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International HR Day 2026: Why getting HR right is about much more than legal compliance
May 19, 2026
By Fflur Jones
On International HR Day, our employment team celebrates our clients, colleagues and peers in the HR profession – and our employment expert Fflur explains why getting HR right is more crucial than ever in 2026.
Wednesday 20 May is International HR Day, a day when HR professionals worldwide are celebrated for their contributions to their organisations and to the lives of the employees they support.
In the employment team here at Darwin Gray, we work with HR specialists in organisations ranging from small charities to large public sector organisations and multinational companies. A day in the life of an HR professional is never the same – whether you’re an HR consultant brought in to carry out a difficult investigation, a business partner working with in-house teams to embed crucial policies and procedures across an organisation, or an adviser providing welfare support to an unwell employee.
HR and people professionals often see their colleagues in their most vulnerable and tough moments, whether that’s due to difficulties in their personal lives, disputes in the workplace or struggles with their health.
Equally, it’s often a HR professional’s job to deliver difficult news or support with sensitive performance management, disciplinary or redundancy processes – conversations that are never easy even for those with experience and training.
Sometimes, that means that HR teams can be seen as the “enemy”, or as a punitive force within an organisation; but more often than not, that couldn’t be further from the truth. International HR Day exists to recognise the often-overlooked contributions that HR teams make every day to senior leaders, line managers and employees themselves.
In 2026 and 2027, we’ll be seeing a wealth of changes made to employment law in the biggest overhaul of employment rights in decades. Unfair dismissal reforms, strengthening of sexual harassment prevention duties and radical changes to casual workers’ rights are just some of the major changes on the horizon.
This means that getting your HR policies, contracts and training right is no longer optional.
Having specialist HR resources in place, whether that’s an in-house team or an external consultant, is essential for keeping you legally compliant and reducing the risk of costly Employment Tribunal claims further down the line.
But it’s not just about the legal side: a skilled and compassionate HR professional can make all the difference to staff retention, recruitment and wellbeing in many different ways.
As employment lawyers, we provide legal advice to HR managers and leaders facing difficult situations, but we’re also constantly learning about innovative policies, strategies and initiatives from our HR clients who go above and beyond for the people they support.
We hope our HR and people professional clients and peers are being celebrated and thanked in their organisations today – they deserve it!
Finally, we couldn’t talk about International HR Day without giving a special shout-out to our amazing in-house HR team here at Darwin Gray: Fiona Sinclair, Seren Trigg and Kadell Khalid, who provide invaluable on-the ground and remote HR services to many of our employer clients. We know both we and our clients are so grateful for their support.
In June and July 2026, we’ll be delivering another of our popular mini-webinar series for HR professionals, “What Keeps HR Awake At Night?”. This series of 20-minute webinars is aimed at tackling some of the most thorny topics that arise in HR, from managing “difficult” employees to holding protected conversations.
Book your free place here: What keeps HR awake at night? | Darwin Gray
To speak to one of our experts today, please contact us on 02920 829 100 or by using our Contact Us form for a free initial chat to see how we can help.
