The new Littler European Employer Survey highlights that 69% of employers are facing challenges to some extent in managing political opinions in the workplace, while 71% of companies are reassessing job responsibilities as a result of AI use.
AI use in the workplace is cited as the most significant area of regulatory change amongst European employers, according to the 2025 Littler European Employer Survey report. Nearly 60% of employers say AI use will have an impact on workforce management, ahead of Pay Transparency (at 42%). According to the survey, 71% of respondents say their organisations have reassessed job responsibilities as a result of AI use in the workplace or are in the process of/considering doing so. A smaller percentage say the same about reduced hiring (55%) and workforce reductions (51%).
Barry Reynolds, Partner notes that AI is generally one of many factors that weigh into decisions related to workforce reductions. “AI brings profound improvements to processes in the workplace and AI applications can directly reduce or remove the need for certain roles. At the same time, investing in AI technologies often creates a need to reduce costs and harness efficiencies elsewhere in the business, which can lead to decisions to reduce hiring or make workforce reductions”, he notes.
The employment law specialists add that “uncertainty abounds […] because the vast majority of EU countries have yet to assign-AI specific regulators under the Act’s multi-stakeholder governance framework.”
Managing Opinions
On ‘managing political opinions’ in the workplace, which includes staff views on international conflicts, diversity policies, immigration and LGBTQ+ protections, less than 10% of respondents cited it as a major challenge, but over 60% of employers said it was a moderate or small challenge they were facing.
Alison Finn, Senior Associate, says the convergence of political polarization, global instability and the increase of social media “has created a landscape where personal expression and professional environments often collide.”
“For employers, managing political expression in a way that encourages individual viewpoints, while maintaining a respectful and inclusive work environment, presents a pressing and complex challenge.”
Employee rights with regard to free expression in the workplace vary significantly across jurisdictions. In Ireland, political opinions are not a protected characteristic under equality law. While employees are free to hold and express political views, employers “may impose reasonable restrictions in the interested of workplace harmony”, Littler says.
Return to Office
One-in-ten Littler respondents in Europe said they have increased in-person work to five days a week, with another 15% saying they are planning on five-day office weeks. Around one-quarter said they have increased in-person days but still offered hybrid work schedules, with a further 14% planning on doing so. Just 7% have decreased in-person office days (6% of employers could offer hybrid work but do not, and have not made any changes to their place of work requirements in the last year).
Of the European countries surveyed, the UK shows the highest rate of increasing in-person office days, at 44% of employers. Yet the importance of being able to offer hybrid work comes through, as more than 70% of employers say they strongly or somewhat agree it is key to attracting the right talent.
IE&D
On the IE&D front, more than two-thirds (69%) of those with US operations, IE&D programmes say they are considering new or expanded rollbacks of these initiatives as a result of heightened scrutiny from the Trump administration. Practices that may be deemed “illegal DEI” in the US may be in conflict with certain European jurisdiction’ workplace requirements. Littler says this “complex patchwork” could have important consequences.
