Employment Rights Act 2025: Gen Z knows their rights. Does their manager?
The Employment Rights Act 2025 has started to come into force.
If you work in HR, you already knew that.
If you're a CEO, your legal team will have briefed you.
But does the line manager who sits down with your new young recruit on their first Monday morning know what that person is legally entitled to?
Because Gen Z does.
The new day one rights, reformed statutory sick pay and expanded trade union provisions will have circulated through peer networks long before it makes it into a manager briefing.
When your Gen Z starter asks their manager about flexible working on day three how will they respond?
Or when they call in sick in week 2 and expect to be paid.
CIPD has warned of increased workplace conflict as a direct result of these reforms.
Much of that conflict, when it comes, will happen at the line manager level first.
So how will you handle this in your multigenerational workplace?
Here are four aspects to consider.
TL;DR
The Employment Rights Act 2025 is starting to go live. Gen Z young pros who are digitally connected, well-informed and highly attuned to fairness, will know what it means for them. The risk is not their awareness, it's yours. Specifically, it's your line managers'. Day one rights, reformed sick pay and trade union access will all land first with front-line managers, not HR. Getting this right is a retention, culture and compliance issue simultaneously.
1. Gen Z will arrive knowing more than you expect
Gen Z shares and absorbs information at speed, using tools along the way.
Before a new starter arrives on their first day, expect that they have already read the ACAS guidance on day one rights, watched various TikTok videos on the subject, discussed the new legislation in a WhatsApp group and noticed whether your job description referenced flexible working.
This is not cynicism, it is matter-of-fact preparation. Gen Z has grown up in an environment where ‘information asymmetry’ is shrinking fast.
The days when an employer could reasonably assume that a new recruit was unaware of their legal entitlements are effectively over.
The Employment Rights Act 2025 accelerates that shift further, extending rights from the very first day of employment that previously required months of qualifying service to accumulate.
What this means in practice is that your newest recruits may arrive knowing more about their legal entitlements than the manager welcoming them.
It takes less than a minute to ‘process’ the new legislation and compare it with their new starter pack in Claude. These are tasks you need to do yourself and build the responses into the onboarding process.
You need to close that gap quickly. Training on the law itself will not go far enough. You need to anticipate what manager responses might be and define them where necessary.
A temporary awkward dynamic is one thing, but a legal liability is what you seek to avoid. Much as you might wish that Gen Z were less informed, you have to ensure you are prepared at every level of the organisation.
2. Statutory Sick Pay reform and the mental health dimension
The removal of SSP waiting days under the Employment Rights Act 2025 is a significant reform for younger workers.
Gen Z and younger Millennials have consistently reported higher rates of mental health challenges than older generations. The reality of mental health conditions is that early action prevents longer-term problems. That does not align with the previous sick pay framework which could penalise absence financially for the first few days.
The reformed SSP framework creates a more supportive structure, but it only works if line managers understand it and apply it correctly.
A manager who discourages sick leave when colleagues are ill is creating exposure for the organisation. And, as I argue in The Snowflake Myth, Gen Z does not respond well to the gap between what an organisation claims and what it actually does.
A reformed sick pay policy that exists only on paper, while the culture around it remains punitive, will not build the trust that drives engagement and retention.
This is not to say that an organisation cannot have expectations about employees looking after their own physical and mental health. But that needs to be reciprocated by the organisation.
3. The day one flexible working request
Flexible working requests from new starters are now a day one entitlement. The qualifying period of employment has gone. An employee who joins your organisation on a Monday can submit a formal flexible working request before the end of their first week.
For Gen Z workers, flexibility is not a perk. It is a baseline expectation, particularly in light of the hybrid working norms that emerged from the pandemic years and which many now treat as standard. Research shows Gen Z consistently ranks flexibility alongside salary as a primary factor in job choice and retention decisions. They will use this right, and notice how their manager and organisation responds to it.
A Millennial, Gen X or Boomer manager who built their career in a culture where even the right to request flexibility had to be earned over time may instinctively push back. Whether they agree or not we are in a new normal now.
That does not mean to say requests need to be accepted. Although employers have more guidance on the grounds they can refuse a request there is nothing to say they have to agree more of them. It is up to new colleagues whether they wish to stay or not when a request is refused.
Employers, and managers, do need to get it right when they say no and to expect the ACAS Code of Practice to be understood by the person receiving the unwelcome news.
4. Trade Unions are back in the room
The Employment Rights Act 2025 introduces significant new provisions for trade union access, making it easier for unions to engage workers across different workplaces.
For many organisations, particularly those where formal union recognition has been limited, this is genuinely new territory.
For Gen Z workers, it is likely to be considerably less unfamiliar.
Collective voice resonates strongly with a generation that has grown up with climate activism, cost of living campaigns and a well-developed instinct that individual action alone is often insufficient.
Gen Z's relationship with trade unionism is not identical to that of previous generations, they are more likely to be pragmatic than ideological, but the underlying values that make collective organising appealing are strongly present.
Senior leaders and line managers from older generations may find this territory uncomfortable or adversarial. Gen Z workers may find it entirely unremarkable. Bridging that gap is going to matter.
Part of it might be some resentment from managers that their young colleagues have greater protections than they enjoyed. Organisations cannot afford that to last very long.
Remember that
The legislation is also an opportunity to build something better. This is about more than employer restriction and employee protection. How can it enable you to develop a more productive workforce?
Part of Gen Z knowing their rights is that they will know how to escalate their concerns as well. Expect that to be tested.
Gen Z's sensitivity to the gap between policy and practice is not a management problem, it is an information signal. If the culture does not match the updated policies, they will disengage quietly before they leave loudly.
Frequently asked questions
1. What are the most important changes in the Employment Rights Act 2025 that Gen Z workers need to know about? The key changes that will be most immediately relevant to Gen Z workers are the expansion of day one rights (including family leave and flexible working requests from the first day of employment), the removal of the SSP waiting period, and new provisions making it easier for trade unions to access workplaces. Together, these reforms significantly strengthen the rights of workers from the moment they begin employment.
2. Why do line managers need to understand the Employment Rights Act 2025 rather than leaving it to HR? Because the moments that matter happen with line managers, not HR. It’s that simple.
3. Are Gen Z workers really aware of their legal rights in the workplace? Increasingly so. Gen Z in the workplace is information-rich and peer-networked. They research employers thoroughly before accepting roles, share knowledge horizontally through peer groups and are highly attuned to the gap between what organisations promise and what they deliver. The Employment Rights Act 2025 has received significant coverage in the platforms and channels Gen Z uses. Assuming they are unaware is a risk, at worst you will present as incompetent.
4. How does the Employment Rights Act 2025 relate to Gen Z retention? Directly. The reforms align closely with what Gen Z workers have consistently said they want: fairness from day one, flexibility, support for wellbeing and employers who take their obligations seriously.
5. What should smaller organisations without dedicated HR support do to prepare? Three things, in order. First, access the available guidance. ACAS, the CIPD and the government have all published accessible resources specifically for smaller employers. Second, audit existing employment contracts and policies against the new legal requirements. Third, and most importantly, brief every line manager on the specific rights their team members now hold from day one. In a smaller organisation, that briefing is your most effective compliance tool.
Alex Atherton is an award-winning Gen Z speaker and generations expert who helps organisations navigate multigenerational workplace challenges. Author of The Snowflake Myth, he specialises in Gen Z recruitment and retention and leadership development.
