The new Labour UK government has wasted no time in unveiling significant reforms to employment rights which will affect workers rights across the UK.

So how will this impact the HR strategies for businesses, and more importantly, impact the necessity of HR leads in implementing and communicating changes to policy on top of the emerging trends that this profession faces in 2025.

Here are some of the key highlights of the bill:

• The bill will bring forward 28 individual employment reforms, from ending exploitative zero hours contracts and fire and rehire practices to establishing day one rights for paternity, parental and bereavement leave for millions of workers. Statutory sick pay will also be strengthened, removing the lower earnings limit for all workers and cutting out the waiting period before sick pay kicks in.
• The existing two-year qualifying period for protections from unfair dismissal will be removed
• The government will also consult on a new statutory probation period for companies’ new hires. This will allow for a proper assessment of an employee’s suitability to a role as well as reassuring employees that they have rights from day one

It’s fair to say that the execution and implementation of these policies and the resulting consequences will fall heavily to the HR leaders and owner-founders of today across many UK organisations with implications for rising labour costs, NI employer contributions and the cost of additional benefits which will need to be mitigated and managed at board level.

Combining this additional workload to the trends we are already seeing for HR in 2025 demonstrates the ever evolving role of the HR professional and the importance of strong and highly skilled HR talent at board level. The latest Gartner report was published recently, with this annual report surveying chief human resources officers (CHROs) and HR leaders on common challenges and asks them to rank their top priorities for the year ahead. 

Here’s their view in the trends for 2025:

1. The continued focus on Leadership and Development across emerging leaders of tomorrow.

Leadership and Development remained at the top of the list as it was in 2024 highlighting the importance of developing emerging leaders of tomorrow. A top HR focus in 2025 is developing leaders equipped to handle growing responsibilities. According to Gartner’s survey, 75% of HR leaders believe managers are overwhelmed, while 70% report their current leadership programs are not preparing managers for the future.

Researchers have identified two significant barriers hindering traditional leadership development programs. There is a long time lag between learning event and learning application and that one-off activities aimed at building connections don’t foster the intended development and support relationships.

Gartner recommends developing leaders through repeated interactions across both learning engagements and social touchpoints.  The research showed that leaders who engage in peer-connection-based learning experiences are 18% more likely to become enterprise leaders. 

2. Organisational culture. Organisations are struggling to visualise and realise a company culture and this was the second most rated priority according to the survey.

HR leaders recognise the importance of culture, but aligning the vision with reality is challenging. Gartner research finds that 57% of HR leaders believe managers do not enforce the company’s culture, while 53% say that leaders don’t feel accountable for demonstrating cultural values.

The CIPD gives the following best practice advice for attempting cultural change:

• Convey the vision and need for change to the wider organisation: Organisations need to ensure employees connect with the vision and need for change and understand its benefits, rather than feeling the negative effects of an upheaval.  
• Avoid fanfare around culture change: take a low-key approach and make incremental changes 
• Utilise key stakeholders: Working alongside those who share the organisation’s vision will be conducive to creating shared values 
• Avoid immediate reorganisation: Instead, clarify the vision and ensure there are management roles and systems in place that support this vision

3. Strategic workforce planning 

Strategic workforce planning involves evaluating the workforce’s skills to see if they meet the organisation’s objectives, and if not, developing plans to acquire, upskill and retain employees with the skills needed to meet those goals.  The majority of respondents stated that planning activities were based on headcount projections with only 15% of companies surveyed using any strategic workforce planning. The lack of strategic planning limits HR’s ability to align long-term business goals with talent. 

Mark Whittle, Vice President of Research and advisory with Gartner’s HR practice who was involved in this report says “Strategic workforce planning is about a future-focused blueprint that identifies critical capabilities and risks for our organisation and the plan to close those gaps,” 

He suggests prioritising the most critical hires and advises HR leaders to focus on the skills related to areas where most of the change will occur over the next few years.

“We can’t get everything we want outside or internally,” Whittle says. “Instead, creating a future-ready workforce means your talent acquisition team, talent management team and L&D team will have to work more closely than ever. It’s going to require asking some penetrating questions about workforce planning.”

4. Change management 

Both employees and leaders are seeing massive transformations, from shifting work models to new technologies, and 73% of HR leaders say their employees are experiencing change fatigue. Additionally, 74% agree that managers are not adequately equipped to lead change, complicating transformation efforts.

To help their teams and workforce harness the potential of change, Whittle says HR leaders should rethink their change strategy to:

• View effective leadership as change leadership.
• Realise that processes, policies, structures and budgets are often the root cause of change management obstacles.
• Approach communication in a way that inspires change. For example, communicate to the workforce which employee behaviors and expectations are aligned with the organisation’s strategy and goals so that employees know what they need to do and how it can impact their careers and work.
• Link career mobility to organisational transformation.

5. HR technology 

Optimising HR technology is a growing HR focus as organisations focus on streamlining operations and enhancing productivity. Yet 55% of HR leaders reported that their current technologies don’t meet evolving business needs, and 51% are unable to measure the ROI of their technology investments.

Technology has become central to transforming HR processes, making them more efficient and data-driven.  Investment in technology is crucial and especially those around AI and automation in HR tasks. In 2025, UK companies are increasingly expected to use predictive analytics to identify trends in employee behaviour, anticipate skill gaps, and tailor development programmes to individual needs. This shift towards data-driven decision-making not only optimises HR strategies but also leads to more personalised employee experiences. Utilising AI to HR’s  advantage is vital for the HR function.

2025 looks like it will quickly become one of the most challenging years our HR professionals will need to contend with and ensuring that the right skill set at leadership level, combined with true subject matter experts at the emerging leader level will be critical to help businesses navigate these times of significant change.  Identifying the skills gap within the organisations to manage and execute this change needs to start now as the right talent will, no doubt, be in high demand as many businesses struggle to implement the changes on time and effectively.

If you need senior HR expertise, or need help looking at HR priorities for 2025, then please do get in contact with us. Our HR practice team can provide you with an advisory and consultation service that can help you prepare for the year ahead at both C Suite and Emerging Leader levels.

Contact our head of practice, Louise Ellis at LouiseE@HWglobal.co