Becoming a Fair Work Nation: consultation analysis

5. Equality and Diversity

The impact of Fair Work on equality and diversity in the workplace, was raised by many respondents throughout the consultation. In particular, several organisations working with or representing specific groups answered the consultation questions from the perspective of the people they represent. Particularly prevalent were the experiences of women, younger people, older people, people with disabilities and people from minority ethnic backgrounds, represented by organisations such as the Equality and Human Rights Commission, Close the Gap, CEMVO, Age Scotland, Young Scot, and Glasgow Disability Alliance.

To avoid repetition, this chapter summarises comments about these groups identified across the consultation and highlights the opportunities, challenges and actions relating to equality and diversity respondents mentioned. Many respondents simply described their support for tackling and addressing inequality and promoting diversity in the workplace and supporting inclusive approaches. Others, however, provided more detailed responses into the challenges and opportunities Fair Work poses for different groups, and outlined how Fair Work could be delivered. The groups have been ordered alphabetically.

Age

Age was mentioned in relation to Fair Work by some respondents, including in detailed responses from Age Scotland, Young Scot and The Scottish Youth Parliament. One of the most common themes was to make the minimum wage the same for all ages, with the lower levels of pay for under 23s, as set by the UK Government, being seen as unfair.

"The age brackets for receipt of national minimum wage are unfair. One young person asked "Why should someone who's 18 earn less than someone aged 24 for doing the same job?" – The Scottish Youth Parliament

Others highlighted the challenges young people face in employment. These included: finding work in an increasingly competitive jobs market, which may force them into the wrong career; being more at risk of COVID-19 job disruption; and, being less knowledgeable about Fair Work and therefore less likely to aspire to good terms and conditions. Conversely, Aberdeen City Council felt that young people offered organisations an opportunity to be more competitive by bringing unique talents and skills.

A small number highlighted difficulties faced by older people. These included: a perceived lack of skills, particularly digital literacy; discrimination based on assumptions about older people being less capable; discrimination in recruitment practices; older people who lose their jobs being less likely to find a new one; and the potential for an ageing workforce to be affected by long term health conditions.

Suggested actions for the Scottish Government included: ensuring young people are involved in all stages of Scotland becoming a Fair Work Nation; considering the needs of young people including mental health and caring responsibilities; guaranteeing equal access to training and development opportunities for workers of all ages and increasing adult skills development opportunities; and, committing to age-friendly employment, which recognises older people's abilities and potential to contribute to the workplace.

"The Scottish Government should ensure there is equal access to training and development opportunities for workers of all ages. This will ensure the skills gap between age groups doesn't widen and that older workers aren't excluded or isolated. Support and retraining opportunities for older workers must be central to Fair Work strategies. As mentioned above, older workers who lose their jobs are more likely to remain unemployed for longer, so access to training and development can be a lifeline in times of uncertainty and stress." – Age Scotland

Other actions included: increasing young people's understanding of Fair Work and of trade unions; for councils to sign up to the Investors in Young People accreditation; for workplaces to become more age inclusive; for public bodies to provide information in a youth friendly, accessible manner; greater careers support for young people transitioning from education to employment; increasing awareness of apprenticeships; and to support young people with disabilities into training and employment.

"Regarding youth employment, including support for disabled young people and those with additional support needs, some councils are signed up to the Investors in Young People employer accreditation. This puts a significant emphasis on the employment and development of young people and involves the implementation of a range of initiatives that would help accord with this Fair Work practice. More councils could be encouraged to adopt the accreditation which is a structured programme." – Aberdeen City Council

Disability

The impact of Fair Work on disabled people was mentioned by many respondents. In particular, Sight Scotland and Sight Scotland Veterans, Glasgow Disability Alliance and Leonard Cheshire in Scotland provided detailed responses about the needs and experiences of people they advocate for and support.

The most prevalent theme in comments was actions which could be taken to deliver Fair Work for disabled people. A small number of respondents called on the Scottish Government to: encourage employers to trial flexible working arrangements; resource disabled people's organisations to delivery disability equality training to employers; and, to include the proportion of people prevented from working by disability when monitoring progress towards narrowing the disability employment gap.

Other actions included: a call for meaningful consultation with disabled people and people living with long term conditions as part of the proposed reforms; for more responsibility to be put on employers to be inclusive of disabled people; more support for workplaces to make adaptations to accommodate the needs of disabled people; the right for disabled people to request flexible working from the first day of employment; more support and training for young disabled people to enter employment; targeted recruitment campaigns and fair and inclusive recruitment practices; that local authorities could be part of the Department for Work and Pensions' Disability Confident Scheme; and, for alternative routes to employment to be respectfully explored for those who cannot cope in mainstream employment.

Sight Scotland specifically requested that the Fair Work Convention provides more disaggregated data for different types of disability, rather than referring to disabled people as a homogenous group. Leonard Cheshire called for mandatory reporting of disability employment and disability pay gap data for large organisations.

A few respondents simply noted their support for fair workpractices in helping to address inequality faced by disabled people. Others highlighted the challenges disabled people face in relation to work. These included: disabled people being significantly more likely to be in part-time work; a lack of digital skills; and a lack of understanding from employers, ranging from negative stereotyping to lack of access to support and to an unwillingness to make reasonable adaptations.

While a small number noted the impact of the pandemic on disabled people, others, including Glasgow Disability Alliance, noted that the move to home and flexible working may increase employers' willingness to offer these options in the future, increasing opportunities for disabled job seekers.

"A significant barrier to delivering Fair Work is the persistent issue of the disability pay gap whereby disabled people who do secure employment are unable to secure a suitable income from work that can support a decent standard of living, especially given the additional costs that disabled people face." – Glasgow Disability Alliance

"The disability employment gap increases with age and is highest for people aged 50 to 64. Ongoing work to tackle this disability employment gap should ensure disabled people of any age have the tools and support to access the Labour Market if they wish to." – Age Scotland

"Security of income is another indicator of Fair Work, but the disability pay gap remains. This is a particular concern for those who are blind or partially sighted who are twice as likely not to be in paid employment as people who are not living with disabilities. For those with sight loss, being out of work or struggling to find employment can have a serious detrimental impact on mental health and wellbeing and financial security. People with a disability are more likely to live in poverty and may have increased living costs associated with disability related expenses." – Sight Scotland

Ethnicity

This report, in line with the Scottish Government-wide approach, uses the term "minority ethnic" to reflect people marginalised by structural and institutional racism. We use this term instead of "BME" or "BAME", as minority ethnic is inclusive of both visible and non-visible (that is, white) minority ethnic groups. We talk about visible and non-visible ethnic minorities because they face different kinds of racism. Where there is variation in terms of terminology, this reflects the fact that people belonging to minority ethnic communities define themselves and their communities using a variety of terms; our use of the over-arching term "minority ethnic" aims to be inclusive of that variety.

Some respondents described Fair Work in the context of people from minority ethnic groups. CEMVO and Radiant and Brighter Community Interest Company provided detailed responses about the needs and experiences of people they advocate for and support.

The most common theme was broad support for equality for minority ethnic groups, and reference to the work of organisations to promote Fair Work, for example Business in the Community's Race at Work Charter. Respondents described the opportunities and challenges around Fair Work and for people from minority ethnic communities. Opportunities included improved job security helping to address the disproportionate number of minority ethnic families in Scotland living in poverty and the potential to attract people to work in Scotland with better pay and conditions.

Racism was seen as a key issue; respondents noted discrimination and racism in the labour market, recruitment, and the workplace. Linked to this, lack of understanding or awareness of other cultures or religious practices was identified as a challenge. In its response, the Education Institute for Scotland described the impact of racism on both teacher education and in work. It explained this is a barrier to educators to remaining in post, which means there is very little representation of ethnic minorities in the sector.

"The first Diversity in Teaching Profession Scotland Annual Data Report highlights what EIS BAME members have long highlighted: that structural and everyday racism act as barriers at every step of their career. The reported data demonstrates alarming trends in recruitment and retention, showing that the qualification rates for BAME initial teacher education students are more than 10% lower than for their white counterparts." – The Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS)

"Many people from ethnic minority communities live in Scotland and often struggle to get into the labour market due to structural issues. The pandemic has highlighted this and adopting fair work practices in my sector will give us the opportunity to contribute to the economy but also feel valued for the contribution we bring to Scotland.The main challenges of adopting fair work practices in my sector are institutional racism and lack of representation of people from ethic minority communities in decision making processes" - Radiant and Brighter Community Interest Company

A few respondents suggested actions to address these issues. Actions for the Scottish Government included: to review and update recruitment practices and human resources guidelines to encourage career retention and progression for young people from minority ethnic groups; to fund organisations to employ staff to act as ambassadors; to offer more support for faith in the workplace or to support different cultural practices; to collect robust data to understand the inequalities faced by minority ethnic communities; and, to provide learning resources on how to support work-faith practice in Scotland

Other actions included: more targeted action on discrimination and racism in the workplace, and to increase understanding of issues faced by minority ethnic employees; engaging with communities to show the opportunities in sectors where they are currently underrepresented, for example construction; offering work experience and placements to young people from minority ethnic groups, as well as making available interview skill development opportunities, apprenticeships, peer support networks and mentoring opportunities; greater collaboration between businesses and government; and, listening to the needs of minority ethnic communities.

"These challenges can be overcome by having representation of people from ethnic minority communities in decision making processes. Often public, private and third sector organisations in Scotland will talk about the difficulty of finding people from these communities without creating pathways of engaging with the communities… We also have to be bold in explicitly addressing racism in our work places and being Anti racist." - Radiant and Brighter Community Interest Company

Gender

For the purposes of this report and aligning with the way in which language was used by respondents, 'gender' is taken to refer to being male or female, or to a group of people like men or boys, or women or girls. We are aware that 'sex' rather than 'gender' is a protected characteristic in the Equality Act 2010. Respondents tended to talk about 'gender issues' such as the 'gender pay gap'.

Gender was the most commonly mentioned matter in relation to people's experience or otherwise of Fair Work. Several respondents described issues around gender balance in the workforce, negative stereotyping of a women's role and specifically the gender pay gap. In particular, Close the Gap provided a detailed response covering these and other issues, which also described the challenges faced by women with multiple intersecting identities.

The most common theme was respondents highlighting issues around gender in the workplace. Respondents highlighted that women are typically over-represented in lower paid roles in health and social care, childcare and the third sector, and under-represented in others, for example,. construction, the fire service. They also noted that women are more likely to be unpaid carers, to work part-time and not be on permanent contracts. EHRC noted that women continue to be underrepresented in senior positions, even where women account for the majority of the workforce, such as in education and health.

"Women are more likely to be in insecure work such as on zero hours and temporary contracts. The precarity of women's employment often denies them basic employment rights such as sick pay and annual leave, as well as gendered employment rights such as access to maternity pay, the right to return to work after maternity leave, and the right to request flexible working. Unreliable hours make it particularly difficult for women to manage work with the caring roles, while also increasing their financial security, and worsening women's and children's poverty" – Close the Gap

The gender pay gap was another common theme. Some made general comments around this, highlighting not only the challenges women face due differential rates of pay, but also due to being more likely to work part-time and to take time away for children and childcare, which can also lead to a gender pension gap. STUC referenced recent Scottish Government research which suggested actions such as job evaluations, equal pay audits and a programme of insourcing across the public sector.

"The gender pay gap leads directly to a wider gender pension gap resulting in many older women experiencing poverty during their later years. Disabled women, women from ethnic minorities, single mothers, divorced women, and women with caring responsibilities are particularly impacted by pension inequalities." – Age Scotland

Other challenges each mentioned by a few respondents included:

• Overcoming stereotypes around women's and men's capabilities and interests. In particular, the stereotype that women are more suited to cleaning, catering and caring roles which are typically lower paid. In turn, this leads to an undervaluation of such work, and makes it challenging to encourage men into these roles. Related to this, a few noted that these roles were often seen as unskilled, despite the training and professional qualifications required.
• Workplaces lacking in flexible work practices and being skewed to long and inflexible hours which means many women lose out in their career and on promotion prospects because of time out to have children and for childcare, as well as other caring responsibilities.
• The disproportionate impact of the pandemic on women. It was felt that additional childcare responsibilities, home-schooling and domestic work had fallen to women.
• Discrimination against older women.

Conversely, opportunities mentioned by a small number included that almost two thirds of social enterprises are now run by women, and that COVID-19 has meant some previously hesitant employers have moved to more flexible and hybrid working.

The most common theme in responses was suggested actions. Those specifically directed at Scottish Government included:

• Encouraging a worker-led introduction of post-pandemic flexible working.
• Moving away from privatisation of services which was seen to have damaged women workers by removing them from collective bargaining.
• Adequately resourcing third organisations.
• Implementing legislation to grant a period of paid leave to people who have experienced domestic abuse.

In its response, Close the Gap outlined ways in which the Scottish Government and Fair Work Convention could better represent women and challenges around Fair Work and gender.

"The absence of women's experiences from Fair Work policy, measurement tools, and employer resources will mean that Fair Work is not delivered for women. The solution is to build intersectional gender competence among those developing and delivering Fair Work policy and programmes. The articulation of Fair Work should also be refreshed so that gender is integrated, and employer understand precisely the action they should take to deliver Fair Work for both women and men." – Close the Gap

Other actions, each mentioned by a few respondents included: longer-term collaboration to increase gender diversity, including support through education to challenge perspectives of male and female dominated roles and encourage more women to take up science, technology, engineering, and maths courses and jobs; the provision of flexible working arrangements and childcare provision in workplaces; better pay, conditions and job security in sectors which are currently undervalued; access to training opportunities; support in the workplace for women experiencing menopause and engagement with Fair Work in the Women's Health Plan; paid menstrual leave; and, more resources to support women to avoid and exit from work in the sex industry. One respondent argued for a focus on men and flexible working to help them be more involved in home life, and Close the Gap argued for increased paid paternity leave to balance the division of unpaid childcare.

Wider comments on equality and diversity impacts

Beyond these specific audiences, many respondents made either more general comments or raised very specific points around equality or issues which may be relevant to Scottish Government Equality Impact Assessments.

The most common theme was support for improving diversity in the workplace and equality for marginalised or disadvantaged groups. Some respondents simply indicated their support for such moves, and for Fair Work to promote this. Others reaffirmed their organisation's or sector's commitment to equality or highlighted their organisation's work to improve the rights of disadvantaged groups.

Specific points raised by a small number of respondents included: the need for more emphasis on supporting mental health in the workplace and to reduce stigma and discrimination (detailed responses from See Me and the Mental Health Foundation outlined ways in which this could be improved); examples of support for LGBT+ workers; and, ways in which unpaid carers can be supported both in and out of work.

Some respondents highlighted opportunities and challenges around equality and diversity. Opportunities included: attracting and retaining a diverse and talented workforce who bring new ideas, skills and creative solutions to an organisation; addressing skills shortages; and, helping organisations reflects the needs of communities in Scotland. Challenges included: the need for cultural shifts as organisations adapt to new ways of working; a lack of diversity in leadership and of diverse role models; the higher use of zero-hours contracts among underrepresented groups; and that variations in how equality employment data are recorded across the public sector makes it difficult to accurately compare equality information.

A few respondents identified intersectional issues, where the barriers experienced on account of one characteristic are compounded by a second or even multiple protected characteristics or social identities. This can greatly impact on people's ability to access Fair Work. The Equality and Human Rights Commission, for example, noted that there is a lower employment rate among women from minority ethnic backgrounds.

"A flexible Fair Work Nation - any Fair Work Nation needs to be fluid enough to understand and allow for different people seeing both 'fair' and 'work' differently, depending on their life experience. Someone who wants to but has never worked because of complex barriers may see 'Fair Work' as the opportunity to volunteer in an environment where they feel safe, valued, supported and included. For a disabled person, Fair Work might mean accessibility, for a lone parent flexible working opportunities may be the critical factor in a work context" – Social Enterprise Network Scotland (SENScot)

"If Fair Work is to be achieved for all workers, it is essential that progress is made for those groups who are less likely to have access to Fair Work. Scottish Government must take account of the impact of such inequalities, particularly in the context of COVID-19 and EU Exit, to design effective labour market interventions to achieve Fair Work across the Scottish economy." – Equality and Human RightsCommission

"Most importantly we would suggest that urgent action is needed to improve and protect disabled people's financial security as a priority and that action is taken to address existing labour market inequalities. An intersectional approach is required which requires approaches that address the combined challenges and barriers faced by disabled women, disabled young people and disabled people from black, Asian and minority ethnic communities." – Glasgow Disability Alliance

Actions

Two respondents suggested actions for the Scottish Government. Public Health Scotland felt inequality could be addressed thorough structural change, including legislation, and that more could be done to consider the impact of employment legislation on people with protected characteristics. The Fair Work Convention called on the Scottish Government to recognise and focus on "the clear overlap between tackling inequality and addressing longstanding and embedded disadvantage within the labour market".

Some respondents suggested other actions to improve equality and diversity, without assigning an owner to the action. These included:

• Getting more data about the intersectionality of those furthest from the job market.
• That the Fair Work Convention takes a co-ordinating role that cuts across sectors and government and brings Fair Work initiatives together in a joined-up approach.
• To improve the perception of, and provide clear information about, certain sectors, for example, construction, to encourage entrants from underrepresented groups.
• Support for those who employ individuals who are often excluded from work, for example, supporting those with a disability or mental health issues, or those from a minority ethnic background, which require expertise or different approaches.
• For flexible working from start of employment to be advertised in all job adverts.
• For councils to put in place equality, diversity and inclusion plans.
• Support for businesses to work with the education system to develop the curriculum and encourage young people in their chosen career paths.
• Job creation and targeted employability schemes which aim to ensure that typically excluded groups are not further excluded.
• Encouraging large private sector employers to use recruitment, retention and progression data to identify equality issues and create action plans to tackle them.

Comments related to Impact Assessments

A few respondents made comments which the Scottish Government may find it useful to consider when conducting Impact Assessments in relation to Fair Work. These included:

• Socio-economic equality. The potential for Fair Work to reduce poverty was highlighted in Chapter 2. Other singular comments included: the need to ensure flexible working does not create a two-tier workforce of those who can work from home and those who cannot; the opportunity for Fair Work to rectify some of the inequalities exacerbated by the pandemic; and, aligning with anti-poverty strategies.
• Island and rural communities. A small number highlighted the challenges of delivering Fair Work in remote, rural and island communities. These included the more limited availability of high-quality jobs; accessing education, training and workforce development opportunities; the capacity of typically smaller organisations to implement Fair Work; digital exclusion; poorer transport infrastructure; and higher transport costs which were noted as a particular challenge for young people. Shetland Islands Council requested that commitments to improve island communities in the Island Act are delivered. Caithness Chamber of Commerce noted the value of having a range of contract types available for work in rural areas. The Scottish Tourism Alliance highlighted the problem of lack of staff accommodation in rural areas makes it challenging to recruit and retain staff.
• Equality impact. A few responses linked Fair Work to the Equality Act 2010 or directly called for greater use of Equality Impact Assessments for new policies. For example, Public Health Scotland suggested that Fair Work indicators could be monitored through incorporating them into public sector Equalities Duty or Fairer Scotland Duty. Others called for professional learning to ensure leaders have a clear understanding of their responsibilities under the Equality Act.
• Child rights and wellbeing. Two organisations called for investment in childcare both to support child development but also to enable parents to work.
• Human rights. As part of their response, Citizens Advice Scotland highlighted the vulnerability of non-UK citizens who can face breaches of their employment rights and direct discrimination from their employers.
• Business and regulatory. While no respondents mentioned business and regulatory impact assessments directly, the nature of the consultation topic means many of the themes evident in responses could be considered within an assessment. The opportunities for businesses by delivering Fair Work detailed in Chapter 2 include increased productivity, flexible working and greater employee wellbeing. These need to be balanced with the challenges in Chapter 3, for example, the cost of implementing fair work practices, a lack of organisational capacity and competing priorities. Particular consideration may need to be given to the positive and negative impact on businesses potential Scottish Government actions, such as including greater emphasis on Fair Work in procurement and in further enforcement and monitoring of Fair Work.
• Strategic Environmental. No comments directly addressed environmental impact assessments, but the link between the environment and Fair Work is evident in the opportunity around the Just Transition which is detailed in Chapter 2.

"The challenges for small rural businesses must not be understated or ignored by policy makers. Rurality has many issues needing attention to encourage young people to stay or to attract young people from urban settings. Housing, education, connectivity, transport, career opportunities are all major challenges to business employers and potential employees. The farming sector can deliver 'Fair Work' practices, but all these issues need to be addressed to make it feasible for the majority." – National Farmers Union Scotland

"It needs to be recognised that zero hours contracts do have a vital role to play in supporting employment opportunities in remote and rural areas such as the North Highlands. Many employment opportunities in this region are seasonal – for example in the tourism and agriculture sectors – and it is important that both employers and employees in these sectors have access to the tools they need to enable the kinds of flexible working that comes as a result." – Caithness Chamber of Commerce.