Get Ahead: Layoffs up, flexible talent up

Hey everyone,

Happy Monday! Every Monday I break down the top stories powering your week. If you want the hiring side analysis, check out Tony's newsletter.

Here's what stories stand out to start the week:

•	Microsoft offered 60,000 people the door (more than a quarter of its workforce).1 – Amex is cutting 5%.2 – Apple cut 400+ roles.3 – Singapore layoffs hit a six-year high.4
•	Flexible talent is capturing this shift. – Our platform is seeing the best talent platforms show 40%+ YoY growth. – Gigged.AI grew 282% in 12 months without hiring a single new person.5 – Aisle turned their 4.4 million shoppers into a talent marketplace through its new Tasks product, which sends its shopper network into stores.6 – Mercor, which supplies expert talent to AI labs, doubled to a $2 billion run rate in about four months.7
•	Compliance continues increasing in importance. Illinois proposed equal pay for temps, California now requires a human to review AI firing decisions, and Deel launched identity verification for hiring.8,9,10

Access all stories »

Here's what stands out from our community call:

•	PE is building flexible teams on purpose. At PEI New York, one firm had about 100 AI roles across its portfolio. About 40 are full-time. The rest are contractors.   Tony's PEI executive debrief Full recap from the Operating Partners Forum Download »
•	Profiles will probably be portable, headless, and credentialed. Ian Davidson taught us how profile credentialing drove revenue at ZipRecruiter, while I shared how we're seeing solutions on Human Cloud open source their profiles.
•	EORs and sourcing solutions are creating package offerings that scale flexible talent across the organization. Deel launched Deel Talent.11 Upwork launched Lifted.12 Safeguard Global white-labels a contingent EOR, so the sourcing partner owns the client and Safeguard handles compliance. The question is how do you make this work? If you're an EOR, do you acquire into a sourcing solution? If you're a sourcing solution, do you partner with the right EOR?

October community call replay Where flexible talent fits, with Ian, Charlie, Matt and Tony Watch »

How Human Cloud is helping:

Companies are confused. They don't want to care about independent contractors, they just want to get work done. But 60% of talent spend goes around approved channels.¹³ So talent leaders need a place to start, and Human Cloud is that place.

They use assets like the Market Map to make sense of this industry.

They use the platform to find, vet, and connect with solutions their business teams want.

And they use our dinners and our media to stay updated, meet the right solutions in person, and download the needed material to share across their organization.

•	Next dinner: Healthcare Staffing Executive Dinner, Arlington, TX (Monday, November 9). Request a seat »
•	Last podcast: Charlie McGinn of Safeguard Global on why EOR is now a growth strategy, not just compliance. Listen »

Want to be involved? Grab time with me, or jump straight to applying to be in the Human Cloud community.

- Matt

Matthew Mottola CEO of Human Cloud. 4x entrepreneur, angel investor, author of The Human Cloud (w/ HarperCollins), with experience advising companies like Microsoft, Deloitte, and G7 governments on how to use flexible talent.

PS: Missed Thursday's community call? Tony's PEI recap, Ian Davidson on candidate profiles, and Charlie McGinn and Colin LaBeau on how EORs partner with sourcing solutions are all in the replay. Watch the replay »

Featured Event

Human Cloud Healthcare Staffing Executive Dinner

Monday, November 9 · 7:30 PM CT · Hearsay, Arlington, TX · Invite only

A small dinner for healthcare staffing, talent, and workforce leaders at the SIA Healthcare Staffing Summit. Tony Buffum hosts. On the table: how healthcare staffing is moving from talent acquisition to talent access, and where AI is actually changing sourcing and placement.

Hosted with

FoxHire The EOR for healthcare and higher ed.

IMS People Possible Recruitment support for staffing firms.

Request a seat »

Shoutouts!

Wins from across the community over the last month. Keep them coming.

Business Cases

Topcoder verified a business case with Google. Its experts tested Gemini and AI Mode answers in real-world conditions, catching hallucinations before rollout.

Marketing talent platform Wripple verified a business case with a large beverage company. A creative agency it sourced ran a six-week program that taught 20 in-house creatives to pitch like an agency.

IMS People Possible verified a business case with a data center enterprise. Its recruiting team delivered 200+ hires in six months to staff the company's expansion.

Add yours with the Business Case Agent »

Kudos

Uncompany received kudos from Christin Prince, SVP of Marketing.

Hourly workforce platform AllWork received kudos from Karen A., Head of Retail.

Collect yours with the Kudos Agent »

Industry Insights

Every story from last week, grouped by this week's three themes.

Layoffs are up

•	Microsoft offers voluntary exit to about 60,000 people, over 25% of staff, including some execs - GeekWire, Oct 28
•	Amex cuts 5% of its workforce, about 3,500 jobs, in AI-driven layoffs - New York Post, Oct 23
•	Apple cuts 400+ roles as new CEO John Ternus pivots to AI - Yahoo Finance, Oct 27
•	Comcast plans major job cuts as broadband losses mount and AI use grows - Techstory, Oct 26
•	Banks pay software engineers 13% more than tech companies, healthcare up to 17% more (Randstad) - CNBC, Oct 29
•	a16z: skilled labor is a bottleneck for the AI buildout; hours per worker outpace headcount in 7 of 10 sectors - Andreessen Horowitz on LinkedIn, Oct 26
•	Innodata cuts about 550 India jobs overnight; staff lose laptop access - NDTV, Oct 28
•	Singapore layoffs hit a 6-year high in Q3: 4,800 jobs - Jagran Josh, Oct 30
•	Proton staff must prove they can use AI or risk their jobs (leaked email) - Tech Times, Oct 27
•	Gartner: only 4% of tech leaders plan to retool roles for an agentic-human workforce - HR Dive, Oct 23
•	Gartner: only 13% of organizations report significant value from AI - Allwork.Space, Oct 23
•	Kforce guides Q4 revenue to $352M to $360M after a tech-staffing Q3 beat - TokenPost, Oct 27

Flexible talent is up

•	Fiverr Q3 revenue falls 15.8% to $90.9M - SIA, Oct 29
•	DoorDash to buy Instacart for $17B; antitrust concerns raised - Law Commentary, Oct 30
•	Kelly adds AI-powered intake and workforce intelligence to Sevayo - Kelly, Oct 29
•	Aya Healthcare adds services procurement and SOW management to LotusOne - Business Wire, Oct 29
•	Aisle launches Tasks, turning its 4.4M shopper network into an on-demand workforce - PR Newswire, Oct 26
•	Outlier accused of illegally surveilling European platform workers - noyb, Oct 27

Deals

•	Elwood Staffing acquires CoWorx, reaching 320+ US locations - Dealroom, Oct 28
•	AdeptID buys MedSource Travelers (healthcare staffing) - SIA, Oct 27
•	eTeam buys UK tech talent firm Signify Technology - SIA, Oct 28
•	Dayforce to acquire Ribbon AI for agentic recruiting - HRTech Series, Oct 23
•	RadNet to acquire teleradiology provider ONRAD for $350M - Radiology Business, Oct 26

Funding

•	Avante raises $30M for AI global benefits - HRTech Series, Oct 28
•	Serval raises $150M, its third round in 12 months - BigGo Finance, Oct 30
•	Hunar.AI raises Rs 40 Cr for frontline-workforce AI - People Matters, Oct 26

Compliance keeps growing in importance

•	Illinois proposes equal pay and benefits for temps - SIA, Oct 28
•	California now requires human review of AI firing decisions - National Law Review, Oct 30
•	Deel launches Deel Security to verify identity in hiring - Scoop, Oct 29
•	India brings gig workers under its National Social Security Board - Swarajya, Oct 30
•	WorkWhile reclassifies drivers as employees and pays a $2.3M settlement - SIA, Oct 23
•	Workday AI hiring-bias lawsuit seeks class status - OpenClassActions, Oct 24
•	Texas bars businesses with H-1B workers from some state grants - Click2Houston, Oct 29
•	US begins approving H-1B petitions without the $100K fee - Economic Times, Oct 26
•	Green card (PERM) sponsorship rules set for their first major update since 2004 - India Weekly, Oct 27
•	Instacart pays $5M in a visa-hiring case, the feds' 15th such case - SIA, Oct 21

See all news stories »

Industry Events

•	EOR Global Summit · Nov 3 to 4 · London, UK
•	HC Healthcare Staffing Executive Dinner, hosted with FoxHire and IMS People Possible · Nov 9 · Arlington, TX · Request a seat »
•	SIA Healthcare Staffing Summit · Nov 9 to 11 · Arlington, TX
•	Future of Work Europe · Nov 18 to 19 · London, UK

See all industry events »

Sources

1. GeekWire, Microsoft Makes New Voluntary Exit Offer to More Than a Quarter of Its Workforce, Including Some Execs

2. New York Post, American Express to Slash 5% of Workforce in Latest AI-Driven Layoffs

3. Yahoo Finance, Apple Eliminates 400+ Positions as New CEO Pivots to AI

4. Jagran Josh, Singapore Layoffs Hit a 6-Year High in Q3 2026: 4,800 Job Cuts

5. Human Cloud Podcast, The 40-40-20 Workforce: Rich Wilson on Why 80-20 Is Over

6. PR Newswire, Aisle Launches Tasks, Turning Its 4.4M Shopper Network Into an On-Demand Workforce for In-Store Execution

7. Sacra, Mercor Revenue, Valuation & Funding

8. Staffing Industry Analysts, Rules on Equal Pay, Benefits for Temps Proposed in Illinois

9. The National Law Review, California Now Requires Human Review of AI Firing Decisions

10. Scoop, Deel Announces Deel Security to Verify Identity for Hiring and Employment

11. Deel, Introducing Deel Talent

12. Upwork, Upwork Inc. Introduces Lifted, a Subsidiary Serving Enterprises with Full Suite of Contingent Workforce Solutions

13. Worksuite, Going Rogue: Reducing Maverick Spend with Your Contingent Workforce