Happy Thursday, everyone. I'm Frank Richardson, an organisational psychologist observing the workplace with curiosity and care. Each week, I share insights to help HR leaders better understand the people behind the processes and build cultures where both individuals and organisations can thrive.
This week in workplace whiplash 🌀
This week's theme? AI is changing who gets hired, who gets left behind, and how fiercely companies are willing to compete for talent:
🤖 Young Workers Are Bearing the Brunt of the AI Hiring Boom
A new analysis suggests it’s becoming particularly difficult for young adults trying to land their first professional role. Employment among 18–24-year-olds has fallen while outcomes for older workers have remained relatively stable. Due to growing demand for AI-related skills, the bar has been raised before many graduates have even had a chance to get started.
👉HR Dive🍎 Apple Accuses OpenAI of Targeting Employees for Trade Secrets
Apple has filed a lawsuit accusing OpenAI of using the recruitment of former Apple employees to gain access to confidential product information and sensitive commercial projects. OpenAI has strongly denied the allegations, saying it has no interest in Apple's trade secrets. Whatever happens in court, the case highlights how competition for AI talent is becoming one of the biggest battlegrounds in tech.
👉HR Grapevine📈 AI Skills Are Now Showing Up in Nearly Three-Quarters of Tech Jobs
According to new data, AI skills now appear in 73% of technology job postings, up from just 15% two years ago. Roles with "AI" in the job title have increased by 173% over the past year, while traditional software development roles have declined. The message is becoming increasingly clear: AI is rapidly shifting from a specialist capability to an expected part of many jobs.
👉HR Dive
Speaking of workplace signals... this week's article explores why our brains use surprisingly small details to judge company culture.
🤝 SPONSORED BY SOFTWARE ADVICE
BambooHR, Paycor, and Rippling are all popular solutions for HR and payroll, but each offers something different depending on your business needs. This free guide from Software Advice helps you compare reviews from these top tools, highlighting features, pricing, pros, cons, and user ratings.
Download your exclusive guide today to find out which platform is the best fit for your team’s needs and budget.
I have a slightly embarrassing confession.
Most mornings, while I'm eating my own breakfast, I'll watch a complete stranger eat theirs.
There's a TikToker who films her workday at Google and, for reasons I still don't fully understand, I've become oddly invested in one particular workplace perk: the free breakfast. Every morning she heads to the workplace café and loads up her plate. One day it's an omelette station. The next it's pastries, smoothies and beautifully arranged fruit. If she uploads another breakfast video tomorrow, I'll almost certainly watch that too
Apparently I'm far from alone. Workplace "day in the life" videos get millions of views, and somewhere between the office tour and the free coffee, people become strangely fascinated by what employees are eating.
It reminded me of the recent story about Meta and X jokingly competing over snack budgets jokingly competing over snack budgets to attract talent. The whole thing sounded absurd, but it also raised an interesting question. Why do workplace perks seem to generate so much more attention than the things organisations actually want us to notice, like their values, leadership or culture?
Then it clicked.
I'm not watching these videos to judge whether Google had a good breakfast spread. I'm actually trying to work out what it might feel like to work there.
What's the smallest workplace perk that's ever made you think, "I'd love to work there"?
🧠The behavioural science lens
As it turns out, my brain was doing exactly what human brains have always done: using one small clue to fill in a much bigger picture:
Concrete experiences are easier to believe: Every organisation promises a great culture. Those words are easy to write and surprisingly difficult to picture. A breakfast buffet is different. You can immediately imagine yourself walking in, grabbing a coffee and chatting to colleagues before work. Behavioural science shows that concrete experiences create stronger mental images, making them far more memorable than broad statements about culture.
Our brains naturally place us inside the story: Workplace TikToks invite us to mentally rehearse an experience before we've ever lived it. As we watch someone swipe their security pass, collect breakfast and settle into the office, our brains quietly imagine ourselves doing exactly the same thing. Psychologists describe this as mental simulation. The more vividly we picture an experience, the more psychologically real it becomes.
Tiny cues shape first impressions: When information is limited, our brains happily fill in the blanks. A beautifully stocked kitchen quickly becomes evidence that employees are valued. A thoughtfully designed office suggests attention to detail. Those conclusions form almost instantly because humans naturally use visible cues to make broader judgements, called heuristics.
Symbols tell surprisingly powerful stories: Free breakfast has very little financial value compared with salary, flexibility or a great manager. Its influence comes from symbolism. Perks communicate generosity, investment and care. Whether those assumptions accurately reflect the organisation varies enormously, but symbols often shape first impressions long before people experience the workplace for themselves.
🚀What this means for leaders
The challenge isn't creating more perks. It's recognising that people are constantly interpreting the everyday experiences your organisation creates. Those moments become shortcuts for answering a much bigger question: "What would it actually be like to work here?"
Think carefully about the signals your organisation sends: People form impressions long before they understand your culture. How meetings run, whether leaders keep their promises, how new starters are welcomed and how mistakes are handled all become clues about what the organisation truly values.
Make sure the visible signals match the lived experience: A beautifully designed office, a generous learning budget or free breakfast all create expectations. Employees quickly notice whether those visible signals align with their day-to-day reality. When they do, trust grows. When they don't, the symbols quickly lose their meaning.
Remember that culture is experienced, not described: Most organisations spend a lot of time explaining their culture. Employees spend their time experiencing it. The small interactions people have every day shape reputation far more powerfully than another paragraph on the careers page.
💬 Final thoughts
I'll almost certainly watch another Google breakfast TikTok tomorrow.
Experience tells me a plate of pancakes reveals very little about what it's actually like to work somewhere. My brain, however, has already decided it's an important clue.
That's probably the real lesson here.
Our brains love shortcuts.
Sometimes they're right. Sometimes they're just hungry.
🤝 SPONSORED BY DEEL
HR and IT need to work as one. Here's how
When HR and IT don't talk, people fall through the cracks. This guide fixes the handoffs that matter most.
How's the depth of today's edition?
If any of these hit differently read together, I'd love to hear it.
Until next week,
Frank
P.S. If you want to get a feature about your own story, reply to this email. If you’d like to reach our newsletter audience (founders, creators, and marketers), click the button below.
If you’re new here, I’m over the moon you’ve joined us! To help me craft content that’s actually useful (and not just noise in your inbox), I’d love it if you took 1 minute to answer this quick survey below. Your insights help shape everything I write.
✨ Insane Media is more than one voice
💡 Dive into our other newsletters - where psychology meets the founders, creator economy, e-commerce marketing, and AI founders.
