdoor as they break down the job market, emerging economic trends, and employee sentiment. With BLS employment data finally returning and the government shutdown behind us, what has changed? Explore the insights inside.