Alphabet shareholders have voted against an employee-backed proposal to tie executive pay to diversity and inclusion progress, saying the measure would hurt recruitment and retention. The measure was drafted to address a lack of women and minorities in senior positions.

Job openings rose to a seasonally adjusted 6.7 million in April from 6.6 million in the previous month, according to the Labor Department. It was the highest level since tracking began in December 2000.

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation's 52-week paid parental leave program benefits both employees and the organization by giving staff more opportunities to develop skills when they fill in for people, writes Steven Rice, chief human resource officer. In creating the program, "[w]e found managers wanted guidance on how to hold conversations with employees who are planning to take leave and with those who were interested in backfilling," so the foundation developed "simple materials to help managers prepare for these conversations."

Artificial intelligence is gathering data to help HR find the right job candidates quickly, executives say. "The good news is that AI is going to slowly eliminate the 'rinse and repeat' element of recruiting and, instead, let recruiters focus on the thing they love, which is the matchmaking component of recruiting," says Jobvite CEO Dan Finnigan.

Employers need to provide training to help their employees know how to react if an active shooter incident occurs in the workplace, law-enforcement officials said at a conference on Wednesday. Employees exiting the workplace need to place their hands in the air to show police that they pose no threat, and companies need to monitor suspicious activity and be ready for business interruption if their property is being treated as a crime scene, the officials said.