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

6. Assessment of Anti-Racist Employment Strategy

The actions listed in the Anti-Racist Employment Strategy have broadly been considered earlier in this document, where they sit throughout the Fair Work Action Plan. However, where additional assessment or comment is required, it has been included below.

Action 1: Establish a platform for exchanging learning and good operational practice among employers - practice that is anti-racist and intersectional in its approach.

This action sits within RAP action 3.1.

This action forms a component of the central Fair Work resource and could increase the number of employers addressing intersectional barriers in their workplace and creating safe, diverse, and inclusive workplaces.

This action could positively impact racialised minority groups through enhancing organisational awareness of racism and employers understanding of their PSED under the Equality Act 2010. Employers practicing an anti-racist approach could reduce racial discrimination in the workplace, set an example for employees and better workplace culture for racialised minority groups.

Incorporating an intersectional approach could further recognise the disproportionate impacts employees with more than one protected characteristic face in the labour market. Racialised minority women experience a larger ethnic employment gap than men and are typically trapped in part time and insecure work. Disseminating knowledge of these intersecting racial inequalities could encourage employers to target racialised minority women in recruitment and uplift their status in the workplace and ultimately the labour market.

Due to the impact on eliminating discrimination, advancing equality of opportunity and fostering good relations, the provisional EqIA score for this action is major positive.

Action 2: Undertake evaluation of the 'Minority Ethnic Recruitment Toolkit' to ensure it remains fit for purpose (anti-racist and intersectional) and is applied across the public sector. Consider augmenting the toolkit to include other accessible support sources, including those for retention and progression.

This action sits within RAP action 3.1.

This action also contributes to the development of a central Fair Work resource and could increase the number of racialised minority individuals entering the labour market and develop a labour market that is representative of the population it serves.

Delivering a toolkit tailored to the recruitment of racialised minorities could eliminate structural racism and narrow the 11.7% employment gap between minority ethnic groups and the white population. This could generate long-term positive impacts through reducing racialised minority households' risk to in-work poverty.

Extending accessible support to the retention and progression of racialised minorities could better fulfil the outcomes of the ARES and advance opportunities for racialised minority groups who are overrepresented in low paid sectors with few opportunities for career progression, particularly racialised minority women and black graduates.

Further, the development of a toolkit tailored to the private and third sector could deliver more widespread positive impacts for racialised minorities. Racialised minorities working in the private sector were particularly affected by the Covid-19 pandemic due to their concentration in 'shut down' sectors such as transport, security and retail. Therefore, a toolkit to increase the recruitment, retention, and progress of racialised minority groups in the private sector could assist the recovery from the pandemic. The third sector organisations offering services to racialised minority groups could also benefit from the recruitment of racialised minority groups to better inform the delivery of services.

Due to the impact on eliminating discrimination and advancing equality of opportunity, the provisional EqIA score for this action is minor positive.

Action 3: Promote and disseminate learning and practice that shows positive change in employers' end to end processes to increase the representation of racialised minorities.

This action sits within RAP action 3.1.

The dissemination of learning and practice will contribute to the Fair Work resource under action 3.1 of the RAP and progress towards developing a labour market representative of the population it serves.

This action could eliminate racial discrimination in recruitment processes through demonstrating best practice examples. Racialised minority groups could also experience increased representation within the labour market, particularly within more secure and senior positions in which there is currently underrepresentation. Consequently, this has the potential to alleviate the poverty trap of low paid insecure employment and the risk of racialised minority households to in-work poverty.

Due to the impact on eliminating discrimination and advancing equality of opportunity, the provisional EqIA score for this action is major positive.

Action 4: Develop an intersectional and anti-racist training framework for public and private sector employers by which to assess their training needs and improve the quality of training offered in the organisation.

This action sits within RAP action 3.7.

The positive impacts of developing an anti-racist framework are outlined under action 3.7 of the RAP and could increase the number of employers addressing intersectional barriers to proactively create a safe, diverse, and inclusive workplace.

Employers' engagement with anti-racist training could eliminate the labour market stigma responsible for racialised barriers to employment through better informed policies and practice in the workplace. Embedding this training across all positions within an organisation could also foster good relations and support for racialised minorities in the workplace.

Stakeholder engagement highlighted the importance of incorporating intersectionality in recruitment training to generate widespread positive impacts. Racialised minority women often experience occupational segregation to insecure and low paid positions, while young black graduates experience the widest ethnicity pay gap. Anti-racist training could minimise these experiences of discrimination and barriers of entry to increase the representation of minority groups throughout the labour market.

Stakeholders expressed that clarification is required regarding how the Scottish Government intend to embed this framework, especially within organisations who have already established their own frameworks.

Due to the impact on eliminating discrimination, advancing equality of opportunity and fostering good relations, the provisional EqIA score for this action is major positive.

Action 5: Produce guidance on positive action to support employers across the public sector and promote this guidance through a series of engagement sessions.

This action sits within RAP action 3.5.

As with action 3.5 of the RAP, this action could inform progress to address labour market inequalities experienced by racialised minority groups and enable organisations to fulfil their equality duty and contribute towards the outcomes of the ARES.

This action could increase organisational awareness of racially motivated disadvantage in the labour market and the appropriate actions to eliminate these. This could include actions to narrow the ethnicity employment pay gaps and foster a good workplace culture through non-discriminatory practice.

To enhance the positive impacts of this action, the dissemination of guidance should be extended to private, and third sector organisations and the engagement sessions should include representation from racialised minority groups themselves to provide a lived experience component to the guidance.

Due to the impact on eliminating discrimination and fostering good relations, the provisional EqIA score for this action is minor positive.

Action 6: By the end of 2025 we will review and disseminate learning and best practice on the conclusion of the 2024 Workplace Equality Fund.

This action sits within RAP action 3.4.

The positive impacts outlined under action 3.4 of the RAP are mirrored here, including the potential to increase diversity in the Scottish workforce through encouraging the recruitment, retention and progression of racialised minorities.

Racialised minorities could particularly benefit from conclusions drawn as the Fund supports the delivery of the Race Equality Framework and offers grants to eliminate employment inequalities and barriers for racialised minorities.

Due to the impact on eliminating discrimination, the provisional EqIA score for this action is minor positive.

Action 7: Oversee pilot to improve engagement of employers and employability services with racialised minority communities. Includes work to support EQIA process among employers, improving the quality of assessments and how the practice can be embedded at the start of a process or policy development.

This action sits within RAP action 4.3.

Engagement with employability services could increase the recruitment, retention and progression of racialised minorities in the labour market through tailored accessible support. This could assist in developing a labour market which is representative of the population it serves.

This action also supports the equality duties of employers under the Equality Act 2010 through encouraging equality impact assessments. This could ensure that workplace processes and policies fulfil the three needs of the PSED and are non-discriminatory and remove barriers for racialised minorities in the workplace. Racialised minority groups could therefore be relieved from the poverty trap of low paid insecure employment and experience a lesser vulnerability to in-work poverty.

Due to the impact on eliminating discrimination, advancing equality of opportunity and fostering good relations, the provisional EqIA score for this action is minor positive.

Action 8: We will work with Labour Market Analysis colleagues to run a series of dissemination sessions when labour market statistics on ethnicity are published to make employers (and stakeholders) aware of data that is available and to support them to use national data to help inform their practice.

This action sits within RAP action 1.5.

The positive impacts of action 1.5 within the RAP are applicable here. The dissemination of official statistics could highlight racial inequalities in the labour market and encourage employers to take forward actions informed by evidence. This could include positive action to tackle the employment gap and ethnicity pay gap, which could generate knock-on effects to improve the livelihood of racialised minority groups.

Where possible, the dissemination sessions should provide intersectional analysis to indicate the disproportionate risk racialised minorities who share another protected characteristic face in the labour market. For example, highlighting that racialised minority women experience larger employment and pay gaps than men could inform positive action for employers to uplift the status of female workers.

Due to the impact on eliminating discrimination and advance equality of opportunity, the provisional EqIA score for this action is minor positive.

Action 9: We will continue to press the UK Government to mandate ethnicity pay gap reporting, legislate for the prohibition of caste discrimination under the Equality Act 2010.

This action sits within the aggregated action narrative of RAP as follows: "We will also lobby the UK Parliament for key changes to reserved legislation to address racialised systemic inequity, including mandating employers to report their ethnicity pay gap.

This action could establish a more equal and fair labour market through legislation. Mandating ethnicity pay gap reporting could narrow the 10.3% pay gap (as recorded by ONS in 2019). ^[78] Prohibiting caste discrimination could enhance the PSED of employers under the Equality Act 2010 to remove systemic discrimination and increase the recruitment, retention and progression of racialised minorities in the workforce.

Disproportionate positive impacts could be felt by racialised minority women who are overrepresented in precious work and have been left behind in pay gap progress both within and between ethnic groups.

However, the ability of small organisations to collect and publish usable data in relation to the ethnicity pay gap without experiencing GDPR conflicts could withhold the positive impacts of this action. Further, stakeholders expressed concerns regarding the anonymity of pay gap data, especially when sharing intersectional analysis for groups with one or more protected characteristics such as racialised minority women.

Further, the degree of impact felt by racialised minorities in Scotland is dependent on the decision of the UK Government.

Due to the impact on eliminating discrimination and advancing equality of opportunity, the provisional EqIA score for this action is neutral.

Action 10: Work with partners to establish senior leadership networks to build capability and understanding of racism and racial inequality in the workplace by the end of 2023.

This action sits within RAP action 1.4.

The impacts of this action have been discussed under action 1.4 of the RAP. Establishing senior leadership networks could influence cultural, systemic, and attitudinal change in the workplace which foster good relations and advance opportunities for racialised minorities. Consequently, stakeholders felt that racialised minorities should be represented within the senior leadership networks to ensure diversity of thought and understand the lived experience of racialised minority groups.

Due to the impact on eliminating discrimination, advancing equality of opportunity and fostering good relations, the provisional EqIA score for this action is minor positive.

Action 11: Co-deliver a series of engagements with the public sector by end of 2023 to support employers to address the recommendations of the Scottish Parliament's Equalities and Human Right's Committee's inquiry report into race equality, employment and skills which recommended employers: assess their organisations' understanding of racism and structural barriers; and those subject to the Public Sector Equality Duty as a minimum, voluntarily record and publish their ethnicity pay gap and produce an action plan to deliver identified outcomes.

This action sits within RAP action 1.2.

The impacts of this action on racialised minorities have been discussed under action 1.2 of the RAP.

Engaging with the public sector could increase organisational awareness of racialised barriers in the labour market and encourage positive action towards eliminating racism and fostering a good workplace culture.

In particular, the publication of ethnicity pay gap data and a greater understanding of structural barriers could uplift the status of racialised minorities in the labour market, particularly racialised minority women.

However, stakeholders expressed data protection concerns in relation to publishing the ethnicity pay gap, especially when discussing intersectional characteristics.

Due to the impact on eliminating discrimination, advancing equality of opportunity and fostering good relations, the provisional EqIA score for this action is minor positive.

Action 12: Ensure messaging around anti-racism and intersectionality is taken account of in Fair Work First guidance as used in procurement and grant funding processes.

This action sits within RAP action 2.2.

The impacts of this action are discussed under action 2.2 of the RAP. Updating Fair Work First guidance could increase the number of employers proactively creating a diverse and inclusive workplace which eliminates intersectional barriers.

This action could generate widespread anti-racist attitudes in the labour market. Sharing Fair Work First guidance and best practice examples across public body grant recipients could encourage organisations to identify and monitor Fair Work priorities as part of their funding commitments. While as part of the procurement process bidders could be asked to demonstrate how they will contribute to the Fair Work First criteria.

A consequence of these commitments could include eliminating racially motivated barriers in recruitment, retention and progression in employment. Ultimately, this could advance opportunities for racialised minorities, increase their representation within the labour market and uplift their status within the workplace.

Considering intersectionality within Fair Work First guidance could generate disproportionate positive impacts for racialised minority women. Women typically experience greater levels of occupational segregation in precarious work and larger pay gaps within and between ethnic groups. Therefore, commitments to anti-racist and intersectional Fair Work First criteria could improve work outcomes for racialised minority women more significantly.

Due to the impact on eliminating discrimination, advancing equality of opportunity and fostering good relations, the provisional EqIA score for this action is major positive.

Action 13: The Scottish Government to undertake an equal pay audit examining pay gaps by gender, disability, race and age by March 2024. We will act on findings to review and refresh our recruitment and retention policies to address workplace inequalities by end of 2025.

This action sits within RAP action 1.1.

The positive impacts of this action are discussed under action 1.1 of the RAP.

Undertaking an equal pay audit could disseminate knowledge of existing labour market inequalities within the Scottish Government, while setting an example for the wider public sector on best practice.

Data on the ethnicity pay gap, especially in terms of intersectionality, is currently limited. Therefore, highlighting the position of racialised minorities in terms of pay could generate positive actions to uplift these groups to the position of their white counterparts and establish equality in the labour market. However, data protection and privacy should be maintained to prevent the identification of employees with more than one protected characteristic.

Due to the impact on eliminating discrimination and advancing equality of opportunity, the provisional EqIA score for this action is major positive.