The HR Huddle

In this episode of Spilling the Tea on HR Tech, Stacey Harris and Cliff Stevenson discuss Perceptyx's acquisition of Lyceum AI; the general availability of Insperity HRScale; and the just-announced Sana from Workday. The wide-ranging conversation also gets into Canva’s new Magic Layers for managing the design and content of legacy learning; Grammarly’s controversial Expert Review; people news at Employ, UKG, and Adobe; ICIM’s rebranding and Coalesce AI;  and filtered's SCORM Intelligence.  The duo also calls out a potential pricing disrupter brought about by AI agents. Pricing models built around AI usage and API access are starting to hit real cost barriers for larger organizations Key points covered include: ↪️ With the promise of bringing “superintelligence to work,” Workday has launched Sana for Workday, which includes: Sana for Workday, a new AI interface for Workday; Sana Self-Service Agent, which automates HR and finance workflows; and Sana Enterprise, designed to automate work across the enterprise systems and applications employees use everyday. ↪️ Insperity HRScale, created from Insperity’s partnership with Workday, is now generally available, giving small businesses access to enterprise-grade HR technology while creating a potential pipeline for Workday as those companies grow. ↪️ With the recent acquisition of Lyceum AI, Perceptyx seeks to translate employee signals into personalized capability and skills building in the flow of work. Or, as stated in the news release, to close the gap between employee insights into actual business impact.   ↪️ Grammarly disabled its Expert Review AI agent after backlash over its use of named writers' voices; the controversy, which has spawned a class action lawsuit, raises broader questions about the boundary between AI-assisted writing and unauthorized use of an individual's identity and creative IP. ↪️ Research facts about use of benefit brokers: Sapient’s 2025-2026 data shows that 65% of companies with under 2,500 employees say their brokers have significant influence on how they run HR.  A corollary: organizations using brokers or other third-party HR support are 90% more likely to be viewed as contributing strategic value to their companies. Don’t miss this exciting thought leader conversation! Follow the hosts and companies mentioned below: Sapient Insights Group Download the 2024-25 HR Systems Survey White Paper Instagram | Twitter | LinkedIn Stacey Harris Instagram | Twitter | LinkedIn Cliff Stevenson Twitter | LinkedIn 

In this special episode* of HR, We Have a Problem, Teri Zipper and guest Zach Keep, Manager, Compliance Risk at Paychex, break down the compliance and regulatory shifts that HR professionals, finance teams, and business owners need to track in 2026. They dig into the One Big Beautiful Bill Act and what the "no tax on tips and overtime" provision actually means for employees. The conversation moves through AI legislation at the state level, where new laws are multiplying faster than federal guidance can keep up, and into retirement plan incentives that are making 401(k) adoption more accessible for small businesses than ever before.  Key points covered include: ↪️ The "no tax on tips and overtime" provision in the One Big Beautiful Bill is a refundable tax credit, not a true exemption, and employees should weigh the tradeoffs before adjusting their withholding. ↪️ Federal tax credits under Secure 2.0, including credits for plan establishment and employer matching, have lowered the cost barrier enough that small businesses can now offer 401(k) plans without significant financial risk. ↪️ AI regulation is moving faster at the state level than the federal level, with most legislation focused on deepfakes, privacy protections, and automated decision-making, but that picture will likely shift through 2026. ↪️ Worker classification rules are still in flux, with litigation pending on the 2024 independent contractor rule, and state and local employment laws are filling gaps that federal rollbacks leave behind. For up-to-date compliance resources for your business, visit: paychex.com/state-resources  *This podcast episode is sponsored by Paychex. Don’t miss this exciting thought leader conversation! Follow the hosts and companies mentioned below: Sapient Insights Group Download the 2024-25 HR Systems Survey White Paper Instagram | Twitter | LinkedIn Teri Zipper Instagram |  Twitter |  LinkedIn  Zach Keep LinkedIn Paychex LinkedIn 

In this episode of Spilling the Tea on HR Tech, Stacey Harris and Cliff Stevenson cover a packed week of HR tech news ranging from SD Workx’s expanded European payroll reach to Canva’s acquisition of two AI companies that are quietly becoming relevant to HR practitioners. They dig into Workday’s Agent System of Record, now generally available; the DOL's new AI literacy framework; and Matt Shumer’s controversial essay on AI’s future that garnered more than 80 million views on X.   Key points covered include: ↪️ Canva is aggressively expanding its design ecosystem with the acquisitions of MangoAI, which sells AI video ad optimization tools, and Cavalry, a U.K. based 2D animation design company.  These acquisitions aim to transform Canva from a simple template tool into a comprehensive creative ecosystem for both casual and professional users. ↪️ PayScale's 2026 Best Practices Compensation Report finds 61% of organizations now list AI skills as part of existing roles, but only 45% are adjusting compensation to reflect those skills. ↪️ Two legal cases involving AI use - one tied to a criminal investigation, another around attorney-client privilege - offer practical reminders that legally one must have full knowledge of the work to be done before relying on AI output.  Nor is AI output protected under attorney-client privilege.   ↪️ The U.S. Department of Labor released an AI literacy framework for guiding the development of training programs to equip American workers with foundational, non-technical AI skills. Don’t miss this exciting thought leader conversation! Follow the hosts and companies mentioned below: Sapient Insights Group Download the 2024-25 HR Systems Survey White Paper Instagram | Twitter | LinkedIn Stacey Harris Instagram | Twitter | LinkedIn Cliff Stevenson Twitter | LinkedIn 

In this episode of HR, We Have a Problem, Teri Zipper and guest Kate O'Neill, Founder and CEO of KO Insights, examine what it actually takes to lead through a period of rapid technological change. The conversation moves beyond AI adoption tactics and into the harder questions around how people make decisions, resist change, and find meaning in their work when automation is reshaping the ground beneath them. Kate draws from her background in tech humanism to explain why the fears employees have about AI are worth listening to, not just managing, and how organizations that skip those conversations tend to pay for it later.  Key points covered include: ↪️ When employees resist new technology, they may be sensing real trade-offs the organization has not acknowledged, such as loss of institutional knowledge or cultural continuity. HR leaders are well-positioned to surface those concerns rather than manage around them. ↪️ AI tools work best as scaffolding beneath human judgment, not as a replacement for it. Organizations that focus on structuring unstructured data and building clear rules and thresholds will move faster than those chasing full automation. ↪️ "Bankable foresight" is Kate's term for signals you are not ready to act on yet but track over time so your decisions are calibrated to something beyond the current moment's anxiety. ↪️ Prompt skilling is the minimum viable entry point for AI adoption. Teaching people to write better prompts also develops clearer thinking and stronger delegation skills, making it useful well beyond AI contexts. Don’t miss this exciting thought leader conversation! Follow the hosts and companies mentioned below: Sapient Insights Group Download the 2024-25 HR Systems Survey White Paper Instagram | Twitter | LinkedIn Teri Zipper Instagram |  Twitter |  LinkedIn  Kate O'Neill LinkedIn

In this episode of Spilling the Tea on HR Tech, Stacey Harris and Cliff Stevenson break down Workday's announcement of Aneel Bhusri's return as CEO and what it signals about how HR tech companies are repositioning for AI-era challenges. New research reveals employee priorities have shifted more dramatically than at any point in the last 20 years, with organizational stability ranking above feeling valued at work for the first time since 2016. Major acquisitions continue reshaping the skills and assessment landscape, while new data governance solutions point to growing concerns about data quality and AI effectiveness. Key points covered include: ↪️ Workday leadership transition as Carl Eschenbach steps down and founder Aneel Bhusri returns as CEO, with analysis of what this means for customers and partners during the AI transformation. ↪️ Employee engagement research showing stability concerns now outrank feeling valued for the first time in a decade, marking the most dramatic shift in engagement drivers in 20 years. ↪️ Skills infrastructure investments including Phenom acquiring Be Applied for AI-first assessments, Skillsoft's Percipio rebranding, and Workday's Military Skills Mapper for veteran hiring. ↪️ Data governance entering the HR conversation with Pantomath's funding for data lineage tracking and G2's consolidation of software review platforms. Don’t miss this exciting thought leader conversation! Follow the hosts and companies mentioned below: Sapient Insights Group Download the 2024-25 HR Systems Survey White Paper Instagram | Twitter | LinkedIn Stacey Harris Instagram | Twitter | LinkedIn Cliff Stevenson Twitter | LinkedIn