Becoming a fair work nation

We asked for your views on the opportunities, challenges and the actions you think need taken for Scotland to become a Fair Work Nation.

We received 97 responses.  Of those responses, 77 were from organisations and the remaining 20 were from individuals. The largest share of organisational responses came from the third sector (22), representative/membership associations (20) and local authorities (10).

Positive support for Fair Work in practice was the most prevalent theme. In the current economic climate, many felt delivering Fair Work could contribute to recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. To maximise opportunities, respondents called on organisations and bodies promoting Fair Work to take sector specific approaches and work in partnership with key sectors. The cost of adopting fair work practices was the most commonly identified challenge, particularly for smaller organisations. Respondents suggested a variety of actions the Scottish Government and other organisations should take to meet the ambition of becoming a Fair Work Nation. The most common was for the Scottish Government to provide more support to organisations through funding, centralised guidance, and free training and mentoring schemes.

For more information and support on Fair Work, you may wish to consider the following:

• The Fair Work Conventions’ Framework offers helpful information on the five dimensions of Fair Work
• Workers can complete the Self-Assessment Tool, developed by the Fair Work Convention. It is designed to help workers make an assessment of their own experience of Fair Work and suggest actions they can take to improve on it.
• Employers can complete the Fair Work Employer Support Tool, developed by Scottish Enterprise, in conjunction with the Scottish Government, the Fair Work Convention and other partners. It is designed to help employers understand and fully embed the dimensions of Fair Work.
• The Fair Work First Guidance offers helpful information for those who are involved in awarding public sector grants, other funding and public contracts as well as those who receive funding through public sector grants, sponsorship arrangements with the Scottish Government and/or are involved in the delivery of contracts.

We have published responses to the consultation where permission was given and an independent analysis of the consultation responses has also been published.

Fair Work is integral to our National Strategy for Economic Transformation. The consultation responses will inform the development of the refreshed Fair Work Action Plan later this year. We will use the consultation analysis report findings and further engagement with stakeholders (including those with lived experience to barriers to employment) to inform the refreshed Action Plan. The Action Plan will bring together work to support Scotland becoming a Fair Work Nation, including our commitments to reduce the gender pay gap and to at least halve the disability employment gap by 2038, alongside our new Ethnicity Pay Gap strategy.  This will enable us to better align collective action across these agendas where there is clear synergy to improve conditions for all workers (e.g. real Living Wage, effective voice), whilst still addressing the discreet structural inequalities that perpetuate labour market inequalities.