Fair Work Action Plan 2022 and Anti-Racist Employment Strategy 2022: equality impact assessment

8. Recommendations

There was encouraging feedback from stakeholders supporting the principles behind these Fair Work initiatives. The ambition to co-ordinate the draft documents with wider government activities was recognised, alongside the ability of the Scottish Government to combine three components – disability, gender and race – into one coherent action plan.

However, while understanding that the plan is focused on gender, disability and race, implementation should not prioritise one type of equality over another. Further, other characteristics will face comparable barriers which should be considered in approaches to implementing Fair Work more broadly.

Rights-based approach

Implementation should take a rights-based approach which considers the multifaceted identities of the population. It is important to recognise that all characteristics should enjoy the same rights to fair work and the actions and behaviours that should be taken to achieve this. Intersectionality should not be viewed as a data collection exercise, instead as an opportunity to identify and uplift those who are most at risk in the labour market.

Ongoing engagement

In line with the Scottish Government's stated commitment to continuous engagement during the implementation of the RAP and ARES, the implementation stage should recognise the importance of lived experience through the continuous involvement of equality organisations. This could overcome stakeholder concerns that amalgamating several actions plans into one document could more heavily focus on one characteristic over others.

While data can highlight the proportion of the population who fall into each category, lived experience recognises that each protected characteristic group is not homogenous, and people may identify in multiple different ways. Therefore, lived experience could provide a richer insight into the labour market for people with protected characteristics.

Monitoring and evaluation

A robust monitoring and evaluation framework for this and Impact Assessment is necessary to demonstrate progress against the RAP and ARES by 2025, in line with the ambition of Scotland being a leading fair work nation by 2025. Developing this framework in collaboration with relevant stakeholders is vital for measuring progress and will inspire confidence that tangible progress is being made to stakeholders.

Data protection and privacy

The implementation of any data collection action should be coupled with data protection and privacy guidance. The anonymity of data should always be maintained when publicly disseminating workforce data, especially when discussing intersectional data which reveals more than one characteristic of an individual. Employers should also demonstrate continuous privacy and confidentiality and the appropriate use of data in the workplace, while employees should be informed on how their personal data is going to be used to ensure there is no misuse of information.