This week: US employers face a 9.2%–11.1% healthcare cost rise for 2027 (the steepest since 2003) and are quietly cutting the GLP-1 coverage employees want most. The Challenger report shows August cuts up 58%, yet hiring announcements are up 725% and AI has slipped to the fourth-cited reason for layoffs. Uber bundles 3,300 job cuts with a return-to-office push. And Lindsay Bennett makes the case that AI and GEO have made PR "cool again," which raises the real question for this audience: does internal comms get the same moment, or get skipped?
New episodes every Monday. If Frequency is part of your week, a quick review and a subscribe go a long way.
⏱️ Chapters
00:00 — Welcome + the strangest things people post
03:34 — US healthcare costs and the GLP-1 pullback
09:03 — August job cuts up 58% (AI isn't the villain)
15:20 — Uber's 3,300 cuts and the RTO bundle
20:11 — The new comms playbook: AI, GEO, PR is cool again
25:20 — Freq-out: Chuck on 9/11, 25 years on
33:09 — Wrap-up
🔗Links
Healthcare costs: https://www.linkedin.com/news/story/employers-brace-for-record-rise-in-healthcare-costs-9304042/
Challenger job cuts report: https://www.challengergray.com/blog/challenger-report-august-job-cuts-up-58-consumer-products-food-lead/
Uber restructuring: https://www.linkedin.com/news/story/uber-to-cut-more-than-3k-jobs-in-massive-restructuring-7560948/
The New Communications Playbook (Lindsay Bennett): https://mediatrainedhq.substack.com/p/the-new-communications-playbook-ai