SMPHR Weekly Brew — Monday, July 27

Happy Monday, SMPHR fam. Compliance had a wild week, AI keeps overpromising, and your Learning Lab just got five new reads worth your coffee break. Here's what's actually worth your attention.

This Week in HR

• EEOC votes to scrap 60-year-old EEO-1 diversity reporting rule (Fortune) — The federal demographic paperwork you've been quietly dreading may soon be optional, but "optional" doesn't mean "irrelevant" if your board or investors still want the numbers.
• Meta's AI-based layoffs allegedly targeted workers who'd taken protected leave (HR Dive) — 26 employees say the algorithm that picked who got cut quietly penalized anyone on medical or family leave. "The AI decided" is not a legal shield, it's Exhibit A.
• Culture Amp's 2026 AI in HR study reveals a transformation gap (PR Newswire) — HR pros still mostly use AI to draft emails; only 24% trust it to run anything autonomously, and confidence actually dropped 9 points from last year.
• What the end of EEO-1 reporting means for corporate America (Forbes) — Less mandatory reporting also means less external pressure to keep DEI programs honest — expect boards to start asking for the numbers government no longer requires.

New in the Learning Lab

• Addressing the Barriers Blocking Employee Development — Gallup
• A top-down commitment is crucial for inclusion in 2026, SHRM panelists say — HR Dive
• Pay Transparency 2.0: The Shift to Total Rewards Transparency — The HR Digest
• 2026 Midyear Hiring Compliance: Building For A Changing Legal Landscape — Forbes
• Episode 63: HR Compliance Is Getting Harder: What Actually Helps? — Paychex PULSE (video)

Coming Up

• October (date TBD) — Professional Development: SMPHR Employment Law Legal Update, featuring John Marino. Details
• November (date TBD) — Community Outreach: No Hunger Holiday. Details
• December (date TBD) — Community Outreach: Salvation Army Angel Tree. Details

That's the Brew. Go be great this week — we'll see you back here next Monday.