#talent

The Wall Street Journal evaluates how leading US corps stack up in 6 areas: AI readiness, innovation, talent readiness, financial fitness, resilience and agility.

Optum does not appear as a standalone company in the uploaded table, so I used UnitedHealth Group as the closest listed proxy. UnitedHealth ranks #89 overall with an Overall Score of 57.7, ranking 6th out of 44 companies in Health Care Equipment & Services. Its strongest factor is Financial Fitness Rank #48, with Innovation at #85 and Agility at #130.

The weaknesses are Talent Readiness #297 and Resilience #283, which are notable for a large health-services platform. The strategic read is that UnitedHealth, and by proxy Optum, screens as a financially strong, moderately innovative healthcare infrastructure company, but not as a fully resilient or talent-leading organization. The table supports a “platform with scale advantage” thesis, but not an unqualified future-readiness leadership thesis.

Source:
https://www.wsj.com/rankings/best-companies-for-the-future/full-rankings-2026

The Wall Street Journal evaluates how leading US corps stack up in 6 areas: AI readiness, innovation, talent readiness, financial fitness, resilience and agility.

Wells Fargo ranks #187 overall with an Overall Score of 52.3, putting it above the bank-sector average of 48.7 but outside the top quartile of the full 500-company universe. The positive surprise is AI Rank #16 and Innovation Rank #66, both strong for a traditional bank. That is not a trivial finding: among large banks, Wells Fargo screens as more forward-positioned on digital and AI-related readiness than its overall rank implies.

The problem is execution culture and adaptability. Wells ranks #386 in Talent Readiness and #453 in Agility, which are severe offsets. The data reads Wells Fargo as a bank with meaningful technology potential but weak organizational velocity. Strategically, that creates a familiar incumbent-bank problem: digital investment is necessary, but not sufficient, if employee systems, operating model, and institutional agility remain behind the curve.

Source:
https://www.wsj.com/rankings/best-companies-for-the-future/full-rankings-2026

So the legal lady comes in to clean up the mess after CG doesn't "do the right thing." But the whole function is worse than ever. What gives? Where is the talent brains and skill in the org spending all this $$$? Are we really going to win this way?

The most alarming number in the Wall Street Journal’s “Best Companies for the Future” ranking isn’t AT&T’s overall rank of 375.

It’s the Talent rank of 390.

The WSJ’s methodology specifically looked at hiring, retention, and employee satisfaction as part of future readiness. In other words, human capital.

For years employees have been saying the same thing, excessive RTO mandates, constant uncertainty, forced relocations, and a lack of flexibility are driving good people out the door.

Leadership ignored it.

Now a respected third-party ranking is essentially saying the same thing. AT&T isn’t being viewed as a future-ready talent organization. It’s being viewed as a company struggling to attract, retain, and develop the workforce it needs for the future.

Even Kevin O’Leary (hardly a champion of employee entitlement) recently warned that companies risk losing their best talent when they become overly rigid about RTO and where work gets done. His point was simple - if you make flexibility a non-starter with RTO, your talent pool shrinks and you will only attract the undesirable bottom quartile of talent nobody else wants.

And that’s exactly what many of us have watched happen… I’ve never seen this many experienced employees leave. At the same time, a strict 5-day RTO policy isn’t a selling point to younger workers who increasingly value flexibility and work-life balance, it’s a detractor and immediate non-starter. Nobody with other options will ever sign up for this prison-like micromanagement.

Talent rank 390 isn’t the cause of the problem. It’s a symptom of this bad policy.

You can mandate badge swipes. You can mandate presence. You can mandate commutes, but what you can’t mandate is that talented people choose to work here, or stay here.

At some point leadership has to ask whether a five-day RTO policy is helping build the future, or helping explain why we’re ranked near the bottom when talent is measured.

Another culling of talented people. I won't understand the logic behind this for as long as I live. Does anybody know if it's over or will there be more throughout the week?

In the Monday, June 8, 2026 the Wall Street Journal included a complete section listing the top 500 companies across all industry segments. Each company was ranked by AI readiness, Innovation, Talent, Resilience AI Readiness & Agility. The lower the ranking the better the company.

#1 Nvidia
#2 Alphabet
#3 Microsoft
#4 Meta Platforms

Telecommunications Services sector (only 3 companies in this sector)
#56 T-Mobile US (Agility rank 82, Innovation 283, Talent 136, AI 71)
#149 Verizon Communications (Agility rank 447, Innovation 250, Talent 155, AI 26)
#375 AT&T (Agility rank 465, Innovation 181, Talent 390, AI 33)

What do these numbers tell you? AT&T looks significantly less prepared for future success than its two major wireless competitors when all of the ranking factors are combined. The ranking appears to view AT&T as substantially weaker in attracting, retaining, developing, or positioning its workforce for future needs than its peers.

"AT&T has some innovative capabilities, but the organization is viewed as bureaucratic, slow to adapt, and less successful at developing and retaining the talent needed for future growth."

That combination can be especially damaging in a "future readiness" ranking because future performance increasingly depends on AI adoption, digital transformation, and workforce quality rather than simply owning a large network.

From an investor's perspective, the most concerning number in the table is probably not the innovation rank, it is the 390 talent rank, because that sees AT&T as having a weaker human-capital foundation than either Verizon or T-Mobile.

https://share.google/YT6dQq4BsltYvjUwf

No doubt layoffs will happen. You can merge Yellow Shoes and The Hive and continue with redundant roles. D-mb move and just getting rid of more talent

Paradigm Talent Agency dismissed three agents. Jeff Kolodny, Adam Van Dusen, and Natalie Handelsman were affected. Kolodny and Handelsman were talent agents; Van Dusen was a TV Lit agent. The agency characterized these as selective adjustments during expansion. Paradigm recently added eight new agents in various areas.

https://deadline.com/2026/06/paradigm-layoffs-impact-three-1236940364/

Recent public health layoffs are causing many epidemiologists and infection prevention professionals to seek new jobs. These professionals are now looking for roles in acute care settings and hospital-based positions. A recruiter noted a significant influx of these individuals into the infection control field. Hospitals consider prior clinical experience when determining infection prevention salaries. Specialized recruiters help organizations find qualified candidates by thoroughly vetting applicants.

https://www.infectioncontroltoday.com/shorts/transitioning-public-health-layoffs

From what I have seen lately, many experienced workers are checking openings in the background but holding off on changing jobs until companies start hiring more steadily again. Once that happens, we'll see a major exodus of talent.

Many companies rushed to replace employees with AI, but the reality is that advanced AI tools like Claude and others can become expensive at scale and still require human oversight. It wouldn't be surprising if organizations start correcting course and increase hiring again. The best results often come from AI assisting employees, not completely replacing them. The next few years may see many companies finding a better balance between technology and human talent.

Hmm, what kind of message this sends - a major LR while the company is highly profitable, with compensation that is only marginally above average.

Cisco markets to people who do not make purchasing decisions anyway.

Employees affected by this are unlikely to recommend Cisco solutions the next time they are in a position to influence buying decisions.

Been a lot of buzz in the real estate team about Nashville. A lot of companies you’re moving there. Talent pool is getting deeper. Is Nashville the new Atlanta maybe the new Frisco or OP?

Makes you wonder if the goal is just to burn the place down. Specialists, veterans, people with actual skills, the ones who held teams together - they're all getting cut. Any leadership that cared about the future would be doing everything to keep them.

Costs are on the rise and there is plenty of work in West Texas. What will
Devon do to retain their talent? News of Houston and OKC retention bonuses will only further ruin field morale.

Best news of the year .. people officer is leaving not sure what her purpose was at bd other than fly and travel all over the world posing for pics and cutting ribbons and handing out lame awards must be nice. This woman was a nobody in Sumter plant somehow made her way up the ranks .. appease Tom and ur gold .. her replacement is another useless waste of space .. talent at BD is non existent and where it exists it’s not valued it’s eliminated to be outsourced or to bring in their buddies .. yup I said it and it’s the reality ..

How they always manage to target the very people the team depends on is beyond me.

Management talks about wanting talent, but people who stand out often end up managed like they are a threat. Add misleading job descriptions into the mix and it is no surprise people leave frustrated.

I sort of forgot we only get a 3% match and then the cr-ppy additional match based on business results. Most other competitors do better than but we have a 'great comp package.' We struggle to get great talent in the door anymore because even our own TA teams are frustrated we keep getting turned down for not being competitive with our offers. ugh.

Is SiteSafe still up in Virginia with all of that "talent"?

We have chili cook offs and talent competition’s.

We brought someone onto my team last month who used to be a senior manager at a major tech firm. Over a decade of management experience. Two decades total in the industry. He's now an individual contributor at a mid level role. It really shows how quickly a career you spent years building can evaporate.

I floated idea that EH should go about 6 months ago and everyone was overwhelmingly negative regarding my thesis in this board.

Now, I am sure majority of the people agree with me.

If all he can show for 18 months is what we have seen. What makes anyone believe that he can come out something outstanding in 6 months to 12 months from now?

It is abundantly clear to me, that when MP & JD gutted the talents or ( designers) and replaced with techies, Nike took wrong turn on the cross and EH cannot come back with no talents there with corporation culture is keep your mouth shut and follow the group!

What happened to JUST DO IT?
Double talking hypocrites

Why is elt so narrow minded that they want to make the environment so vile, most talented people quit. And all you're left with is geriatric, brainwashed boomers, or offshore low level talent?

If you want to be #1, don't use the excuse "well Exxon is doing it!". To be first you set your culture and company apart, not the same, mo--ns.

Now it's just been a futile, sour, disappointing experience. Many of us are genuinely good at our jobs. Management at every level above us is not. What a waste of talent.

New surveillance commissioner in board of directors?

https://finance.yahoo.com/sectors/technology/articles/f5-adds-anand-eswaran-board-201000022.html

that started with JD about 3 years ago.

EH is just overrated Nike bureaucrat that people that he had talent.

When will ford stop visa hiring. It looks like a IT call center. We have plenty of local talent.

And it's deliberate, because talent costs money. But people are the foundation. Everything else can be replaced or fixed. That can't. Especially if you’re gunning to stay on top.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) has experienced significant, long-term, and ongoing "brain drain," characterized by the loss of experienced staff and top executives due to consistent restructuring, offshoring, and layoffs. While some employee reviews still reflect a generally positive 4.0/5 star rating on Glassdoor, specialized talent is reportedly leaving, and high-level, long-tenured employees are being replaced by lower-cost or contract labor.
Wow, who knew?

& it begins. Top talent, all stars, super studs, leaving the company for better opportunities.

GLTA that stay - I pray things get better for you. My advice, take the first step to see what else is out there. Resume, add the world on linkedin, don't just sit around waiting to see if you'll get RIF. The company is going down a path nobody can change, it just is what it is. Do what's best for you and your family, you owe this company NOTHING. Go make something of yourself

With all of the recent layoffs on the Atleos Service side of the world interested if anyone has any connections on the Business Partner/Dealer side of the business? Curious of what their thoughts are on the impending acquisition and open positions that may be available. I would think they would interested in beefing up their teams with all of the talent on the streets.

Since Havas US layoffs in 2025, cuts to benefits have been brutal. Health insurance isn't nearly as good as before, vacation have been drastically reduced and talent is fleeing. Noone is being promoted from within and the agency isn't staffing up... instead inexperienced outside contractors are being engaged.

Is this a sign the company is preparing to merge or sell, reducing employees on the books and making itself extremely and painfully lean?

It won't be long before clients feel the pain leadership is extending across the agency and start to flee like valued talent. At this point, everyone is a flight risk.

Our management seems to think there is an infinite talent pool and they can just keep replacing everyone with equal or better quality workers at a moment’s notice. Someone should give them a clue.

The rot in the middle is finally panicking. For years, they survived by feeding off cheap foreign labor and disposable entry-level workers, while crushing real talent or forcing others to stoop to their level. They never built anything of substance; they only guarded their turf. Now AI has changed the landscape, and they are exposed. They neither understand it nor can they control it. Their era of quietly cutting others down is ending. It is time for them to face the music. And the people they looked down on as “deplorables” may soon become far more powerful than the gatekeepers who once sneered at them.

They'll be laying people off left and right anyway. Sure, some people they might want to keep could leave first. On the other hand, it's not as if they've been working hard on talent retention. The only way it wouldn't make sense is if they've been planning to ramp up attrition. That wouldn't be a shocker, really.

Every single person here is unique, with something real to contribute. Specific experiences, distinct ways of solving problems, a whole stack of knowledge and skills built over time. You'd think that would make us the most valued asset in any company. Instead, FIS and most other corporations treat employees like interchangeable, inanimate resources. If that doesn't signal a profound loss of substance and direction in the economy, I don't know what does.

As the title says, make sure you are leaving honest reviews on places like glassdoor. I personally look at companies that are within the top 100 best companies to work at. It is a joke that EDJ is in the top 100. So make sure you are posting to get talent away from here.

good news for Charlotte ppl.
talents move to smbc who pays better.
while wells Fargo looking to improve west Charlotte neighborhood

Tech companies cut nearly 79,000 jobs in early 2026. Oracle eliminated over 25,000 roles, and Amazon cut 16,000 positions. Many cuts are linked to AI adoption or automation-driven restructuring. Despite layoffs, companies still compete intensely for skilled talent. Hiring processes are becoming longer and more intentional for quality candidates.

https://hrexecutive.com/79000-tech-jobs-cut-but-the-talent-war-isnt-over/