While government figures are not due until Friday, the ADP National Employment Report shows hires in the private sector rose by 807,000 in December, the strongest increase since May. However, economists say the Omicron variant has yet to be reflected in employment figures, which may fall sharply in January.

Chris Ronzio, CEO and founder of Trainual, a software company that helps onboard employees, offers new workers $5,000 to leave after just two weeks. "If someone knows a week or two in that this is not their long-term place or position, it gets more expensive to replace them as they take on more work and responsibility," Ronzio says.

Research shows that nearly half of full-time US employees feel affected by pandemic-related mental health issues. Employers can play a role in their well-being by supporting helpful behaviors, resiliency, compassion, engagement, connectedness, communication and inclusion.

This year could see continued growth in HR technology spending in areas such as recruiting, people analytics remote work facilitation and internal talent marketplaces. Artificial intelligence is also expected to be a key component of HR systems, although Betsy Summers of Forrester says vendors need to win over HR when it comes to AI.

Rumpelstiltskin could magically spin straw into gold, but the chemistry of corporate culture is less mysterious and should be an imperative for leaders, writes Steve McKee. "When members of your team don't believe in, trust or even like one another, your corporate chemistry becomes unstable at best," McKee writes.

How much are employers supposed to take when it comes to difficult workers?

That's the question that ran through my mind when I read today's Leadership & Development story about Antonio Brown. Brown is a wildly talented athlete. He can catch impossible passes with just inches between him and the sideline. He can battle double and triple coverage to get into the end zone. He makes the game thrilling.

But when I watched him wave his jersey Sunday and then jog off the field, I just shook my head. Would this be the final straw for Bruce Arians and the Buccaneers? Would they do what the Raiders did and cut their losses and release him? Should they?

Dumping an athlete who's clearly battling mental health challenges and has put his pain on display for the world to see is inhuman, Washington Post columnist Sally Jenkins suggests in her commentary. She writes that "[f]or all of the NFL's well-intentioned efforts on mental health, the Buccaneers have betrayed just how much of an archaic, body-commodifying, ranchers-and-cattle mentality can persist where decent human feeling should be." She goes on to say that the league treats its players as disposable.

Jenkins' indictment of the league and the Bucs is harsh, but it got me thinking. Do employers have an obligation to help hurting employees -- even when their actions affect work product and the workplace environment? How much must an employer take? Where's the line of responsibility between employee and employer? And what kind of precedence could employers set with their actions?

I'm just musing. This a messy situation. I don't think there are any easy answers. But I think the questions are worth asking.

And I pray Brown finds peace for his soul.

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