Featuring scholarly and practitioner insights from HR and people leaders, industry experts, and researchers.

Abstract: A November 2026 survey of 1,014 employed U.S. adults found that 69% had experienced at least one form of workplace undermining in the past year, from being blamed for problems to having information withheld or credit taken. These findings arrive amid continuing layoff anxiety, AI-attributed job cuts, and record-low employee engagement. This article synthesizes research on social undermining, knowledge hiding, knowledge theft, job insecurity, and tournament-style incentives to explain why threat pushes employees toward zero-sum behavior and what that behavior costs organizations and individuals. It then outlines five evidence-based organizational responses: redesigning evaluation and rewards to value collective contribution, making credit and attribution visible, reducing threat through fair and transparent workforce decisions, enforcing conduct norms without regard to status, and building trust-based knowledge-sharing systems. Documented examples from Microsoft, Atlassian, Adobe, Nucor, Uber, Netflix, Pixar, Toyota, Virginia Mason, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, and Wells Fargo illustrate both effective practice and common failure. The article closes with three long-term capabilities for making cooperation the rational choice even when jobs feel uncertain.

Contract and temporary workers are rapidly transitioning from peripheral staffing stopgaps into core components of modern organizational operations, driven heavily by economic uncertainty and artificial intelligence projects. However, integrating this blended workforce introduces significant challenges, including diminished loyalty among permanent employees, heightened safety risks, knowledge erosion, and complex legal liabilities regarding misclassification. To successfully navigate these issues without creating a divisive environment, organizational leaders must implement intentional workforce architectures, establish minimum standards across extended suppliers, and foster seamless team collaboration. Additionally, leadership needs to share safety and well-being obligations jointly with vendors, continuously govern legal classification rules, and maintain total visibility over all talent tiers. Ultimately, treating contingent labor as a strategic design choice rather than an unmanaged default enables companies to capture the benefits of flexibility while safeguarding organizational health.

Contract and temporary workers are rapidly transitioning from peripheral staffing stopgaps into core components of modern organizational operations, driven heavily by economic uncertainty and artificial intelligence projects. However, integrating this blended workforce introduces significant challenges, including diminished loyalty among permanent employees, heightened safety risks, knowledge erosion, and complex legal liabilities regarding misclassification. To successfully navigate these issues without creating a divisive environment, organizational leaders must implement intentional workforce architectures, establish minimum standards across extended suppliers, and foster seamless team collaboration. Additionally, leadership needs to share safety and well-being obligations jointly with vendors, continuously govern legal classification rules, and maintain total visibility over all talent tiers. Ultimately, treating contingent labor as a strategic design choice rather than an unmanaged default enables companies to capture the benefits of flexibility while safeguarding organizational health.

Contract and temporary workers are rapidly transitioning from peripheral staffing stopgaps into core components of modern organizational operations, driven heavily by economic uncertainty and artificial intelligence projects. However, integrating this blended workforce introduces significant challenges, including diminished loyalty among permanent employees, heightened safety risks, knowledge erosion, and complex legal liabilities regarding misclassification. To successfully navigate these issues without creating a divisive environment, organizational leaders must implement intentional workforce architectures, establish minimum standards across extended suppliers, and foster seamless team collaboration. Additionally, leadership needs to share safety and well-being obligations jointly with vendors, continuously govern legal classification rules, and maintain total visibility over all talent tiers. Ultimately, treating contingent labor as a strategic design choice rather than an unmanaged default enables companies to capture the benefits of flexibility while safeguarding organizational health.

Contract and temporary workers are rapidly transitioning from peripheral staffing stopgaps into core components of modern organizational operations, driven heavily by economic uncertainty and artificial intelligence projects. However, integrating this blended workforce introduces significant challenges, including diminished loyalty among permanent employees, heightened safety risks, knowledge erosion, and complex legal liabilities regarding misclassification. To successfully navigate these issues without creating a divisive environment, organizational leaders must implement intentional workforce architectures, establish minimum standards across extended suppliers, and foster seamless team collaboration. Additionally, leadership needs to share safety and well-being obligations jointly with vendors, continuously govern legal classification rules, and maintain total visibility over all talent tiers. Ultimately, treating contingent labor as a strategic design choice rather than an unmanaged default enables companies to capture the benefits of flexibility while safeguarding organizational health.

In this HCI Webinar, I talk with Guillermo Corea about building psychological capital. Guillermo Corea is a seasoned business leader with over 25 years of experience in digital media, business development, venture capital, and strategic management. Currently serving as the chief business innovation and growth officer at APA, he holds the distinction of being the first person appointed to this pivotal role. In this capacity, Corea is responsible for spearheading the development and implementation of innovative revenue generation strategies for both the association and its affiliate, APA Services, Inc. Corea brings a wealth of expertise to this role, underscored by his successful track record in launching new operations, expanding revenue streams, and fostering impactful partnerships.

Abstract: Contract, temporary, and freelance workers are no longer a stopgap at the edge of the organization. A Harris Poll survey of 1,006 U.S. hiring decision-makers released in November 2026 found that 71% of companies now build contract workers into their staffing strategies and that contract workers complete an estimated 11% of the work at U.S. companies. This article examines what that shift means for leaders. It defines the main forms of nonstandard work, reviews evidence on prevalence and drivers, and synthesizes research showing that blended workforces can strain standard employees' loyalty, expose temporary workers to higher injury risk, and create legal exposure around misclassification and joint employment. It then sets out five evidence-based responses: deliberate workforce architecture, floor standards across the extended workforce, integration at the team interface, shared safety duties, and classification governance. Organizational examples from technology, logistics, healthcare, automotive manufacturing, consumer goods, aerospace, and education technology illustrate each response. The article closes with three long-term capabilities for leading the whole workforce, not only the payroll.

This research examines employee recognition as a powerful yet frequently mishandled management tool that significantly influences performance, retention, and workplace wellbeing. Research shows that while frequent, specific, and fair appreciation powerfully drives engagement and reduces turnover, the majority of workers still feel their efforts go unnoticed or receive only generic praise. Furthermore, the research highlights the risks of poorly designed award systems and the growing challenge of artificial intelligence, which threatens to make gratitude feel hollow if fully automated. Organizations are encouraged to democratize appreciation across peers, learn systematically from workplace excellence, and maintain a human-centered approach to ensure recognition genuinely honors real contributions.