The future of work is changing fast. Future Focus cuts through the noise with three trends each week that matter most to HR and business leaders. When everything else is in flux, stay focused with Future Focus.
The Bruising Reality of Searching for a Job at 65 (Wall Street Journal)
What to Know: After a plant closure tied to corporate consolidation, a sixty-five-year-old professional is navigating her fourth layoff and a challenging job search. Her experience illustrates how late-career candidates face steeper barriers despite deep experience. The story highlights the combined effects of industry churn, shifting skills requirements, and persistent age bias on older job seekers.
Where to Focus: As more employees work later in life, late-career candidates will make up a larger share of your talent market — and their experience can be a competitive advantage. If you overlook this cohort, you risk losing institutional knowledge, continuity, and mentoring capacity, alongside reputational and legal exposure. Accounting for this reality and building inclusive infrastructure strengthens workforce planning, lowers turnover risk, and broadens access to proven talent.
Swedish Workers Trial ‘Friendship Hour’ to Combat Loneliness (BBC News)
What to Know: A major Swedish employer is piloting a "friendship hour," offering brief, paid time for employees to build social connections, supplemented by training and a modest stipend. The initiative aligns with a national push to address lonliness, which research links to higher health risks and downstream costs.
Where to Focus: Loneliness is not just a wellness issue; it is a performance, safety, and cost issue that shows up in absenteeism, turnover, and health care claims. Expect social well-being could to become a measurable driver of engagement and employer brand. Organizations that acknowledge social connection as a productivity variable — and integrate it into culture, manager expectations, and benefits — will see outsized returns in retention and team effectiveness.
One Year After California Wildfires, Progress is Slow in Rebuilding (CBS News)
What to Know: One year after devastating fires in Pacific Palisades and Altadena, construction has begun on about 500 of more than 16,000 lost structures, with only a few homes fully rebuilt; eight in ten survivors remain displaced. Insurance delays or denials affect an estimated 70% of survivors as billions in federal aid undergo review, even as some businesses reopen and communities explore fire-resistant building materials.
Where to Focus: Climate-driven disasters now translate into multiyear workforce, housing, and insurance disruptions that reshape labor supply, consumer demand, and the cost of doing business. Leaders should anticipate extended recovery timelines in location strategy and risk financing, and recognize that community resilience is a core driver of talent stability and operational continuity.
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