New Employment Laws Are Coming. Procurement’s Communication Problem Just Got Worse.

New employment laws may slow hiring and increase workplace tensions across UK businesses. But in procurement, they could also deepen a long-standing communication issue that’s driving commercial disputes, says Fayola-Maria Jack, CEO of Resolutiion.

When hiring slows, teams shrink, and internal tensions rise – all predictable consequences of a tightening labour market. But what happens when these pressures collide with an existing communication problem in a sector that lives or dies on the strength of its relationships?

Recent warnings from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) around the Employment Rights Act 2025 reforms may see the answer to that question unfold. 

As well as acting as a hiring ‘handbrake’, with nearly a third of employers planning to reduce permanent recruitment, leading businesses across the UK are also bracing for a rise in workplace tensions. In fact, the CIPD’s Winter 2025–26 Labour Market Outlook found that more than half of employers (55%) expect workplace conflict to increase because of at least one key legislative change being introduced. Likely triggered by uncertainty around the new obligations and when they will take effect, this in itself has led to calls for a ‘major’ communication campaign.

How might the Employment Rights Act 2025 reforms affect procurement?

While the CIPD data focuses on internal workforce trends across all sectors, in the relationship-dependent world of procurement another pressure point is emerging – one that could amplify the impact of the reforms.

Resolutiion’s Global Conflict and Dispute Resolution Industry Report 2026 found that poor communication (31%) and misaligned expectations (26%) are already the leading causes of commercial disputes, ranking well above performance issues (14%) and contract ambiguity  (14%). The report also identifies a widening skills gap around communication and emotional intelligence – meaning the tensions triggered by the new reforms could exacerbate a problem procurement teams are already struggling to manage.

Part of the reason lies in how the reforms are likely to affect supplier relationships. As the legislation is implemented in phases across 2026 and 2027 and employment rights expand, supplier cost bases move. That flows into contract pricing, indexation pressure and margin-protection behaviours. In practical terms, procurement teams could face a faster cadence of rate reviews, more variation requests tied to labour assumptions and more claims-style behaviour in statement-of-work services.

Early phase reforms are also expected to increase union activity and reduce friction in organising industrial action in parts of the framework. This may mean supplier delivery risk in outsourced operations, more frequent contingency planning requirements, and higher scrutiny of workforce practices in the supply base.

Procurement is also exposed to conflict because it sits at the intersection of hiring and resourcing constraints, and this includes internal team constraints and supplier workforces delivering critical services. In fact, disputes can arise even when underlying performance is not the root problem.

Taken together, it becomes clear why the communication capabilities already identified as a weak spot risk coming under even greater strain. 

Four key strategies to improve communication under pressure

This convergence of hiring constraints and communication risk is not just predictable, but also preventable. Below are practical ways procurement leaders can aid better communication, even as teams come under increased pressure:

• Create early warnings on misalignment: Many disputes escalate unnecessarily simply because the warning signs were missed entirely, or just communicated too late. This sees conflict treated as an event, rather than a capability. Yet if we look at the data from the Global Conflict and Dispute Resolution Industry Report 2026, organisations that engage early (through structured dialogue and proactive relationship management) are far more likely to resolve issues before they become formal disputes. As such, building mechanisms that surface misalignment early are key: regular expectation checks, clearer reporting of delivery risks and lightweight issue registers, for example. When teams are smaller and workloads heavier, these early signals often become even more important.
• Introduce workflow enforcement for change: Another common issue is that many organisations recognise the value of early engagement but lack the systems and processes to actually act on that recognition. Embedding structured workflows – clear escalation pathways, defined ownership of disputes and step-by-step resolution processes – can all help give teams the confidence to intervene early rather than avoid difficult conversations. The goal overall is to move procurement away from treating disputes as isolated incidents handled through ad hoc intervention, and towards being integrated into everyday commercial management.
• Invest in the human skills that prevent escalation: Interpersonal and emotional intelligence skills – listening and clear communication, calmness under pressure, contract/technical literacy applied pragmatically, and framing difficult issues without defensiveness – are becoming evermore critical in maintaining healthy supplier relationships. Replacing sporadic workshops with scenario-based learning and coaching anchored in live cases can help strengthen all of these capabilities. 
• Use technology to reduce ambiguity: Information clarity also plays a huge role in preventing disputes. If key commercial documents, delivery expectations or change requests aren’t clearly captured and shared, misunderstandings are to be expected. Here, AI-powered technology can help create a single, structured source of truth for commercial relationships. 

Supplier conflict and disputes, commercial misunderstandings and performance breakdowns are all an inevitable part of complex supply chains. But, when left unmanaged, these conflicts and disputes can not only drag down relationships and project timelines, but also budgets. 

So, with potential challenges ahead, it’s time to start prioritising communication and treating conflict and dispute resolution as a programme, not a case-by-case scramble.

Written by Fayola-Maria Jack, Founder, Resolutiion. Resolutiion ® is a human-centred global AI platform, purpose-built to help buyers and suppliers prevent, manage, and resolve commercial conflicts and disputes, with speed and precision.

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