Leaders will likely know about the major shake-up of workers’ rights looming large on the horizon. But what are the key reforms still to be agreed ahead of the planned autumn 2026 implementation?

And how will they affect your recruitment business?

Here’s what’s being considered for change. I’ve opened the final point up more because it’s arguably the one to cause most conjecture.

Reforms under consideration:

1. Unfair dismissal 😢
2. Zero-hours contracts ⛔
3. Sick pay 😷
4. Unpaid parental and bereavement leave 🤱
5. Fire and rehire 👉
6. Flexible working 🏡

Ah, yes, flexible working. 👀

So, flexible working is to become the ‘default’ for all workers, with employers required to say yes to requests from staff from their first day starting in a job unless they can prove it is ‘unreasonable’.

In their unquestioned(!) wisdom, the government – those lovely folk – defines flexible working as a way of working “that suits an employee’s needs”, for example, having flexible start and finish times, or working from home.

Employees can already request flexible working from their first day in a job, but an employer can refuse an application if they have a good business reason for doing so.

The grounds against granting requests include:

🏡 Burden of additional costs
🏡 Detrimental effect on ability to meet customer demand
🏡 Inability to re-organise work among existing staff
🏡 Inability to recruit additional staff
🏡 Detrimental impact on quality

Personally, I find it staggering that employees are to be granted such power from day one. It feels too broad stroke, too. For big corporations, the impact of flexible working as a ‘default’ will not as keenly felt as the a SME recruitment business.

We all know people say what needs to be said in an interview to get the job. But this proposed new flexi-working reform, coupled with a significant change in unfair dismissal rules, could quickly result in disgruntlement and toxic environments.

For me, the proposed reform to flexible working merely places more burden on the employer and in a sector like recruitment where sales environments are often the catalyst to success, this doesn’t sit well with me.

There are counter agreements to all this, of course, and many recruitment agencies are set up remotely already, but what about if you want to scale or merge or diversify? How does it affect legacy employees?

Or maybe this horse has already bolted and it’s a natural evolution to workplace culture.

What do you think to the proposed flexible working reform?