The apprenticeship levy, pensions auto-enrolment and a new higher minimum wage have increased business costs.
The BCC's annual workforce survey interviewed some 1,400 businesses.
The trade body wants the government to ensure no new upfront costs or taxes are imposed on businesses for the remainder of this Parliament.
The changes to employment legislation were designed to help improve wages and prospects for workers, but the BCC is concerned that high employment costs will have a negative impact on employees.
The Office for Budget Responsibility forecasts that the National Living Wage will increase to Â£8.75 per hour by 2020.
"Higher employment costs impact on the bottom line and reduce the resources available to invest in the business and its people," said Jane Gratton, the BCC's head of business environment and skills.
"Our survey shows that two-thirds of businesses will need to take action in response to proposed increases in the National Living Wage over the next three years.  Firms are most likely to respond by raising prices or adjusting employee pay growth and wider benefits.
"There comes a point at which rising employment costs can no longer be absorbed through reduced profits."
The survey found that:
To deal with minimum wage increases:
"Employment is just one element of the high upfront cost of doing business in the UK," said Ms Gratton.
"It is the cumulative impact of all of these changes, and the pace at which they are being introduced, that causes the greatest concern and poses the biggest risk.
"There is little scope for firms to absorb any further costs without there being damaging effects on competitiveness, growth and opportunities for people in the workforce.
"The government must ensure that there are no upfront further costs or taxes on businesses and entrepreneurs for the remainder of this parliament."

James Calveley Evans, 33, from Maes Pennant, Mostyn, Flintshire, appeared at Mold Crown Court on Friday.
He also pleaded guilty to three charges of distributing child sex images and three charges of possessing child sex images.
He has been further remanded in custody pending a pre-sentence report and will be sentenced in September.
Evans, who has been suspended as a North Wales Police constable, thought he was corresponding with a child by email, but it was an undercover police officer.
He admitted to the court he had attempted to arrange or facilitate a child sex offence in February.
But he denied a second similar offence in March, which the prosecution had agreed to lie on file.
Evans was also found to be downloading and distributing child sex abuse images and was found to have 607 photographs and 16 video images.
Judge Rhys Rowlands told him custody was inevitable and that it would "simply be a matter of the length of the sentence".
Four out of five UK businesses have seen costs rise because of changes in employment legislation, the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) reports.
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A North Wales Police officer has admitted trying to arrange a child sex offence over the internet.