I got distracted this week. You shouldn’t.
What actually deserves your attention right now.
Hey there,
The year has started off really well. I’m especially happy to see our RPO business growing so strongly. I’ve wanted to focus on this part of Lupa for a long time, so watching it take off has been truly energizing.
Just to clarify, since I’m often asked about this: RPO stands for Recruitment Process Outsourcing. Instead of paying a fee each time you hire, we support your recruiting or HR team for a set monthly fee. This model works especially well for companies that hire regularly, as it better aligns everyone’s incentives.
On a lighter note, I recently went to a Mexican wedding and somehow ended up wearing a sombrero. I’m sharing a picture because I think I actually pulled it off.
Let’s get into it.
🌐 News Shortlist
1. Why the 75-country visa freeze is not a hiring ban
Recap: Starting January 21, 2026, the U.S. Department of State will stop issuing immigrant visas for people from 75 countries. This affects both family and employment-based green cards. The pause only applies to consular processing outside the U.S. and does not have a set end date, but interviews and applications can still move forward. Non-immigrant visas, like those for temporary work, students, and business travel, are still being processed as usual.
Whenever a policy like this comes out, especially one affecting countries often used for remote or nearshore hiring, founders and HR leaders ask me if it causes problems for them. The answer is no. This is only a pause on immigrant visas that lead to permanent residency. It is not a ban on hiring or on work-eligible visas.
For hiring managers and leaders, the key point is this difference. You can still hire people from these countries, pay them, manage them, and build teams with them. This policy does not affect non-immigrant work visas, and it does not stop anyone from working remotely for a U.S. company from their home country.
The most relevant historical comparison many of us have lived through is Venezuela under sanctions. U.S. companies paused some formal immigration pathways, and some paused hiring entirely out of fear. But what we actually learned was that talent does not evaporate when paperwork slows. You still hire, still integrate, and still build outcomes. Administrative friction is not the same as legal prohibition.
There are tools and services that help you hire across borders when usual options are limited. International payroll and employer-of-record services let you legally employ people without opening a local office or signing contracts yourself. We use these methods too when they fit. The real risk is not in hiring internationally, but in thinking that policy headlines change what you can actually do.
Advice:
Don’t let this visa pause stop your hiring or planning. If someone is in a country affected by the suspension, be open about it, but make it clear that you are not stopping employment—only that moving to the U.S. permanently may take longer. Use payroll and compliance partners as needed, and put your energy into onboarding, training, and keeping your team, not worrying about paperwork. This policy slows down paperwork, but it does not stop work.
2. Return-to-office mandates are here to stay, but most teams shouldn’t follow their lead
Recap: A recent arbitration ruling at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services confirmed that presidential return-to-office directives do not automatically override existing union contracts. This shows that federal RTO mandates have legal and procedural limits, even as the administration keeps pushing for more in-person work in public agencies and large organizations.
We discussed this last week and have mentioned it before. These legal steps will take time, with ongoing discussions in courts, unions, and internal reviews. Still, the long-term trend is clear: large organizations and public institutions will likely have more people working in the office over time.
But that doesn’t mean you should do the same. Big companies and government agencies face different challenges. They deal with old office spaces, strict management structures, political pressure, and less flexibility. Office mandates make sense for them, even if they aren’t always efficient.
I often see smaller companies copying these moves without thinking about the reasons. Startups and mid-sized teams gain a lot from being flexible, hiring global talent, and keeping costs low. Giving that up just to follow Amazon or a federal agency is rarely a smart strategy. Usually, it’s just a reaction to the news.
Advice:
If you are reconsidering remote work, do it deliberately. Write down what you gain from being distributed, what it would cost to reverse that, and what problem you are actually trying to solve. Make the decision based on your team, your economics, and your goals, not because larger institutions are reverting to older models that fit their reality, not yours.
3. The Doomsday Clock is good at one thing: distracting you
Recap: The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists set its Doomsday Clock to 85 seconds before midnight, the closest it has ever been. They pointed to rising nuclear tensions between the U.S., Russia, and China, ongoing wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, weaker arms control, and worries about AI. Major news outlets covered the announcement.
This story comes up every few years. The clock moves closer, the headlines get more dramatic, and it takes over the news for a short time. I saw it, felt annoyed, and now I’m talking about it.
To be clear, the people behind the clock are serious, and the risks they mention are real. But the way they present it is meant to stir up emotion, not provide clarity. It doesn’t help you make better choices or change your actions. It just takes your focus away from things you can actually control.
That’s the real problem. Even people who know better, like me, still get caught up in it. We end up reacting to big, abstract problems instead of focusing on real work. Distraction doesn’t come from being careless, but from feeling like everything is urgent.
Advice:
Pay attention to what grabs your focus without helping you make better choices. If a headline makes you anxious but doesn’t give you anything useful to do, notice it and move on. Your time is better spent making decisions that help your team, your customers, and your work—not on clocks that change once a year.
That’s it for this week.
If there’s one theme here, it’s attention. Some stories are meant to catch your eye, while others quietly influence how we hire, manage teams, and make choices. The challenge is knowing which is which.
As always, focus on what you can control. Choose carefully what you respond to, and don’t let distractions decide for you.
If you want to discuss hiring, team structure, or whether RPO is right for you, just reach out.
Until next time,
Joseph Burns
CEO & Founder, Lupa