Staffing And Recruiting

Toronto – – October 06, 2026 -- McLean & Company has named nine winners of its inaugural HR Excellence Awards, selected from a field of 45 finalists across three categories measuring how organizations use diagnostic data to drive HR decisions.

Nine organizations win across three HR categories and three size segments

The winners span Employee Listening, HR Organizational Alignment, and HR Management & Governance, with separate Small, Medium, and Large/Enterprise honorees named in each category. In Employee Listening, winners include WESTconsin Credit Union (Small), Riddell Inc. (Medium), and Gildan Activewear, Inc. (Large/Enterprise). HR Organizational Alignment honorees are the Saskatchewan Assessment Management Agency (SAMA) (Small), Bryant University (Medium), and DexKo Global (Large/Enterprise). HR Management & Governance winners are Collège Boréal (Small), MTN Ghana (Medium), and VINCI Construction USA (Large/Enterprise).

Chicago – October 01, 2026 -- Forty IT workers employed by TEK Systems at Rush University Medical Center will hold a press conference on Friday to press their employer to resume contract negotiations, two years after voting to unionize with Teamsters Local 743.

Union members demand bargaining after two-year wait for first contract

The workers, who provide round-the-clock IT support for networks and systems critical to patient care at Rush University Medical Center, joined Local 743 two years ago but have yet to secure an initial collective bargaining agreement. TEK Systems, the staffing contractor that employs the workers, is being called on to negotiate in good faith.

Workers seek wage guarantees and formal union protections

The Teamsters are demanding a contract covering fair wages, workplace respect, and established union protections. The press conference is scheduled for 12 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 2.

Carrollton, Texas – October 01, 2026 -- FASTSIGNS International, Inc. is rolling out a national recruitment campaign timed to Sign Manufacturing Day 2026, deploying an interactive career personality quiz to funnel job seekers into open roles across its network of independently owned centers.

FASTSIGNS ties recruitment push to Sign Manufacturing Day, observed the first Friday of October

The initiative targets job seekers, college graduates and trade professionals for positions spanning brand consulting, graphic design, strategic sales, production and installation. The company is directing candidates to its career portal, FASTSIGNS.com/careers, where the quiz matches applicants to specific career tracks based on their skills and interests.

Menlo Park, Calif. – October 01, 2026 -- More than half of U.S. employers, 57%, are offering higher-than-planned salaries to secure new hires, with specialized skills cited as the top driver, according to Robert Half's 2027 Salary Guide released this week.

AI expertise now outpaces other technical skills in pay premiums

Seventy-two percent of managers report increasing pay specifically for AI-related skills, and 42% say AI expertise commands higher compensation than other technical competencies. The findings indicate that within identical job titles, a candidate's AI fluency can materially shift the final offer.

Norman, Oklahoma – September 30, 2026 -- Nextep has been named to the 2026 Fortune Best Workplaces in Consulting & Professional ServicesTM list, marking the professional employer organization's seventh consecutive year on the ranking from Great Place to Work® and Fortune magazine.

96% of Nextep employees rate the company a great workplace, far above the 57% national average

The list is compiled from survey responses of nearly 149,000 employees at Great Place To Work CertifiedTM companies in the consulting and professional services sector. Great Place To Work®'s broader annual study draws on more than 1.3 million survey responses and data from companies employing over 8.4 million people, using its Trust IndexTM methodology to evaluate workplace outcomes across job roles, race, gender, sexual orientation and work status.

New York – September 29, 2026 -- Global employment infrastructure provider Multiplier has surpassed $100 million in Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR) just six years after its founding, posting 80% year-over-year growth and 115% Net Revenue Retention for its core business.

North America now generates 60% of Multiplier's total revenue

Despite originating in Singapore and operating across more than 160 countries, Multiplier has built its primary growth engine in North America, a region where several industry peers have scaled back operations. Companies headquartered in the United States accounted for 47% of all Multiplier's expansion activity between Q4 2025 and Q1 2026.

San Francisco – September 29, 2026 -- America's small businesses added 28,000 net new jobs in September on a seasonally adjusted basis, marking the eighth consecutive month of positive hiring, according to Gusto's Small Business Jobs and Pay Report.

September hiring accelerated from a downwardly revised August figure

The September gain improved on August's total, which was revised down to 18,500 net new jobs from an initial estimate of 29,500. July's figure was also revised lower, to 39,700 from 42,400. Despite the September uptick, hiring remained below the 12-month average of 34,000, with recent monthly totals of 38,000 in May, 36,000 in June and 39,700 in July.

Minneapolis – September 29, 2026 -- Yardstik, a Minneapolis-based workforce trust platform, has appointed Nick Schneider, President and CEO of cybersecurity firm Arctic Wolf, to its board of directors, weeks after closing a $30 million Series B round led by Harbert Growth Partners.

Schneider brings two decades of cybersecurity scaling experience to Yardstik's board

Schneider has led Arctic Wolf since 2021, growing it into one of the largest privately held cybersecurity companies and a Forbes Cloud 100 and Fortune Cyber 60 honoree. Under his tenure, Arctic Wolf launched the Aurora Agentic SOC and was named a Leader in the 2026 IDC MarketScape for Worldwide Managed Detection and Response Service for Midmarket. He previously ran North American sales at Code42 and held senior sales roles at Compellent Technologies through its IPO and acquisition by Dell.

Providence, Rhode Island – September 28, 2026 -- Applications are open now for Year Up United's Customer Experience career pathway in Providence, set to begin October 19, 2026, coinciding with a 20-year employer partnership with Citizens that has placed more than 400 interns since 2005.

Rhode Island's labor market weakens despite August job gains

Data from the Rhode Island Department of Labor and Training shows 12,500 fewer residents employed than a year ago, even as the state added jobs in August. Labor force participation continues to shrink, tightening the on-ramp for young adults entering the workforce without a bachelor's degree.

Jacksonville, Fla. – September 28, 2026 -- The U.S. independent workforce reached a record 74.9 million people in 2026, driven by a 114% surge in full-time independent professionals since 2020, according to the 16th annual State of Independence study released by MBO Partners by Beeline.

Full-time independents now account for 22% of all full-time U.S. workers

That share is nearly double the level recorded in 2019, marking a structural shift from supplemental gig work toward independence as a primary career path. Among independent professionals surveyed, 78% plan to remain independent or scale a larger business, with nearly six in 10 intending to continue working independently and one in five aiming to grow their operations.