What’s Coming, & What’s Unsettled: The HR Manager's Toolkit

HR Manager's Toolkit

Not all reforms are settled, and some are still being negotiated. But what’s on the horizon is enough to make HR departments start planning now.​​

• The updated Works Council rules may impose more duties around consultation, transparency, even legal liability in some cases. Companies with operations across countries will need to monitor how these changes finalize. ​​

• Minimum wage standards across the EU are under review, especially in relation to collective bargaining. Some member states are pushing for stronger mechanisms to ensure that minimum wages are set in cooperation with social partners. ​​

• There is an ongoing push to simplify sustainability reporting and due diligence obligations, balancing regulatory rigor with reducing administrative burden for companies, especially smaller ones. The EU’s “simplification agenda” is central here. ​​

• Immigration, foreign worker rights, and the processes around work permits continue to be refined in many countries. Employers are keeping a wary eye on changing thresholds, documentation requirements, and rights for non-EU workers. ​​

What These Changes Feel Like on the Ground​​

For Maria, and for many HR leaders across the EU, the changes have emotional as well as technical impacts.​​

• More transparency, more conversations. People are asking more, expecting more. Salaries, pay gaps, fairness: topics that used to be awkward are becoming essential.​​

• Pressure to modernize systems. Payroll, HR information systems, performance tracking tools—all need to keep up. Old manual processes don’t cut it when audits or employee queries demand clarity.​​

• Trade-offs and tensions. Companies welcome greater inclusion and fairness, but worried about costs—in time, systems, legal risk. It’s one thing to set a salary range; it’s another to justify gaps, or respond when algorithms are challenged.​​

• Cultural shifts, legal shifts. Expectations are changing. Workers expect more agency, more respect for off-hours, more fairness in gig work. Employers are having to walk a line: complying with legal changes, but also maintaining agility, competitiveness, and morale.​​

What HR Leaders Should Do Now​​

If I were Maria, here are some steps I’d already be taking:​​

1. Audit pay structures and job postings. Ensure salary bands are defined, justifiable, and aligned with criteria that are objective and documented. Include ranges in job ads where required.​​

2. Upgrade HR/IT systems. So that working hours (including overtime, remote work) can be recorded reliably. So queries from employees about pay comparisons etc. are trackable.​​

3. Train managers. On pay equity, on algorithmic fairness, on how to respond to transparency requests, on remote work and disconnection.​​

4. Check contracts & policies. Remote work agreements, platform work contracts, flexible work policies. Are there clauses that conflict with new rights?​​

5. Build compliance timelines. Many of these laws are being phased in, or still in draft. Keeping track of when something becomes binding in each country is crucial.​​

Why It Matters​​

To Maria—and many like her—these aren’t just regulatory burdens. They represent a shift in what EU societies value in work:​​

• Fairness over secrecy.​​

• Clarity over ambiguity.​​

• Worker dignity—not just efficiency.​

There’s risk and cost, yes. But there’s also opportunity: better productivity, better retention, stronger trust, and workplaces that reflect changing expectations.​​

As 2025 unfolds, Maria feels something she hasn’t before: that work is being reimagined, not just regulated. And while there will be bumps along the way, those who anticipate well may round corners ahead of their competitors—not just legally, but reputationally and culturally too. ​#HRManager'sToolkit