Tony on the SHRM Stage

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This week Matthew shared why the risk for full time hiring has never been higher, and Tony previewed how leading organizations are accessing the future workforce. Here is where we would start this weekend.

From the SHRM '26 stage

HR Can't Be Strategic While Doing Everything

At SHRM '26, Tony sat down with William Tincup and Amy Miller on WRKdefined's Heroes of HR. His case: HR leaders don't get strategic by building a bigger team. They get there by building an ecosystem of partners and taking the administrative work off their plate.

The line that stayed with us: HR leaders can feel almost fraudulent handing work to a partner. Tony's answer is that good partners want to make you look good, because your success is theirs. His advice to buyers is simple. Find your gaps, walk the floor, and bring in the partner who has already run that process hundreds of times.

"I don't think a lot of HR leaders really embrace the ecosystem of partners they could be working with. They don't have to do everything in-house." Tony Buffum Co-Founder & CSO, Human Cloud

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Catch up on the Human Cloud Podcast

Our last three episodes, worth a weekend listen.

	October 6 Joel Kammeyer, Head of Community, Direct Collective He reads the questions 300+ contingent workforce leaders send each other every day. Agentic AI, candidate fraud, and the SOW spend still outside the program top the list.
	September 26 Eric Ly, Co-Founder & CEO, KarmaCheck The LinkedIn co-founder on why credentialing, the least glamorous process in a hospital, is the one that decides its margin.
	September 24 Kelly Monahan, Founder, Beyond the Desk Her clients are CIOs and CTOs, and they have run out of technology problems. What is left is work redesign, reskilling, and change management. With Tony Buffum.

Weekend Reads

From Matthew

•  The risk for full time hiring has never been higher.

•  Consumer goods searches doubled. AI fell again.

From Tony

•  A preview to next Tuesday: how leading organizations are accessing the future workforce.

From the industry

•  ManpowerGroup Cites Improving Demand and an 'Inflection Point' in Q3 Staffing Industry Analysts · Oct 15

•  DHS Proposes Ending Deference to Prior Approvals for H-1B and L-1 Extensions Duane Morris · Oct 15

•  ILO Adopts the First Binding Global Standards for Platform Workers Business & Human Rights Resource Centre · Oct 14

•  Workday to Acquire C1.ai to Govern People and AI Agents Dealroom · Oct 15

•  Humanly Acquires CareerArc to Build an Always-On Candidate Pipeline Yahoo Finance · Oct 14

•  Talent Marketplace Fuel50 Sells to Phoenix Education for Up to $72M B2B News · Oct 14

•  Locum Tenens Firm VeloSource Lands Strategic Investment From UPMC Enterprises PE Hub · Oct 15

•  Kroger Is Cutting 3,000 Corporate Jobs, but Its CEO Didn't Blame AI Inc. · Oct 13

Access all stories →

Meet This Edition's Partner

Safeguard Global Safeguard Global provides employer of record (EOR), global payroll, contractor payments, recruitment, entity setup, HR/benefits, and finance/tax/accounting services to help organizations hire and manage teams compliantly in 187 countries without needing local entities. Focus EOR Industries Bio and Life Sciences, Biotechnology, Consumer Retail, Continuing Education, Energy & Manufacturing, Nonprofits HQ Austin, United States Meet with Safeguard Global →