Hello there! Time is money — just ask the guy who sued a movie theater over ads.

A lawyer in India was just awarded $230 in damages after suing PVR INOX — the South Asian country’s biggest theater chain — when 25 minutes of pre-movie commercials made him miss a work call. The court agreed, saying “time is considered as money, each one’s time is very precious.”

Yeah… You better believe we’re taking notes for our next corporate training that runs long. Maybe all those tedious meetings should also come with an “emotional damage” surcharge?

Missed work calls can cost you money — but what if they can earn you some too? Imagine explaining to your boss that your missed client call wasn’t just inconvenient — it was worth $230 in court-approved damages. Perhaps “unavailable due to excessive pre-movie advertising” is about to become the hottest new out-of-office message.

Got questions? Comments? A formula for calculating the monetary value of sitting through another “this could have been an email” meeting? Hit reply — we’d love to hear from you!

— Team Talivity 

Today’s edition is a 4-minute read. Here’s what to expect 

 The job market is frozen in place — and that’s a problem

️ 63% of workers don’t use AI much or at all

️ Anthropic valued at $61.5B after latest funding round

 Layoffs hit Google, GrubHub, HP, Autodesk

 TA roles at Amex, Bain

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NEWS

One Thing You Should Know This Week

The Atlantic: The Job Market Is Frozen

The employment scene is experiencing quite a paradoxical standstill that defies all conventional (economic) wisdom. According to a new report from The Atlantic, the job market has entered what experts are calling “The Big Freeze” — a situation where despite low unemployment rates, hiring has slowed dramatically and workers are increasingly hesitant to switch positions.

 The big picture

Two seemingly incompatible things are happening simultaneously: unemployment hovers around 4% (which is historically excellent), yet the pace of hiring has slowed to levels last seen shortly after the Great Recession. The percentage of workers voluntarily quitting their jobs has fallen by a third from its 2021-2022 peak.

So, right now, the labor market appears locked in place: employees are staying put and employers aren’t searching for new talent. This deadlock is particularly pronounced in white-collar professions, creating a job market that’s neither in recession nor truly thriving.

 By the numbers:

• 4% — Current unemployment rate, near a 50-year low
• 33% — Drop in voluntary quit rates from peak levels
• 2008-2009 — Last time hiring rates were this low
• 6.7 million — Jobs the US is projected to add between 2023-2033
• 50%+ — Job gains last year from just healthcare and government sectors

 The Big Freeze’s Biggest Victims

The hiring slowdown hits hardest at the bottom of the career ladder — particularly for young college graduates. This group has experienced a higher unemployment rate than the overall workforce since 2022 — the first sustained period of this kind since at least 1990.

While young professionals typically drive much of the job-switching activity that keeps the economy dynamic, they’re now finding fewer entry points and advancement opportunities. This demographic is left with a major paradox in reality: a college degree remains valuable, but its immediate return on investment has completely diminished in a frozen market.

This stagnation creates a dangerous slipper slope: If early-career professionals can’t move or change jobs, then productivity falls, innovation slows, inequality widens, and social mobility drops.

 What TAs should keep in mind

The frozen job market creates a unique opportunity for talent acquisition teams to pivot toward retention-focused strategies. This isn’t just about preventing departures at your company — it’s about creating an environment where talent thrives despite limited opportunities for upward mobility.

In a frozen market, the smartest strategy is keeping your current talent warm. So, consider partnering with leadership on internal mobility programs and developing transparent skill-building pathways. Think about also conducting regular “stay interviews” rather than exit interviews, and perhaps more importantly, create meaningful recognition systems beyond compensation.

 Your secret retention weapon

With hiring frozen, retention becomes mission-critical. March 7th (that’s tomorrow – so think quick!) is Employee Appreciation Day — the perfect opportunity to strengthen your talent retention strategy.

Creative recognition doesn’t need to break the bank. Consider themed gift packages around desk and office upgrades that refresh workspaces, or wellness products encouraging self-care and a healthy work-life balance. Other ideas to consider are out-of-office gear, and motivational tokens celebrating your employees’ accomplishments and milestones. Check out this gift guide is a great place to start looking for these small – but mighty – tokens of appreciations.

Small gestures create enormous impact. Custom packages with branded items and personalized notes can transform employee sentiment without major expense.

️ Read more in The Atlantic.

NUMBERS

Numbers That’ll Make You Think

• 80% — AI-savvy workers actively seeking new opportunities, compared to 65% of AI-resistant employees staying put. The real question: Are they job hunting, or just trying to outrun the AI apocalypse? (Betterworks)
• 56% — Leadership burnout rate in 2024, up from 52% in 2023, with Generation X and millennial leaders most affected. If burnout were a stock, investors would be all in. (Staffing Industry)
• 25% — Drop in employee interest in workplace relationships, suggesting the traditional office social fabric is unraveling. The only office romance people want is with their WFH setup. (HR Brew)
• 52% — Workers worried about the future impact of AI in the workplace. The rest are already practicing their “I, for one, welcome our AI overlords” speech. (Pew Research)
• 6% — Workers who believe AI will improve their job prospects long-term. Even flat-earthers have higher approval ratings than AI at this point. (Pew Research)
• 63% — Workers who say they don’t use AI much or at all in their job. Despite the hype, most people are still just trying to fix the office printer. (Pew Research)

A MESSAGE FROM TEAK & TWINE

Teak & Twine’s Employee Appreciation Gift Guide

Recognizing the real MVPs of your company should be the easiest decision you make this month. On March 7 – Employee Appreciation Day – show your gratitude by giving the teams behind the scenes something unforgettable. Give them a gift that encourages, empowers, and is packed with top-tier fun.

 Check out Teak & Twine’s Employee Gift Guide

INDUSTRY INTEL

C-Suite Shakeups, Industry Moves, & Other Things To Know

• Recruitment tech startup HeyMilo secured $2.2 million in seed funding to advance its AI-powered candidate screening platform. Hopefully, these AI recruiters won’t schedule your interview at 8 AM on a Monday. (HR Tech Feed)
• IT staffing firm Insight Global appointed Lawrence Dearth as president of global growth to lead expansion beyond North America. Expanding beyond North America? Let’s hope he got his passport renewed in time. (Staffing Industry)
• HR software provider SmartSuite raised $38 million to transform work management by unifying processes across teams and industries. The good news: SmartSuite is transforming work. The bad news: Work still exists. (People Matters Global)
• Staffing provider ManpowerGroup makes the case for ditching degree requirements, noting that 70% of hiring managers still report difficulty finding skilled talent. Turns out, knowing stuff is more useful than a $200,000 piece of paper. Who knew? (Staffing Industry)
• Merger alert: Atlantic International terminated its acquisition of Staffing 360 Solutions, citing a “material breach” of the merger agreement related to IRS arrangements. Somewhere, an intern is updating the PowerPoint slides again. (Staffing Industry)

OPEN ROLES

Jobs You Might Want (For Yourself!)

• Work operating system monday.com is hiring a Senior Talent Sourcer based in New York, NY
• Global financial services firm American Express is hiring a Talent Partner based in New York, NY
• Consulting firm Bain & Company is hiring a Campus Recruiting Coordinator based in Houston, TX
• Workplace platform Envoy is hiring a Business Recruiter based in San Francisco, CA
• Online ticket marketplace StubHub is hiring a Recruiting Manager based in New York, NY
• Global consulting firm McKinsey & Company is hiring a Manager of Human Resources based in Tampa, FL
• Quantitative trading firm Jane Street is hiring a Campus Technology Recruiter based in New York, NY
• Data analytics company Palantir Technologies is hiring a Talent Strategist based in New York, NY`

For more of these roles delivered to your inbox every Monday, subscribe to the Talivity Jobs newsletter by clicking here. For a full list of open roles, head over to our job board by clicking here.

LAYOFFS

Places For You To Source Fresh Talent

• Federal agency Social Security Administration announced plans to cut approximately 7,000 workers and shutter six regional offices as part of Trump’s initiative to reduce the federal workforce. (New York Times)
• Tech giant Google is implementing layoffs in its HR and cloud divisions. The company is offering voluntary exit packages to U.S.-based employees while restructuring operations and relocating some roles to India and Mexico City. (CNBC)
• Design software maker Autodesk will lay off 1,350 employees, as it transforms its go-to-market model to better align with evolving customer needs and stay competitive in AI and cloud computing. (CNBC)
• Food delivery platform Grubhub will cut about 500 jobs after being acquired by food delivery startup Wonder last month for $650 million. (Reuters)
• Computer manufacturer HP is laying off 2,000 workers amid concerns over Trump’s tariff policies. The Palo Alto-based brand expects to save $300 million by October 2025 through these cuts, bringing total staff cuts under its “Future Now” plan to 9,000 positions. (SF Chronicle)

  Thanks for reading!