Supporting you in enhancing the culture of your workplace and in managing liabilities and risk to drive business success

Your people are your most valuable asset, yet creating a productive and positive workplace can be challenging. At Freshfields, we provide both strategic and practical legal advice across the full spectrum of employment, executive and incentive compensation, and pensions issues – locally and internationally.  

We advise on complex HR legal projects, such as restructurings and headcount reductions, outsourcing, and coordinate the design and roll-out of global HR policies and incentive plans. We run workplace investigations, including those that are confidential and highly sensitive. We advise on innovative solutions to manage pensions risk.  

As part of our support on M&A deals, we advise on all employment, executive and incentive compensation and pensions related aspects, including notably information and consultation requirements in relation to employee representative bodies, employee transfer mechanics, retention bonuses and management of pension liabilities. We further guide your HR team to successfully integrate the acquired business into your organization.  

In a fast-changing employment, executive and incentive compensation, and pensions landscape, Freshfields’ delivers robust, tailored solutions to your most sensitive workplace challenges – so that you can focus on growing your business with confidence. 

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External report
May 19 2025
IEL Guide to Pay Transparency

Authored by IEL, this guide is designed to increase fairness and reduce gender pay gaps by giving current and prospective employees better information for their careers, pay transparency laws are being introduced worldwide. But with legislation varying from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, multinational employers face challenges maintaining compliance and limiting exposure to employee claims.

Feb 18 2025
ICAEW guidance following Virgin Media v NTL Pension Scheme – Accounting for changes in trustee and employer liabilities
The Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) has published guidance on the accounting and audit considerations in...
Jan 29 2025
Pension surplus and growth: Government announces key reforms to DB scheme surplus regime
The Prime Minister and Chancellor have announced plans to reform the rules and regulations around accessing surplus in defined benefit...
Dec 6 2024
Email monitoring in Italy: Are employers ready for stricter rules after the latest Italian DPA’s decision?
Introduction A recent decision by the Italian Data Protection Authority (DPA) has underscored the challenges employers face when managing...
Nov 12 2024
EU AI Act unpacked #17: The role of Employee Representatives
[You can find all episodes of our EU AI Act unpacked blog series by clicking here.] AI is being used increasingly in the workplace and is...
Oct 31 2024
Autumn Budget 2024: delivering difficult decisions
In the first Budget delivered by the Labour Party since 2010 (and the first given by a female Chancellor since the role came into...
Oct 21 2024
EU AI Act unpacked #16: Risks associated with AI systems used in the workplace
[You can find all episodes of our EU AI Act unpacked blog series by clicking here.] The use of AI has proliferated in recent years. AI...
Oct 14 2024
What are the obligations under the LGBTI legislation for corporations in Spain?
Better late than never!  With some delays over the terms set out in the LGBTI Equality Act [see our blog post covering the Act in more...