Girish Ganesan, CPO at S&P Global, took the reins of the financial information and analytics giant’s HR function last fall amid a C-suite shake up following the appointment of CEO Martina Cheung in 2024. Ganesan told HR Brew he’s spent the nearly year-long journey focused on three main priorities: supporting the executive team’s efforts under a new CEO, readying the workforce as the company and world evolves, and maximizing the people teams to best deliver for the company and its employees.

He said a big chunk of his work involved deploying a new employee value proposition for its workforce: people forward. Ganesan said the organization needed to evolve its people philosophy to reflect changes inside the organization and outside more broadly.

The new framework guides all company messaging and communication and is “embedded across the employee life cycle,” according to Ganesan.

For more on S&P Global’s evolving employee strategy, keep reading here.—AD

In 2026, US employers are expected to grant employees raises that are largely in line with what they’re receiving this year, according to a Payscale report released on Aug. 7.

The report, which draws on a survey of more than 1,500 Payscale clients conducted in May and June, finds respondents expect workers will see their base pay go up by 3.5% next year, on average, down just 0.1% from this year.

But for organizations planning to shrink their compensation budgets, economic concerns loom much larger than in previous years. Of the respondents who said their 2026 budget for salary increases is expected to be lower than their 2025 budget, nearly two-thirds (66%), said they were “concerned about future economic conditions or business performance,” up 17 percentage points from last year.

For more on how to handle a limited compensation budget, keep reading here.—CV

President Donald Trump’s recent firing of Bureau of Labor Statistics Commissioner Erika McEntarfer had many wondering aloud whether future jobs data would still be objective and accurate. Less reliable data, whether real or perceived, would make it harder for business leaders to predict where their organizations are headed and make strategic decisions, experts told CFO Brew.

Trump’s nomination of EJ Antoni, chief economist of the conservative Heritage Foundation, as his next BLS chief didn’t seem to do much to quiet those concerns.

Antoni is a “longtime critic” of how the agency has handled employment data, the Wall Street Journal reported. He can expect some stiff questioning over how he’ll handle any results that may anger Trump, according to Axios, which also noted that economists “worry that Trump aims to politicize the agency.” Antoni also recently suggested the BLS should stop posting its monthly jobs report “until it is corrected.”

For more on what the commotion at the BLS might mean for employment numbers, keep reading on CFO Brew.—AZ

Unlike restaurant orders, you can’t just ask everyone to “figure it out themselves” when it comes to benefits, even if you offer a buffet of benefit options. Join us alongside industry experts on Aug. 27 to discuss the importance of offering flexible, personalized, cross-generational benefits as a key retention strategy.