HR Radar is a weekly briefing on the developments and trends shaping HR and HR technology, written for HR teams in small and medium-sized businesses across Europe.
Big picture: the HR platform becomes the data layer for AI
On 1 September 2026, HiBob announced a $166m funding round led by Salesforce, valuing the company at around $3.2bn, up from $2.7bn three years ago. CTech reports that HiBob is positioning its platform as the infrastructure that AI tools and agents need: accurate workforce data, organisational structure, permissions and established processes. The same day, UNLEASH asked four industry analysts what will decide who wins HR tech contracts over the next 12 months. Their answers pointed in the same direction: platforms that are open and queryable by AI assistants, and vendors who can say plainly who is accountable when their tool gets something wrong. As Bloor Research’s Cheney Hamilton put it, capability gets a vendor shortlisted, accountability gets it signed.
Why it matters: for SME HR teams, the question is shifting from “which system has the most features” to “who holds our employee data, can AI safely work with it, and who answers when something goes wrong”. Those are questions worth asking any vendor now, whatever size you are.
On the radar
EU AI Act: employment rules deferred, transparency duties already live. The Digital Omnibus on AI entered into force on 27 July 2026, following publication in the Official Journal on 24 July. According to DLA Piper and Gibson Dunn, the compliance deadline for high-risk AI systems used in employment decisions (recruitment, promotion, termination, task allocation and monitoring of performance) moves from 2 August 2026 to 2 December 2027. Most of the Act’s transparency obligations under Article 50 still applied from 2 August 2026, so teams using AI to interact with candidates or employees should already be telling them.
Pay transparency: five countries in, 22 still working on it. The EU Pay Transparency Directive’s transposition deadline was 7 June 2026. Ius Laboris’s tracker (updated 20 August 2026) shows Italy, Slovakia, Lithuania, Malta and Greece as fully transposed and Estonia as partially transposed. Spain and Portugal published draft transposition texts in August, the Netherlands is consulting on its gender pay gap reporting template until 11 September 2026, Germany has taken initial steps and France’s Ministry of Labour expects a parliamentary vote in early 2027. The individual rights in the Directive (salary ranges in job adverts, no salary-history questions, the right to ask about pay levels) apply largely regardless of headcount, so they reach companies well below 100 employees.
Who carries the liability for AI hiring decisions. In the UNLEASH analyst round-up, Hamilton noted that a US federal court has ruled Workday must face discrimination claims over its AI hiring tools, which puts the vendor, not only the customer, in the firing line. She also observed that general counsel now routinely sit on HR technology buying committees and purchase on documented accountability: audit trails, bias-testing evidence and contractual liability positions rather than roadmap demos.
Restructuring has become routine (ongoing trend). LHH’s 2026 redeployment and outplacement report, based on 3,000 HR leaders and more than 8,000 employees across seven countries including Switzerland, the UK and France, found that 87% of HR leaders had conducted or planned layoffs in the next 12 months, and 78% now describe layoffs as regular events. The gap in visibility is striking: 77% of HR leaders say they offer redeployment programmes, but only 19% of employees recognise them. LHH also reports that 64% of HR leaders say ongoing restructuring takes a toll on their mental wellbeing.
HR tech watch
European funding cools in August. Tech.eu’s monthly report, published 4 September 2026, puts European tech funding at €3.2bn across 165 deals in August, down around 63% from July’s €8.6bn. The UK led with €1.4bn, and Germany was the most active exit market with 12 transactions. In HR tech specifically, German employee experience platform Flip raised $25m on 19 August 2026 to expand its AI platform for frontline workers.
Mid-year HR tech market review. Woodside Capital Partners released its Q2 2026 HR Tech Market Update on 1 September 2026, covering ten notable M&A transactions and ten notable financings in the first half of the year, a market map and analysis of publicly traded HR tech companies. Earlier in 2026, UNLEASH counted five significant acquisitions (Payoneer and Boundless, Remote and Atlas, Phenom’s purchase of Be Applied and Included AI, Docebo and 365Talents, Perceptyx and Lyceum), with Josh Bersin advising buyers to check that vendors are well funded, have clients in their segment, and have a plan for what happens if they are acquired.
For SME HR teams
Three practical steps this week. First, if you use any AI in recruitment or performance processes, check what candidates and employees are told: the transparency duties apply now, even though the high-risk rules have moved to December 2027. Second, look up your country on the pay transparency tracker and make sure job adverts already show a salary range and that salary-history questions have gone from your interview scripts. Third, when a vendor pitches an AI feature, ask who is accountable when it is wrong and whether the answer is in the contract. If they can’t say, that tells you something.
Sources
- CTech: Salesforce leads $166 million investment in HiBob at a $3.2 billion valuation
- UNLEASH: Ask the Analyst, what single factor will decide who wins and loses vendor contracts in the next 12 months
- DLA Piper: the Digital AI Omnibus and the deferral of high-risk AI obligations
- Gibson Dunn: EU AI Act Omnibus agreement, postponed high-risk deadlines and other key changes
- Ius Laboris: EU Pay Transparency Directive, which countries have transposed
- LHH: 2026 redeployment and outplacement trends report
- Tech.eu: August European tech funding falls 63% as dealmaking slows
- Tech.eu: Flip raises $25M to expand AI platform for frontline workers
- Woodside Capital Partners: HR Tech Market Update, Q2 2026 mid-year review
- UNLEASH: the five 2026 HR tech acquisitions that put HR buyers in a strong position
HR Radar is a weekly informational summary of publicly reported HR and HR technology developments and trends. It is not legal or professional advice.
