People managers analyze impact of Trump’s first 100 days — and wonder what’s ahead
Welcome to the new normal.
As President Donald Trump blows past his first 100 days in office, he leaves American workplaces experiencing historic levels of policy-driven change — and employee anxiety.
With a staggering 142 executive orders issued to date — far surpassing the early actions of previous leaders — it’s left HR management and other business leaders scrambling to adapt to a fast evolving regulatory landscape that has everyone trying to figure out the new rules of workforce management and wondering what’s next.
“The first 100 days of any new administration carry tons of change. What makes this 100 days different is the whirlwind of executive orders,” said Emily M. Dickens, chief of staff, head of government affairs and corporate secretary at the Society for Human Resources Management (SHRM). While Congress has passed just five pieces of legislation this year, it is Trump’s executive actions that continue to dramatically reshape workplace policies across the country.
Trump is having such impact on the workforce and the work of HR professionals, in fact, that SHRM has prepared a comprehensive guide addressing what people managers need to know about topics ranging from DEI to immigration, federal layoffs and the impact of tariffs.
Workplace disruption by the numbers
Fresh research from the U.K.-based HR consultancy Brightmine reveals that half of U.S. workers say recent policy shifts have directly impacted their jobs — a scope of disruption that’s unprecedented when one considers how presidential actions typically impact the workforce.
Aside from signing his own executive orders, Trump so far has also reversed more than 100 EOs issued by his predecessor Joe Biden.
In their first 100 days, Biden signed 42 EOs, while the first Trump presidency saw 33, Barack Obama signed 19 and George W. Bush put his signature to 12, per Brightmine. The only president to have issued anywhere near as many EOs out of the gate as Trump has in his second term was Franklin D. Roosevelt, with 99.
The consequences are considerable: 1 in 10 workers reports that his or her role has been or may be eliminated due to policy-related shifts, while an additional 1 in 7 say these changes are affecting his or her ability to focus on work, according to the Brightmine survey.
Immigration enforcement impact
Among the most disruptive policy areas, per Brightmine, are changes to immigration enforcement, with 60% of workers expressing concern about workplace raids. Industries facing heightened anxiety include agriculture, construction, food service, manufacturing and tech.
Meanwhile, only 26% of surveyed employees trust their employers to navigate new immigration policies transparently, noted Taylor Lewellyn, legal editor at Brightmine.
“HR leaders should ensure meticulous documentation processes and train staff on maintaining Forms I-9 to avoid errors and mitigate penalties,” she said. “Additionally, designating and training authorized representatives to interact with ICE is essential, as is informing employees about their rights during a raid to reduce anxiety.”
DEI rollbacks threaten retention
The war against DEI continues to rock the workplace under Trump. One need look no further than Target to see how the issue has the power to turn a company upside down, with customers, vendors and the workforce caught up in the crossfire.
The growing number of companies to back away from the DEI commitments they once boasted about has employees fuming. Brightmine also found that about one-fifth of workers would seek new employment if their company reduced DEI investment.
Sarah Peterson Herr, legal editor at Brightmine, notes that younger generations are particularly committed to diversity initiatives. “Millennials, Gen Z and Gen Alpha would actively look for another job or consider looking for another job if their employer reduced its investment in DEI,” she said.
When asked about priorities, more than half (52%) said equal opportunity for all employees and almost half (44%) said equal pay for all employees.
Managing uncertainty
Despite the tsunami of policy directives, David Wilkins, chief product and strategy officer at labor market intelligence firm TalentNeuron cautions against complete organizational paralysis.
“In situations like this, a natural business reaction is to ‘freeze in place’ until the lasting impacts become more obvious,” he said. “Some amount of this stagnation is smart — as a business, it’s probably not the best time to pick your next major manufacturing location or to double down on expansion into a specific market or to a single supplier.”
That said, Wilkins emphasizes that strategic planning must continue. “Now is the time to gain a robust picture of the existing skills and capabilities of your current team,” he said. “This deep understanding of the status quo — what skills you have, where they are (geographically and within org structure), how they compare to those of competitors — will help form your build, buy, bot strategy.”
Communication is key
Experts also stress the importance of transparent communication with employees during this period of head-spinning change.
Herr recommends that employers have candid conversations explaining any changes to DEI policy, for example. Employees who have a greater understanding of their companies’ need to update policies “are more likely to feel connected to the company and are less likely to seek alternate employment,” she said.
As HR leaders continue to navigate this domain, Wilkins advises that sound operational standards will win the day, transcending any political cycle.
“The growing interconnectedness of the world means that any disruption — whether environmental, geo-political, epidemiological or economic — has the potential to force a rethink of business and talent strategy,” he said. “Use the facts, the unchanging conditions you know, to guide your strategy around the evolving elements you can’t control.”