InsightsBlog
Industry insights, best practices, and company news from the Human Cloud team. Stay up to date on flexible workforce trends.
Showing 83 posts
The US added 165,000 jobs in October, yet nearly two-thirds of HR leaders expect layoffs in 2027 and DHS wants to end the H-1B grace period. Tony Buffum on why businesses need flexibility to get good talent when they need it.
Tony Buffum· 6 min readCanva lays off or reassigns about 22% of its staff. Employee engagement hits a 15-year low. Bob Cicero of Cisco shows us what happens when 90,000 employees get an AI agent.
Human Cloud Team· 8 min readThe White House cleared a new contractor rule, Illinois proposed equal pay for temps, and Upwork announced it is acquiring an EOR. Tony Buffum on why the flexible workforce has never been safer.
Tony Buffum· 6 min readMicrosoft offers 60k people the door. Yet developer platform Gigged.AI grew 282%. And Aisle launches a new talent marketplace. What's going on?
Matthew Mottola· 8 min readMicrosoft offers exit packages to a quarter of its workforce. Aisle turns its 4.4M shoppers into an on-demand workforce. Charlie McGinn of Safeguard Global shows us why the future of the workforce is EORs + specialized sourcing.
Human Cloud Team· 8 min readNotes from chairing PEI's Operating Partners Forum: AI is in nearly 3 in 10 PE engagements, yet 94% of portfolio companies can't point to a quantified result.
Tony Buffum· 6 min readThe tech is here, 15 operating partners validated the business need, now time to execute.
Matthew Mottola· 8 min readAmir Reiter of CloudTask on what still converts, Gigged.AI launches Mobilise, and the eight stories worth your weekend. Powered by Safeguard Global.
Human Cloud Team· 8 min readEvery 74 seconds someone views a solution profile on Human Cloud. The data behind this week's debrief: what companies searched, and what it means for how you position.
Human Cloud Team· 8 min readThe headlines promised fewer people. The reality is that about a third of companies cutting for AI are rehiring the same roles. Tony's PEI keynote, recapped.
Tony Buffum· 8 min readTomorrow we sit down with 20 operating partners. Here's the playbook we're bringing: fixed and fragile to flexible, then agentify, augment, automate.
Matthew Mottola· 8 min readTalent Marketplace Fuel50 sells for $72m, Humanly acquires CareerArc. Plus 3 podcast episodes you need to listen to this weekend.
Human Cloud Team· 8 min readIt has never been easier yet harder to bring flexible talent in. Consumer goods and B2B doubled, AI fell 33%. What it means for how you position.
Matthew Mottola· 8 min readTemp is outgrowing perm. Compliance risk is climbing with it. And private equity operating partners are leaning into new talent models.
Tony Buffum· 8 min readMicrosoft suspended from PERM. 72% of buyers hit candidate fraud. AI agents cut Job&Talent costs 30%.
Matthew Mottola· 8 min readJoel Kammeyer of Direct Collective on why contingent workforce leaders are not buyers, what 300+ program leaders ask each other, and why the human in the loop is the dataset. Plus the last three episodes and this week's reads.
Human Cloud Team· 8 min readTwo states just put a human reviewer between AI and the workforce. Advanced technology rose 200%, HR doubled, AI fell 71%. What it means for how you position this month.
Matthew Mottola· 5 min readThe US added 29,000 jobs in September and temp help shrank again. California banned AI-only firings and Connecticut's AI law is live. What it means for how you buy talent.
Tony Buffum· 5 min readThe message is clear: staffing is too general, MSPs are too slow, yet talent platforms & EORs seem to be rewiring the modern talent stack.
Matthew Mottola· 6 min readKorn Ferry says 62% of workers carry a significantly heavier load than two years ago. AMN Healthcare finds a 30-point gap between executives and frontline staff on whether leadership is working. New York City just took a record $131.5 million from DoorDash over pay records. Growth without headcount was the efficiency play. This is the invoice, and what it means for how you build your workforce.
Tony Buffum· 8 min readTraditional Talent Solutions Are Selling AI. Yet Companies Are Asking For Compliance. Why we're not the sexy AI budgets (and that's okay!).
Matthew Mottola· 6 min readServices output is at its fastest pace since February while services employment contracts, and acquirers are paying up for specialization: a $350 million healthcare IT bench, a $3 billion recruiting platform, a $3.2 billion HR platform. The Fed just made the permanent seat more expensive. Where the demand is landing, and what it means for how you build your workforce.
Tony Buffum· 8 min readOpenAI pulls the plug, Dario continues the warning, is this why hiring is ramping up? Plus an early preview of the Human Cloud Market Map and the first look at the 2026 Flexible Workforce Study data.
Matthew Mottola· 7 min readWe called the shift from headcount to capabilities, and the data keeps agreeing. August payrolls tripled the forecast and July was revised from -23,000 to +21,000. Services output hit its fastest pace since February while services employment contracted. Where the demand is actually landing, and what it means for how you build your workforce.
Tony Buffum· 8 min readEarly results from the largest research study focused exclusively on the flexible workforce: 51% expect to increase their use of independent talent, only 29% have a formal policy. Matt on why the industry has not popped yet, and why this wave is different.
Matthew Mottola· 7 min readMichael Bassin replaced nearly his entire team with South African talent and sold Talent Sam to Simera. Plus the 2026 Flexible Workforce Study is live, and this week's Weekend Reads.
Human Cloud Team· 8 min readPrivate employers added 38,000 jobs in August, the slowest month since January, while layoffs fell to a six-month low. Jobs are not growing, but the work is: Porsche just committed $1.5 billion to people who can make its AI investment work, and DHS proposed a $103,265 fee on new H-1B petitions. Plus: join the annual flexible workforce study with Independently, and dinner at CWS Dallas.
Tony Buffum· 5 min readIs this why the $4.6 trillion contingent market is predicted to hit $9 trillion by 2030? The H-1B repricing, the BLS jobs revision, and why EORs are the painkiller.
Matthew Mottola· 8 min readThis week Rich Wilson launched the 40-40-20 workforce, while Sebastian Alvarez showed us the largest GitHub eval that turned into Remotely's secret sauce for evaluating developer talent. Plus the Community Call recap and where to find us next.
Human Cloud Team· 8 min readUS business activity grew at its fastest pace since 2022 the same week JPMorgan layoffs hit an 11-year high. Growth and cuts now run in the same building, and the flexible workforce is where they get reconciled. Plus two ways to sit down with Tony in Dallas at CWS.
Tony Buffum· 5 min read• Business is booming. The S&P Global flash composite PMI hit 56.0 in August, the strongest reading since April 2022. Q3 growth is tracking near 3.0% annualized, roughly double Q2's 1.5%. • JPMorgan's layoffs hit an 11-year peak. 774 roles cut between February and July, the most since 2015. In the same stretch the bank posted record revenue in three divisions and closed in on a $1 trillion valuation. • Ghost jobs are a problem, as roughly one in five postings is a ghost job. The government's now getting involved, with a New York bill fining third-party job posters, along with employers, $2,500 per ad per platform. • Generalist talent marketplaces are stalling, with active buyers falling nearly 18% year over year for one marketplace, growth stalling at 2% to 4% for another, and core marketplace revenue down 12% for another. This is the total opposite of what we see for specialized talent sourcing platforms.
Matthew Mottola· 8 min readTwo truths became clear this week: AI is radically rewiring work, and change is possible but hard. John Healy on the workshop that produced two clicks to talent, and Lee Cage Jr. on the science behind driving real change.
Human Cloud Team· 8 min readUS payrolls fell 23,000 in July and the labor force shrank by 264,000. Inflation outran pay growth again. Meanwhile the share of skilled knowledge workers who freelance jumped from 28% to 38% in a single year.
Tony Buffum· 5 min readHiring is turning back on, but 63% of employers still can't find the skills. The fix is structural: a small full-time core, agents executing, and specialized talent embedded through talent platforms and EORs.
Matthew Mottola· 7 min readUS payrolls added 44,000 jobs in July, the weakest gain in six months, while US staffing hours hit new highs for the year. Both are true, and the gap between them is the story.
Tony Buffum· 5 min readAdvisory and consulting searches rose 150% this month and automation rose 50%, while every broad industry bucket fell. What that means for how a solution positions itself.
Matthew Mottola· 5 min readQuentin Cloarec spent his career inside staffing. His verdict: AI has made the resume match worthless, and the value has moved to the managed service, the vetting, and the relationship.
Human Cloud Team· 4 min readSearches for AI fell by half this month while searches for automation doubled. Buyers are not backing away from the technology, they are getting specific about it. What that means for how you position.
Matthew Mottola· 4 min readDemand for the most AI-exposed roles fell 42%, yet the companies actually adopting AI grew headcount 27% more than the ones that didn't. What that means before you freeze a req.
Tony Buffum· 5 min readAI is working and productivity is leaping. But naked AI fails at judgement, context, and collaboration, and traditional talent models can't meet the hiring speed it creates. Why flexible talent solutions are the human layer to the agentic age.
Matthew Mottola· 8 min readBrett Riley of ITARMI is placing 400 engineers a day for data centers in Malaysia. Plus the July community call recap, where we are next, and this week's reads.
Human Cloud Team· 4 min readJobless claims hit their lowest level since 1969, Ford rehired the engineers AI replaced, and the $100K H-1B fee survived another challenge. Tony Buffum on why unpredictable policy is the strongest argument for a flexible talent layer.
Tony Buffum· 8 min readBuyers are increasingly expecting specialization. Companies are not searching for "marketing" any more. They are searching for a marketer who knows their exact commerce platform. Here is what our search data shows.
Human Cloud Team· 4 min readFord rehired the engineers it had replaced with AI, jobless claims hit their lowest since 1969, and consolidation keeps accelerating. Why AI is only half the answer, and flexible talent is the other half.
Matthew Mottola· 8 min readTony Buffum on the split-screen labor market - contingent hours surging while permanent hiring slows, SIA formalizing digital labor as a provider category, and Thomson Reuters restructuring workforce composition around AI.
Tony Buffum· 6 min readLayoffs are up 83%, staffing is shrinking, and specialized talent is booming. What the splitting talent market means for solutions this week.
Matthew Mottola· 8 min readTony chaired PEI's Operating Partners Forum in Napa. 4 things PE is thinking about talent: AI-advanced talent, EQ over finance, community for AI adoption, and go slow to go fast. Plus FMS surged 350% and EOR holds the top search since December.
The HC Team· 8 min readAI adoption is high. Value capture is not. Here is the 5-step playbook Tony Buffum is presenting to PE firms at PEI Napa this week.
The HC Team· 8 min readThree forces are converging on the world of work at once - consolidation, AI, and new standards - and they all come down to one thing: trust. Plus the live search data from Human Cloud.
The HC Team· 8 min readThree crowds are making the AI headlines this week: commencement Boo's, the 2 AM Layoffs, and the HR Axe. While they fight, contractors are quietly rehired and 74% of flexible talent has gone AI-native. The cheat code is the talent solutions on Human Cloud.
The HC Team· 8 min readQ1 2026 layoff data, the rebuild opportunity, and the solutions powering it across AI-native services, security and compliance, and fractional executive leadership.
Matthew Mottola· 8 min readThis month more new search categories appeared on Human Cloud than any prior month. Construction, civil engineering, instructional design, and finance are all net-new. EOR remains the top search since December. FMS rose as a new category.
The HC Team· 8 min reada16z data proves what we've been telling you, that AI amplifies, not automates, your human workforce. Whether costs favoring humans, or the human touch beating AI customer support, the right talent ecosystem has never been more important.
The HC Team· 5 min readCloudflare cut 20%. Upwork cut 24%. Coinbase introduced one-person teams. Then a16z says the AI job apocalypse is a fantasy. The truth is somewhere more interesting.
The HC Team· 8 min readCoinbase cut 14% and introduced one-person teams with AI agents. Amazon launched Connect Talent, a hiring solution. Then a16z says the AI job apocalypse is a myth. What's really happening is a shift. Here's where companies are shifting based on our search traffic.
Matthew Mottola· 8 min readThree signals from this week: the 40/40/20 workforce model, $165B in reshoring investment, and 8 in 10 companies planning to hire freelancers.
The HC Team· 8 min read40,000 jobs cut in April. But 85% of leaders are expanding human roles. The automation trap is real.
The HC Team· 8 min readLayoffs get the headlines. AI optimized teams make the impact. Here are the exact capabilities you can add to your workforce today, with verified business cases across FMS, EOR, Marketing, Engineering, Finance, Strategy, and Product.
Matthew Mottola· 6 min readSnap cut 1,000. KPMG cut 10% of partners. The real story is who companies need next. Plus Heidrick reports C-suite independents up 151%, Mark Cuban on AI implementation, and podcast episodes with Maggie Ruvoldt and Michelle Allbon.
The HC Team· 8 min readSnap and Disney cut 2,000 roles combined. Marketing surged to the top search on Human Cloud this week, alongside a 133% increase in creative and design. Here is what it means for your positioning.
Matthew Mottola· 8 min readSnap cut 1,000 roles. Disney eliminated entire marketing divisions. Marketing just surged to #1 on Human Cloud alongside a 133% increase in creative and design. Plus new categories appearing for the first time.
Tony Buffum· 8 min readGoldman says AI is cutting 25K jobs monthly. Robert Half says most companies regret it. The DOL just simplified the IC test. The shift is accelerating.
The HC Team· 8 min readRevolut just launched an EOR. Disney just cut 1,000 marketers. The flexible workforce stopped being a trend. Now it is infrastructure.
Tony Buffum· 6 minEOR remains the top search on Human Cloud since December. Consulting is up 300% this month, fractional +150%, design +120%. Verticals from healthcare to aerospace to childcare rose this week as generalist staffing loses share.
The HC Team· 6 min readToday we announce the 2026 Winter Badge winners - the top flexible workforce solutions across 47 categories, ranked by HC Score.
The HC Team· 5 min readDisney just cut 1,000 marketers. Enterprise buyers from REI to Cherry Bekaert walked onto Human Cloud this week. A leading F&B enterprise is restructuring their entire talent strategy through a single RFP. This is the moment.
The HC Team· 8 min readEOR has been the top search since December. AI engineers, developers, and creative are all growing. Plus new categories like caregiving and cyber are appearing for the first time.
The HC Team· 6 min reada16z data shows top companies generating $700K ARR per employee - up 2x since 2018. The old benchmark of $200K is now the median. Here is what that means for how companies build teams.
Tony Buffum· 8 min reada16z named "Forward-Deployed AI Consulting" a Big Idea for 2026. Plus: Oracle cuts 30,000, Jack Dorsey kills middle management, trending EOR, FMS, and MENA solutions, and real business cases from the platform.
The HC Team· 8 min read35.6% of AI layoffs already reversed. Companies are rethinking how they access talent.
The HC Team· 8 min readAWS now requires humans behind every AI-generated PR. 35.6% of companies that cut roles for AI already rehired more than half back. Plus Jeff Nugent on IC compliance, curated MENA and APAC solutions, and 7 industry insights.
The HC Team· 8 min readAmazon now requires humans behind every AI. Trending solutions across EOR, Marketing, Design, and Developers - plus real business cases from A.Team, 365Talents, Topcoder, beecrowd, Andela, and more.
The HC Team· 6 min read95% of AI pilots are failing. We automated 90% of our content without a single full-time hire. Here's how.
Matthew Mottola· 8 min readYour competitors are cutting costs 60% with flexible talent. See who's leading across 7 categories, real business cases, and our new automated RFP feature.
Matthew Mottola· 5 min readFriday's jobs report exposed how fragile the labor market has become. Platform traffic keeps climbing as companies shift from fixed cost to flexible talent.
The HC Team· 8 min readBlock cut 4,000 employees. Accenture cut 11,000. 30,700+ tech jobs gone in 6 weeks. The transition from full-time to flex is here — and the infrastructure already exists.
Matthew Mottola· 7 min readAdweek on Fortune 500 freelancer teams, DOLs new contractor rule, Jose De Cabo on LATAM hiring, 4 marketing business cases, and Winter 2026 badge awards.
The HC Team· 8 min readThe Supreme Court struck down IEEPA tariffs. A 15% replacement landed the same day. Inside: consulting and fractional solutions for navigating tariff uncertainty, plus 6 verified business cases.
The HC Team· 5 min read92% of companies plan to hire in 2026, but 55% also expect layoffs. This week's full breakdown: industry intel, platform data, trending solutions, and the AI productivity gap.
Tony Buffum· 8 min readUpwork -36%, Fiverr -35% YTD — AI is repricing the workforce industry. Market pulse, 5 workforce intelligence stories, solutions spotlight, and real business cases.
The HC Team· 8 min readThis week buyer demand is flowing to Marketing, Consulting, and EOR. See the top-rated solutions, a regional spotlight on Brazil, and verified case studies from our database of 1,264+ outcomes.
The HC Team· 5 min read