Ep138: Hot Topics - Workday is all in AI and Starbucks tells corporate to take their coffee to-go

HR Stories Podcast - A Lesson in Every Story!

HR Stories Podcast - A Lesson in Every Story!
Ep138: Hot Topics - Workday is all in AI and Starbucks tells corporate to take their coffee to-go
Oct 14, 2025 Episode 138
John Thalheimer, MS Org Leadership and Chuck Simikian, SPHR, SHRM-SCP

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Workday going all in on AI, spending astronomical amounts of money investing in AI softwares and agents. With AI not going anywhere, what risks and litigation do we open ourselves to when AI starts making business decisions.

Starbucks is cutting more corporate positions and closing doors on some locations. Many companies have been able to stave off layoffs by relying on retirements and not filling open roles but in this uncertain economic landscape, businesses are needing to get creative on retention and avoiding turnover costs.

A lawsuit against Nucor was brought about by two different employees for race-related retaliation. When the courts assessed the case, they sided with the employer. As a company, the importance of proper and thorough investigations cannot but understated.

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The viewpoints expressed by the characters in the stories are not necessarily that of The Team at HR Stories. The stories are shared to present various, real-world scenarios and share how they were handled by policy and, at times, law. Chuck and John are not lawyers and always recommend working with an employment lawyer to address concerns.

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