Jenni and Chuck cover four stories this week: Gartner's prediction that half of AI-driven workforce cuts will reverse by 2027, new research on the office condition that actually drives team performance, an internal comms piece that's got the industry talking, and Germany's tightening of sick leave rules.
Gartner has predicted that half of all AI workforce cuts will reverse by 2027, and the reasoning exposes exactly what AI still can't do. Forrester's 2026 Predictions Report found that 55% of employees who restructured for AI now regret that decision, with companies discovering that replacing judgment-based roles with AI delivered information retrieval instead. Jenni and Chuck dig into why leaders may be slow to admit the reversal, the sunk cost fallacy at play, and how the story organisations tell about AI now will shape how easily they can change course later.
A Harvard Business Review study of more than 6,000 knowledge workers found that the strongest teams aren't defined by perks or work arrangements, but by their ability to protect focused work through meeting-free periods and reduced interruptions. Jenni and Chuck talk through why "busy" has become a badge of honour, the role managers play in either enabling or blocking focus time, and why learning to say no might be the real skill organisations need to cultivate.
Prompted by an article shared by a listener, Jenni brings a piece from Cameron Wood that's been circulating on LinkedIn, unpacking why internal comms keeps having the same conversations. Two lines stood out: that opening isn't reading, reading isn't understanding, understanding isn't believing, and believing isn't changing behaviour, and that most leaders see the function as useful rather than important. Jenni shares data from her own past research with CEOs ranking the value of internal comms, and the pair debate whether working backwards from behaviour change is the better starting point for the function.
Germany has tightened its sick leave rules, requiring a medical certificate from the very first day of illness and scrapping the pandemic-era option of phone sign-off. Jenni and Chuck weigh what the policy signals about trust between employers, government and employees, and whether it risks pushing unwell people into work rather than solving the problem it's aimed at.
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Want to find out more about Chuck’s work and ICology - check out the website and how to become a member here: https://www.joinicology.com/
Jenni’s a regular speaker and consultant on leadership credibility and internal communication, you can find out more about how to learn from her and work with her here: https://thejennifield.com/
Articles mentioned in this episode:
Half of AI workforce cuts will reverse by 2027 https://www.gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2026-05-13-gartner-predicts-by-2027-50-percent-of-enterprises-without-a-people-centric-ai-strategy-will-lose-their-top-ai-talent
The Office Amenity That Actually Improves Teamwork https://hbr.org/2026/07/the-office-amenity-that-actually-improves-teamwork
Internal comms is useful but it’s not important https://www.linkedin.com/posts/jasonanthoine_honesty-about-ic-activity-7482289731754561536-F_1K?
Germany are tightening up the sick leave rules https://deutschlandinenglish.com/p/germany-tightens-sick-leave-rules-medical-certificates-required-from-day-one-telephone-sick-leave-ended