Becoming a Fair Work Nation: consultation analysis

6. Further Ideas

This chapter summarises the analysis of responses to the final two consultation questions.

Further actions individuals and organisations could take to help Scotland become a Fair Work Nation

Q11. What is the most important thing that you or your organisation can do to help Scotland become a Fair Work Nation?

More than four-fifths (77 out of 95, 81%) responded to Q11. Respondents identified various actions that they or their organisation could take. Most commonly, responses focused on steps to promote and raise awareness of Fair Work, providing training or guidance to support other organisations to implement Fair Work, and/or actions that individual organisations could take to implement fair workpractices.

Promoting and raising awareness of Fair Work

Several respondents, most notably public bodies, local authorities, representative/membership associations and trade unions, commented on the need to raise awareness of Fair Work and its benefits among employers. Some suggested they could share information with other organisations, and promote the positive outcomes Fair Work can achieve. A few suggested that awareness of fair workpractices and employee rights could be promoted more widely among members of the public.

"Raise awareness of the opportunities of Fair Work practices to social enterprises, third sector organisations and public and private sector colleagues." - Social Enterprise Scotland

A small number, mostly public bodies or representative/membership associations, noted that they could promote Fair Work by leading by example. By implementing fair workpractices in their role as an employer, these organisations could encourage others, especially in their own sector, to adopt Fair Work employment practices. Similarly, a few commented that they had the power or influence to promote Fair Work more formally through sectoral codes of practice and/or local plans and strategies. Another theme raised by a small number of respondents related to carrying out research into Fair Work to review progress, inform policy and promote fair workpractices.

"CAS will also continue to gather data on employment issues in order to inform policy progress towards Scotland becoming a Fair Work Nation." – Citizens Advice Scotland (CAS)

"Our role around setting the standards for social work, social care and early years employers means that we are well positioned to support the workforce with this and help move toward Scotland becoming a Fair Work Nation." - Scottish Social Services Council

Supporting other organisations

Several respondents commented on their organisation's role in supporting other organisations to implement fair workpractices. This was most commonly expressed by public bodies, local authorities and representative/membership associations. Some, for example, said they could use their expertise to deliver training or other forms of guidance to help organisations with specific topics, such as mental health, cultural competence, age or race discrimination or supporting disabled employees. Others said they could share case studies of best practice or learning points to help other organisations.

"We will continue to work in partnership and share our experience and resources to support our clients and region to embrace and adopt Fair Work to support economic recovery and growth." – Highlands and Islands Enterprise

"Sight Scotland and Sight Scotland Veterans are proud to be a disability positive employer and will continue to advocate for other organisation and business to take this approach. As experts in visual impairment, we will continue to highlight the challenges around access to employment faced by blind and partially sighted people and how adaptations in the workplace can be made to make them accessible for blind and partially sighted people." – Sight Scotland & Sight Scotland Veterans

Individual/organisational actions

Respondents identified a range of actions that an organisation could take, as an employer, to implement fair workpractices and thereby help Scotland become a Fair Work Nation.

"To be the best employer possible for our staff and for them to feel recognised and valued in the work that they do." - Sense Scotland

Most commonly, a few respondents said their organisation could offer staff more opportunities for training and development. Other steps, each identified by a small number of respondents, include maintaining or obtaining real Living Wage employer accreditation, supporting employees with wellbeing, providing fair terms of employment including the avoidance of zero-hours contracts, offering opportunities for flexible working, increasing employee involvement in decision making, supporting trade unions, and ensuring that contractors apply fair workpractices.

Final thoughts

Q12. Please use the box below to tell us about anything else relevant to Scotland becoming a Fair Work Nation and any further ideas you might have on the action that will be needed to achieve this.

Half of respondents answered Q12 (48 out of 95, 51%). Virtually all of the points made at the final question had been suggested by respondents at previous questions. As such, they have been covered in earlier sections of this report.

An additional theme mentioned by some respondents at Q12 and at Q10 was the potential to learn from other countries. For example, in the Fair Work Convention's response, it discussed New Zealand's Fair Pay Agreements.

"There is also innovative international practice that Scotland can learn from, notably the New Zealand Government's emerging approach to the introduction of 'Fair Pay Agreements'. This is a modern collective bargaining mechanism to help boost pay and employment conditions across a number of sectors currently characterised by low pay and poor quality jobs. "Fair Pay Agreements" will closely involve social partners in determining minimum employment conditions in sectors where 10% of workers request it or following a test of public interest. Acknowledging this, in June 2020, the Advisory Group on Economic Recovery recommended that, as a starting point, arrangements should be put in place in the social care and hospitality sectors, with a view to concluding Agreements within a year." – Fair Work Convention

Other singular examples included:

• Germany's use of "Codetermination", a legal requirement to have employees on certain company boards.
• EU countries banning the practice of zero-hours contracts (for example, France, Austria, Estonia, Luxembourg, and Belgium) and others implementing heavy regulations on their use (Germany, Ireland, Italy, and the Netherlands).
• The Welsh Government's use of the Future Generations and Well Being Act and the commitment to introduce social partnership legislation during this parliamentary session of the Senedd were cited as examples of creative employment policy making within the confines of the current devolution settlement.
• Creative Scotland cited frameworks in France and Germany which protect workers in the cultural sector, and the Icelandic government's introduction of standardised measures for monitoring wellbeing in the workplace.
• Netherlands' model of employers being obliged to pay sickness benefit for the first two years of absence.
• Co-operatives UK suggested that Scottish workers, when acting as a co-operative, be given a right of first refusal to buy their employer, or its assets, when their employer is put up for sale, or is pre-insolvent or insolvent, drawing on frameworks in France and Italy.
• Scandinavian countries were cited as good examples of positive employment practices.