The future of flexible working starts with HR

Flexible working is reshaping workplace expectations. With further changes due under the Employment Rights Act 2025 next year, Charlotte Wiseman and Olivia Arnold, from leading organisational consultancy Step Inside Group, explore the implications for HR teams, managers and employees, and outline a blueprint of what best practice looks like for organisations.

The continuing evolution of flexible working legislation marks one of the most significant changes to employee rights since the introduction of shared parental leave in 2015. With employees now having a day-one right to request flexible working, faster response timelines for employers and further reforms to the process set to be introduced in 2027 under the Employment Rights Act 2025, HR teams are facing a growing influx of flexible working requests.

While the benefits of flexible working are well established - stronger retention, higher engagement, improved wellbeing and more inclusive access to work - the psychological safety, duty of care and operational fairness considerations surrounding these decisions are making the transition more challenging than many organisations expected. In addition, many of these applications are now AI-generated, increasing both the volume and complexity of requests being submitted.

For organisations already balancing hybrid working models, skills shortages and rising wellbeing concerns, the new legislation is not simply a compliance exercise. It is a cultural and operational challenge that requires clarity, capability and consistency.

The question for HR is no longer "How do we process requests?" but "How do we design a fair, psychologically safe and operationally sustainable approach to flexibility?" 

The pressures HR teams are experiencing

1. AI-enabled requests are overwhelming HR capacity

The introduction of generative AI tools has fundamentally changed the nature of flexible working applications. HR teams report receiving requests that are legally framed, highly detailed and often submitted simultaneously by multiple employees. While AI has empowered employees to articulate their needs more clearly, it has also created a significant administrative burden. The risk is not just volume but also inconsistency. When requests are complex and managers lack confidence, HR becomes the bottleneck.

2. Duty of care is harder to uphold when people are less visible

Managers are reporting uncertainty about how to identify distress, burnout or interpersonal conflict when they see their teams less frequently. A key question for HR professionals is how to ensure employees do not become isolated and how to detect early signs of reduced wellbeing. The risk is that issues go unnoticed until they become acute, placing additional pressure on HR and wellbeing teams.

3. Flexibility isn't equal for every role

Organisations with mixed workforces (for example, office-based teams alongside shift workers or customer-facing roles) are experiencing tension around what fairness looks like. When some roles simply cannot accommodate location flexibility, employees can perceive inequity even when decisions are justified. HR teams are increasingly required to articulate not just what flexibility is possible, but why it differs across roles.

4. Reduced proximity is challenging psychological safety 

The "Allen Curve" research has long shown that physical proximity increases trust, collaboration and spontaneous problem-solving. As more employees request remote or hybrid arrangements, organisations are seeing a decline in informal learning, relationship-building and trust. Psychological safety becomes harder to maintain when teams interact primarily through scheduled calls. HR leaders are increasingly concerned about how to maintain cohesion and cultivate belonging when the natural glue of proximity is missing.

5. On-the-job learning is being diluted

Early-career employees, apprentices and new starters benefit significantly from being physically present with experienced colleagues. When flexibility reduces these opportunities, organisations risk slower development and reduced confidence among new joiners. HR leaders are raising concerns about how to maintain learning quality in more dispersed teams.

What best practice looks like now

Across sectors, organisations are experimenting with new approaches to flexibility. From our work, several practices are consistently delivering results.

1. Set expectations early, starting at recruitment

Being explicit about what flexibility is and isn't possible from day one reduces conflict later. Hospitality firms we work with have introduced "flexibility statements" during recruitment, outlining shift patterns, location expectations and any non-negotiables. The impact has been significant: fewer grievances, fewer rota disputes and a clearer psychological contract. When expectations are transparent, employees feel respected, even when flexibility is limited.

2. Train managers to have confident, consistent conversations

Many of the pressures HR teams are experiencing stem from managers feeling unsure about how to handle flexible working conversations. When managers lack confidence, even straightforward requests are escalated, creating unnecessary volume and inconsistency.

Building capability at manager level is one of the most effective ways to reduce this pressure. In our work with organisations, we've seen that when managers are equipped with simple frameworks, clear decision boundaries and the language to explore options constructively, requests are resolved earlier and with far greater clarity. HR is no longer the default problem-solver, and employees experience a more transparent and timely process. The goal is not to make managers policy experts, but to equip them to have effective conversations and understand when additional support is needed.

3. Communicate fairness, not sameness

Fairness does not mean offering identical options to every employee. It means offering equitable options based on role requirements, operational needs and individual circumstances. Organisations that communicate the why behind flexibility boundaries see higher trust and lower turnover. For example, where location flexibility is not possible for production line workers, some employers are offering greater shift-swapping autonomy, enhanced leave options or predictable scheduling to balance the scales.

4. Address unconscious bias in decision-making

Flexible working decisions are influenced by the assumptions and beliefs managers bring into the conversation, often without realising it. These can affect whose requests are taken seriously and how "reasonable" is interpreted. Supporting managers to recognise these patterns, understand how they influence decisions and apply consistent principles leads to fairer outcomes and greater trust. This is not about labelling managers as biased, but about giving them the awareness and tools to make transparent, consistent decisions.

5. Introduce flexibility pilots to reduce risk

For teams unsure how to adapt, time-bound pilots provide a safe way to test new arrangements. Pilots allow organisations to gather data, assess impact and refine approaches before making permanent changes. They also help managers feel more confident in experimenting with new patterns.

6. Embed wellbeing check-ins into workflow

To mitigate the duty-of-care risks associated with reduced visibility, organisations are building structured wellbeing check-ins into regular workflow. These are short, predictable and focused on early identification of issues. They help managers feel more confident and ensure employees do not fall through the cracks.

In summary

The organisations most likely to succeed under the new legislation are those that view flexibility as a strategic capability rather than simply an administrative process. The most effective HR teams are:

• setting clear expectations from the outset;
• equipping managers to hold confident, consistent conversations;
• communicating fairness transparently across different roles;
• supporting managers to recognise how their beliefs shape decisions;
• using pilots to test and refine new ways of working; and
• embedding wellbeing check-ins to uphold duty of care.

Flexible working is no longer a standalone policy. It is a core component of organisational resilience, and the organisations that approach it with clarity, consistency and a focus on people will be best placed to retain talent, strengthen culture and sustain performance.