CCI employees share latest surveys, reviews and evaluation on danger, compliance, governance, infosec and management points. Share particulars of your survey with us: editor@corporatecomplianceinsights.com.
71% of employers say DEI coverage adjustments have affected their enterprise
DEI and immigration insurance policies are the highest office disruptors for employers one yr into the second Trump Administration, based on survey knowledge from Littler, an employment and labor legislation agency. Almost three-quarters (71%) of respondents mentioned DEI coverage adjustments had affected their companies and 65% mentioned the identical of immigration, greater than twice the share who cited some other coverage space. The survey of 306 in-house legal professionals, HR professionals and C-suite executives was carried out by Littler’s Office Coverage Institute.
Immigration coverage shifts have yielded actual staffing penalties: 63% of respondents — and 75% of enormous employers — reported workforce staffing challenges as a direct results of the administration’s immigration insurance policies. That determine surpasses the 58% who had expressed concern about such hurdles in a Littler survey carried out in early 2025. Some respondents described concrete organizational responses, together with lowering immigration sponsorships and ending H-1B visa sponsorship altogether.
Broader regulatory and financial uncertainty can also be reshaping workforce choices. About one-third (36%) of respondents — and 42% of these from massive employers — say their organizations made workforce reductions over the previous yr, whereas 30% paused or decreased hiring. Manufacturing employers reported an outsized influence, with greater than 4 in 10 citing each workforce reductions (41%) and paused or decreased hiring (43%).
Different key findings:
- Almost 9 in 10 employers (89%) reported impacts from state and native legislative adjustments, with greater than half saying the consequences have been massive or average in scale.
- Amongst these affected by state and native adjustments, probably the most generally cited areas have been paid go away (67%), pay fairness and pay transparency (51%), knowledge privateness (47%) and AI use within the employment course of (41% total, rising to 57% amongst massive employers).
- Giant employers reported outsized impacts total, with 86% citing results from DEI coverage adjustments and 79% from immigration.
- Know-how and retail/hospitality organizations have been probably the most affected by immigration shifts, with 81% of respondents in every sector reporting enterprise impacts.
Cyberattacks surpass inflation and recession as high enterprise concern for small and midsize companies
Almost 3 in 4 small and midsize companies (SMB) say cyber incidents are the threats more than likely to negatively have an effect on their operations in 2026 — rating above inflation, recession and workforce challenges for the primary time — based on a survey of 200 SMB house owners and cyber leaders throughout North America printed by VikingCloud, a cybersecurity and compliance firm.
AI is a major driver of heightened concern: 42% of respondents say AI-driven assault velocity makes conventional patching and response occasions successfully out of date, whereas 35% say AI is enabling adaptive and evasive malware, the survey discovered. The monetary publicity is important: 40% of respondents say an assault costing $100,000 or much less may put them out of enterprise.
Regardless of the escalating menace setting, governance and preparedness gaps stay widespread. Solely 34% of SMBs have invested in vulnerability scanning, 32% in penetration testing and 32% in safety consciousness coaching, whilst 34% acknowledge their cybersecurity expertise is already outdated.
Different key findings:
- Prior to now 12 months, SMBs skilled Wi-Fi or community disruptions (73%), web site downtime (58%) and third-party or vendor outages (55%).
- Prior to now yr, SMBs prioritized worker hiring, raises and bonuses (42%) and non-essential software program subscriptions (42%) over new cybersecurity funding.
Most UK employers not but dedicated to menopause motion plans as compliance deadline approaches
Solely 29% of organizations have dedicated to publishing a menopause motion plan in 2026 or 2027 — as required beneath the UK Employment Rights Act for employers with greater than 250 employees — and 74% of HR and compliance professionals surveyed imagine menopause wants stronger authorized safety at work, based on a ballot of 276 HR and compliance professionals by compliance coaching supplier VinciWorks.
Simply 3% of organizations presently publish a menopause motion plan yearly, whereas 39% mentioned they have been uncertain when or whether or not they would publish one and eight% mentioned they haven’t any plans to take action, based on the survey. Voluntary publication begins in April 2026, with necessary compliance for bigger employers taking impact in 2027.
The compliance stakes are consequential. As soon as printed, a menopause motion plan turns into a public doc staff can reference in litigation. Employment tribunals involving menopause discrimination have awarded claimants tens of hundreds of kilos in recent times.
Different key findings:
- 61% of respondents help menopause go away turning into a authorized proper, although 28% stay undecided. The Employment Rights Act prolonged a number of new go away classes however didn’t embody menopause go away.
- Simply 18% of respondents imagine their group’s menopause coaching is efficient, and 40% say their group gives no coaching in any respect however wish to.
Inner operations, not regulation, seen as high menace to defensible eDiscovery
Almost 90% of authorized and expertise professionals establish inside challenges — together with finances constraints, restricted experience and lack of centralized governance — as the largest obstacles to defensible, cost-efficient discovery, whereas simply 10% level to regulatory uncertainty, based on analysis from authorized expertise supplier Exterro.
The findings draw on two surveys of greater than 400 authorized, IT, knowledge governance and safety professionals, one carried out through reside polling at an Exterro-hosted occasion. They arrive as AI strikes quickly from experimentation to straightforward follow in authorized operations: 47% of groups are already utilizing AI in eDiscovery and practically 80% are utilizing or making ready to undertake it.
Governance is rising as the mandatory companion to that adoption. When requested what’s going to most affect their eDiscovery technique in 2026, respondents most often chosen AI and automation alongside knowledge governance and retention — collectively accounting for practically 60% of responses. Individually, 97% of respondents agreed that communication between authorized and IT instantly impacts the velocity, accuracy and defensibility of eDiscovery, with no respondent disagreeing.
CCI employees share latest surveys, reviews and evaluation on danger, compliance, governance, infosec and management points. Share particulars of your survey with us: editor@corporatecomplianceinsights.com.
71% of employers say DEI coverage adjustments have affected their enterprise
DEI and immigration insurance policies are the highest office disruptors for employers one yr into the second Trump Administration, based on survey knowledge from Littler, an employment and labor legislation agency. Almost three-quarters (71%) of respondents mentioned DEI coverage adjustments had affected their companies and 65% mentioned the identical of immigration, greater than twice the share who cited some other coverage space. The survey of 306 in-house legal professionals, HR professionals and C-suite executives was carried out by Littler’s Office Coverage Institute.
Immigration coverage shifts have yielded actual staffing penalties: 63% of respondents — and 75% of enormous employers — reported workforce staffing challenges as a direct results of the administration’s immigration insurance policies. That determine surpasses the 58% who had expressed concern about such hurdles in a Littler survey carried out in early 2025. Some respondents described concrete organizational responses, together with lowering immigration sponsorships and ending H-1B visa sponsorship altogether.
Broader regulatory and financial uncertainty can also be reshaping workforce choices. About one-third (36%) of respondents — and 42% of these from massive employers — say their organizations made workforce reductions over the previous yr, whereas 30% paused or decreased hiring. Manufacturing employers reported an outsized influence, with greater than 4 in 10 citing each workforce reductions (41%) and paused or decreased hiring (43%).
Different key findings:
- Almost 9 in 10 employers (89%) reported impacts from state and native legislative adjustments, with greater than half saying the consequences have been massive or average in scale.
- Amongst these affected by state and native adjustments, probably the most generally cited areas have been paid go away (67%), pay fairness and pay transparency (51%), knowledge privateness (47%) and AI use within the employment course of (41% total, rising to 57% amongst massive employers).
- Giant employers reported outsized impacts total, with 86% citing results from DEI coverage adjustments and 79% from immigration.
- Know-how and retail/hospitality organizations have been probably the most affected by immigration shifts, with 81% of respondents in every sector reporting enterprise impacts.
Cyberattacks surpass inflation and recession as high enterprise concern for small and midsize companies
Almost 3 in 4 small and midsize companies (SMB) say cyber incidents are the threats more than likely to negatively have an effect on their operations in 2026 — rating above inflation, recession and workforce challenges for the primary time — based on a survey of 200 SMB house owners and cyber leaders throughout North America printed by VikingCloud, a cybersecurity and compliance firm.
AI is a major driver of heightened concern: 42% of respondents say AI-driven assault velocity makes conventional patching and response occasions successfully out of date, whereas 35% say AI is enabling adaptive and evasive malware, the survey discovered. The monetary publicity is important: 40% of respondents say an assault costing $100,000 or much less may put them out of enterprise.
Regardless of the escalating menace setting, governance and preparedness gaps stay widespread. Solely 34% of SMBs have invested in vulnerability scanning, 32% in penetration testing and 32% in safety consciousness coaching, whilst 34% acknowledge their cybersecurity expertise is already outdated.
Different key findings:
- Prior to now 12 months, SMBs skilled Wi-Fi or community disruptions (73%), web site downtime (58%) and third-party or vendor outages (55%).
- Prior to now yr, SMBs prioritized worker hiring, raises and bonuses (42%) and non-essential software program subscriptions (42%) over new cybersecurity funding.
Most UK employers not but dedicated to menopause motion plans as compliance deadline approaches
Solely 29% of organizations have dedicated to publishing a menopause motion plan in 2026 or 2027 — as required beneath the UK Employment Rights Act for employers with greater than 250 employees — and 74% of HR and compliance professionals surveyed imagine menopause wants stronger authorized safety at work, based on a ballot of 276 HR and compliance professionals by compliance coaching supplier VinciWorks.
Simply 3% of organizations presently publish a menopause motion plan yearly, whereas 39% mentioned they have been uncertain when or whether or not they would publish one and eight% mentioned they haven’t any plans to take action, based on the survey. Voluntary publication begins in April 2026, with necessary compliance for bigger employers taking impact in 2027.
The compliance stakes are consequential. As soon as printed, a menopause motion plan turns into a public doc staff can reference in litigation. Employment tribunals involving menopause discrimination have awarded claimants tens of hundreds of kilos in recent times.
Different key findings:
- 61% of respondents help menopause go away turning into a authorized proper, although 28% stay undecided. The Employment Rights Act prolonged a number of new go away classes however didn’t embody menopause go away.
- Simply 18% of respondents imagine their group’s menopause coaching is efficient, and 40% say their group gives no coaching in any respect however wish to.
Inner operations, not regulation, seen as high menace to defensible eDiscovery
Almost 90% of authorized and expertise professionals establish inside challenges — together with finances constraints, restricted experience and lack of centralized governance — as the largest obstacles to defensible, cost-efficient discovery, whereas simply 10% level to regulatory uncertainty, based on analysis from authorized expertise supplier Exterro.
The findings draw on two surveys of greater than 400 authorized, IT, knowledge governance and safety professionals, one carried out through reside polling at an Exterro-hosted occasion. They arrive as AI strikes quickly from experimentation to straightforward follow in authorized operations: 47% of groups are already utilizing AI in eDiscovery and practically 80% are utilizing or making ready to undertake it.
Governance is rising as the mandatory companion to that adoption. When requested what’s going to most affect their eDiscovery technique in 2026, respondents most often chosen AI and automation alongside knowledge governance and retention — collectively accounting for practically 60% of responses. Individually, 97% of respondents agreed that communication between authorized and IT instantly impacts the velocity, accuracy and defensibility of eDiscovery, with no respondent disagreeing.
