More than 100 employees at Activision Blizzard walked out Tuesday to call for CEO Bobby Kotick's departure, following revelations in The Wall Street Journal that Kotick had been aware of issues of discrimination and sexual misconduct at the company for several years. "The Board remains confident in Bobby Kotick's leadership, commitment and ability," the company's board of directors said in a statement.

Walmart's new initiative to offer English lessons to workers as a way to attract and retain talent is an example many in the food industry will need to follow to mitigate labor shortages amid the Great Resignation, writes Gina Acosta, for whom English is a second language. "Offering workplace English education can open career paths for current workers and attract new workers to join the diverse workforce that has become America's lifeblood," Acosta writes.

A growing percentage of employers are offering adoption or fertility benefits to employees, especially for people in the LGBTQ community. "When I'm going over the benefits package, there is a visible reaction to how these benefits support our people and our mission," says Karen Gehrig, director of employee benefits for Ferring Pharmaceuticals USA.

The Career Forward initiative from Google.org and the US Chamber of Commerce Foundation's Hiring our Heroes program aims to prepare 8,000 veterans for roles in tech through free skills training, fellowships, job placement assistance and other tools. Google.org, which is directing $20 million in grants and donations to the effort, aims to "ease some of the challenges our military community faces in reaching economic mobility," said President Jacquelline Fuller.

HR is not resistant to change, out of touch with the business or any of the other myths that plague the function's reputation, writes APQC's Elissa Tucker. Business leaders should work to dispel such myths and look at how their company's perception of HR "impacts the organization's ability to preempt unwanted resignations and get the best from employees over the long term," Tucker writes.

Don’t miss today’s HR Leader story about HR myths. My favorite is the one about HR being out of touch with business. I remember when I first started in publishing. Our HR department seemed disconnected from the rest of the organization. And it was definitely not a voice in the business (at least not a loud one).

Fast forward to now. HR desks are no longer the outliers in companies. They’re at the decision-making table, making their voices heard. And you can see this in organizational culture and in business strategy.

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