The EBN Dispatch
Employer Branding News (EBN) comes to your ears with the same dry wit and disruptive insights you’ve come to expect from our articles and videos. We tackle the world of work, employer branding, recruitment, culture and everything in between, with a raised eyebrow and a data-backed argument. If you’re a company leader, HR rebel, or just someone who thinks ”culture fit” is a lazy excuse, you’re in the right feed. Each episode unpacks real-world employer brand moves, cuts through corporate speak, and challenges tired talent narratives. Less fluff, more facts. Occasionally funny. Always unfiltered.
Episodes
Employer branding is becoming operational. The winners are building systems that hold up under scrutiny: shared ownership across HR and marketing, real accountability when leaders misbehave, hiring that doesn’t manufacture friction, and AI adoption that improves work instead of expanding it.
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Layoffs are rising, pay is flattening, and AI still struggles to prove ROI. This week’s brief breaks down what those shifts mean for hiring, retention, and employer brand trust.
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📌 Sources & Links
AI ambition is ahead of the evidence
• https://hbr.org/2026/02/9-trends-shaping-work-in-2026-and-beyond
Amazon’s layoff leak is the week’s defining signal: trust is fragile, and AI hype does not run the business.
This Paper Cut looks at the AI reality gap, rising job anxiety, and what “proof” looks like in rollouts, skills, and comms.
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📌 Sources & Links:
Amazon’s Layoff Leak
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/jan/28/amazon-global-job-cuts-email-error-...
AI agents are arriving fast, but the proof is lagging. This week’s Paper Cut looks at the gap between “efficiency” claims and employee reality, why retention depends on systems not slogans, and what a tighter hiring mood means for employer brand leaders.
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AI Agents and the credi...
AI will keep dominating the headlines. The practical 2026 story for HR and employer brand leaders is time: schedule control, workflow design, and whether skills and pathways are being built in reality, not just in messaging.
This week’s Paper Cut looks at the AI jobs narrative versus labour data, the shift from “where” to “when” flexibility, and what narrowing entry routes mean for talent strategy.
This week’s Paper Cut slices through AI agent hype, labour market whiplash, hybrid headaches, and the growing trust tax at work. No fluff, just the context HR and employer brand leaders need to act with confidence.
This episode cuts through the spin to give HR, TA, and employer brand leaders the signal they actually need. We connect AI agents, uneven labour data, hybrid policy shifts, and rising privacy concerns into one clear s...
The overcapacity era is here. We cut through hype versus headcount and map the moves that keep your employer brand credible when AI agents rise, entry routes shrink, and culture confidence slides.
This week’s Paper Cut slices through the spin and gives HR and employer brand leaders the context and checklists they actually need. No fluff, just facts and practical moves.
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This week’s Paper Cut looks past the headlines on layoffs, AI checklist hiring, hybrid confusion, and culture awards to ask what they really signal about trust.
This edition of Paper Cut from Employer Branding News cuts through the spin to give HR, talent, and employer brand leaders the context they actually need. Clear patterns, practical implications, no fluff.
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Office rules stiffen, AI agents start delivering, and the labor story splits. Here is how to keep credibility when everyone else is playing optics.
This week’s Paper Cut slices through the spin to give HR and employer brand leaders the insight they actually need. No fluff, just facts.
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This week we cut through the noise: AI layoffs get counted, CEOs flirt with ultimatums, hybrid needs better managers, and HR turns into a growth engine.
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📌 Sources & Links:
Layoffs Go Transparent: Start Counting AI
Starter jobs are turning into agent workflows while boards rediscover layoffs and RTO. We cut through noise and show what to fix now: rebuild the first rung, make hybrid a system, and narrate change like adults.
This week’s Paper Cut slices through the spin to give HR and employer brand leaders the insight they actually need. No fluff, just facts.
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This week’s lead story: AI agents scale while layoffs surge. We unpack the cultural signal in the cuts, why middle managers decide AI success, and how to rebuild early-career rungs and remote strategy.
This week’s Paper Cut slices through the spin to give HR and employer brand leaders the insight they actually need. No fluff, just facts.
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Leaders keep invoking AI to justify cuts. The truth this week is sharper. Fear, not code, is driving many decisions. Here is how to turn skills into policy and stop torching trust on location.
This week’s Paper Cut slices through the spin to give HR and employer brand leaders the insight they actually need. No fluff, just facts.
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How do you rebuild trust when your systems scream control? This week we cut through RTO threats, AI scoreboards, and hiring mazes to show the path to real performance.
This week’s Paper Cut slices through the spin to give HR and employer brand leaders the insight they actually need. No fluff, just facts.
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A cooler market with hot spots. Skills beat degrees. Managers decide growth. Pipelines move to attention markets. Here is what actually matters for HR this week.
This week’s Paper Cut slices through the spin to give HR and employer brand leaders the insight they actually need. No fluff, just facts.
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RTO creeps up, HR burns out, visas tighten, and AI workslop eats real work. This week’s Paper Cut breaks down the choices that shape your employer brand.
This week’s Paper Cut slices through the spin to give HR and employer brand leaders the insight they actually need. No fluff, just facts.
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📌 Sources &...
AI isn’t the story. Your operating model is. This week we break down agentic HR, augmentation without layoffs, and why carrots beat control.
This week’s Paper Cut slices through the spin to give HR and employer brand leaders the insight they actually need. No fluff, just facts.
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Agentic HR, Not Theatrica...
Layoffs roll on, RTO gets louder, and consulting is rebuilt by the very tools it once sold. Workers hedge, managers lose the room, and trust becomes the only durable advantage. This week’s Paper Cut turns headlines into practical moves for employer-brand leaders.
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📌 Sources & Links
Layoffs With a Si...
Salesforce cuts staff. Amazon tightens rules and chases urgency. Paramount plans five days in the office. The market cools, workers hedge, and AI only pays off when companies change how they work. Paper Cut distils the noise into practical moves for employer-brand leaders.
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📌 Sources & Links
Hard ...
AI savings, manager cuts, RTO reality, and a labour market easing into a long hold. Paper Cut turns the week’s headlines into practical moves for HR and employer-brand leaders.
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📌 Sources & Links
White-Collar Reset
Morgan Stanley says AI could save S&P 500 companies 920 billion dollars: https...
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