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Rather than focusing on traditional job titles and educational credentials, there is a growing skills-first mindset, with employers prioritising the actual capabilities and competencies of their workforce.
The International Bar Association's Global Employment Institute (IBA GEI) has released its 14th Annual Global Report on national regulatory trends in human resources law, drawing on responses from lawyers across 48 countries.
According to the report, five challenges are consistently rising to the top of the agenda across participating countries:
- The shift towards remote and flexible work models
- A growing shortage of skilled workers
- The expanding role of artificial intelligence (AI) and concerns over data protection
- Workplace safety
- The regulatory burden on employers
Government responses vary, the report highlighted – some countries are pursuing legislative reform, while others are focusing on non-legislative measures such as government programmes and guidelines. In a few cases, contributors pointed to an insufficiency in existing laws to address modern workplace realities.
Covering legal and regulatory developments during 2024 and 2025, the report is designed to highlight changes and trends rather than set out the law on any particular topic.
The questionnaire was designed to cover the most relevant issues in employment, industrial relations, discrimination, and immigration law. Lawyers were asked to consider changes during 2024 and 2025, explain them, and assess their significance. While survey responses mostly reflect the status as of the first half of 2025, legislative proceedings that were pending at the time of drafting were verified and updated where possible.
Snippets of the report findings are as follows:
Skilled workforce shortages
The skilled worker shortage is one of the most consistently flagged issues in the report, highlighted by Bulgaria, Canada, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Indonesia, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Singapore, South Africa, Sweden, Taiwan, Thailand, and Turkey.
Ageing populations are a significant driver. Countries including Bulgaria, Latvia, Poland, Romania, Singapore, Sweden, and Taiwan linked the problem directly to demographic change, with fewer younger workers entering the labour market. In Germany, older employees are being offered redundancy packages as part of restructuring efforts in large companies, intensifying the challenge further.
Emigration of talent is another contributing factor, particularly in Bulgaria, Finland, Romania, Spain, and Turkey. Skilled professionals are leaving for countries that offer higher wages, better career opportunities, more advanced training, or greater political and economic stability. The outflow places additional pressure on domestic labour markets, especially in countries already dealing with demographic headwinds.
To address shortages, countries have turned to a range of strategies:
- Portugal and Singapore are prioritising workforce upskilling.
- France is focusing on reskilling in response to automation and the shift to a low-carbon economy.
- Japan, Singapore, and Thailand are looking to recruit foreign workers.
- Mexico is seeing subcontracting grow as a practice.
- In Indonesia, the Unemployment Insurance Programme was enhanced in February 2025 to better equip terminated workers with skills for future employment.
AI in the workplace: Integration without regulation
AI has become a central topic across multiple sections of the report, with countries such as Denmark, Japan, Luxembourg, Portugal, and Switzerland all highlighting its increased use at work.
By 2025, AI had been integrated across healthcare diagnostics, customer service, and financial analysis. In the UK, while long-term AI potential is viewed as substantial, only 1% of business leaders say full deployment has been achieved. At the same time, 92% of companies plan to increase AI investment over the next three years. The report also points to a gap between employers and employees: three times more employees are using generative AI than employers realise, yet employers see employee readiness as a bigger barrier to AI adoption than leadership alignment.
In Lithuania, approximately 9% of companies now use AI technologies, particularly for language analysis and workflow automation, a notable increase from the previous year. Several countries including Belgium, Bulgaria, Chile, Ecuador, Hungary, Mexico, Myanmar, Pakistan, Russia, and Spain report no significant increase in employer reliance on AI.
Concerns around job displacement remain. Projections suggest AI could displace around 85mn jobs globally while creating 97mn new roles. Finland, Poland, Romania, and Russia have expressed concern about employment risks in sectors such as healthcare, logistics, commerce, finance, and banking. In Romania, a 2024 survey indicated that 54% of jobs are likely to be augmented by generative AI, with 4% fully or partially displaced. Poland has reported similar patterns, particularly in banking, finance, and retail, though its unemployment rate remained relatively low at 5.7% as of November 2025.
Data protection
AI's reach into the workplace raises significant questions around how employee data is collected, stored, and used.
In Ecuador, the national data protection authority issued a ruling that the use of biometric data for attendance tracking violates workers' rights, requiring employers to revise systems despite substantial prior investment. In Sweden, the Authority for Privacy Protection has made the processing of employee personal data a key focus of its 2025 agenda, citing the power imbalance between employers and employees and the importance of respectful monitoring practices.
Regulation: A work in progress
An overwhelming number of countries, including the UK, currently have no specific legislation governing AI use in employment contexts. Canada's proposed Artificial Intelligence and Data Act failed to pass after Parliament was prorogued in January 2025.
Progress is being made in pockets. The EU's AI Act aims to ensure workplace AI systems are transparent, fair, and accountable. Switzerland and Luxembourg are introducing stricter rules on employee data collection and algorithmic decision-making. Japan is establishing ethical standards for AI applications in employment. Lithuania created one of the EU's first AI sandboxes in early 2025, allowing safe testing of AI solutions before market deployment.
The Federal Employment and Social Agency of Germany has also developed a practical guide through its humAIn work lab project, providing case studies and a checklist to support responsible AI implementation at work, with a focus on fostering acceptance, participation, and a human-centred approach.
Looking ahead, the report notes that by 2026, 60% of global companies are expected to have AI-driven operations. Termination disputes are likely to increase, particularly where technology-driven restructuring raises questions about whether employers adequately prepared employees before implementing changes.
Workplace safety, mental health, and discrimination
Safety at work
Workplace safety remains a persistent source of litigation. Indonesia, Luxembourg, Myanmar, New Zealand, and Serbia all flagged it as an ongoing concern. In Serbia, a law on occupational health and safety for remote work required employers to adapt their practices by 1 January 2026, extending protections to home-based workers and bringing Serbian regulations closer to European standards. In New Zealand, a potential increase in claims alleging non-compliance with safety guidelines is anticipated. Luxembourg has specifically highlighted workplace harassment as a challenge.
Mental health
Mental health in the workplace is identified as a major challenge in France, Latvia, Luxembourg, Mexico, Spain, and Ukraine, with the rise of remote and hybrid work widely credited as a key driver.
In Italy, the National Institute for Insurance against Accidents at Work introduced a work-related stress risk assessment form in April 2025, developed to account for digital and flexible working environments. It is intended to help companies recognise and prevent emerging psychosocial risks related to hyper-connection, digitalisation, and flexible working.
In Canada, Nova Scotia expanded its legal definition of health and safety to include psychological wellbeing. Quebec now requires employers to develop action plans to eliminate or reduce work-related psychosocial risks, including high workload, low recognition, lack of support, and harassment. In Germany, a growing number of companies are training mental health first aiders internally, offering employees an initial point of contact alongside professional medical services.
Discrimination
Discrimination remains a recurring cause of litigation globally, commonly involving claims of unequal treatment based on gender, age, disability, religion, or ethnicity, and is frequently linked to the rise of immigration driven by both skills shortages and international conflicts.
According to the 2023 Eurobarometer on Discrimination in the EU, just over 21% of individuals aged 15 and older across EU member states reported experiencing discrimination. Rates varied widely, from 10% in Portugal to 38% in Belgium.
Legislative responses have come from several directions. Chile's Karin Law, which came into effect in August 2024, imposed new obligations on employers around the prevention, investigation, and punishment of workplace harassment, sexual harassment, and violence at work. It also requires employers to provide immediate psychological care to alleged victims through occupational insurance bodies during any internal investigation.
From 1 July 2025, Australia extended its Paid Parental Leave scheme, increasing government-funded Parental Leave Pay to 120 days, up from 110, with the aim of promoting gender equity in caregiving and retirement outcomes.
In Indonesia, new provisions in the revised criminal code, effective January 2026, will affect rights related to gender, sexual orientation, and religion, requiring employers to plan proactively for compliance while maintaining inclusive workplaces.
In the UAE, discrimination claims have increased since anti-discrimination protections were incorporated into the Federal Labour Law in 2022, a relatively recent development that is becoming increasingly significant in practice.
The report also touches on skilled workforce shortages, working time arrangements and flexibility, remuneration, global conflicts and impact on labour markets, legislation and other measures, and employment disputes in court. Click here to read the full report.
What the report signals for the road ahead
The report concludes that while certain challenges recur each year, several are growing in complexity and scale.
AI is expected to become a central challenge in HR law and practice over the coming years. A particular concern raised by Denmark is whether companies have provided adequate employee training before terminating workers due to AI taking over certain tasks, raising questions about employer obligations ahead of restructuring.
Alongside this, demographic shifts and persistent skills shortages are prompting a shift in how organisations think about talent. Rather than focusing on traditional job titles and educational credentials, the report points to a growing skills-first mindset, with employers prioritising the actual capabilities and competencies of their workforce.
Flexible work and employee wellbeing continue to drive new legal requirements. The EU's Pay Transparency Directive, due for implementation in 2026, will add a further layer of regulatory complexity at a time when employers are already managing hybrid structures, rising mental health needs, skills gaps, and cross-border talent flows.
Climate change is also beginning to surface as a workplace issue, with Chile, France, and New Zealand among the countries examining its implications for labour law and practice.
The overall picture is one of workplaces evolving faster than the legal frameworks designed to govern them, and HR professionals navigating both simultaneously.
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