Fair work action plan: annual report

4. The 2025 Vision

Achieving our commitment to making Scotland a leading Fair Work Nation by 2025 will require focused action being delivered at pace across Scotland to shape and deliver this. The Covid-19 pandemic has seen unparalleled changes to the way we live and work and has reinforced the importance of Fair Work in ensuring that workers and employers are able to engage effectively to make decisions in the best interests of all. Many of the changes, such as increased facilitation of home and flexible working, could have positive implications for furthering fair and inclusive work.

The recently launched Fair Work Employer Support Tool, and the Fair Work Convention’s measurement framework and Self-assessment Tool for workers will provide vital data to help shape our Fair Work future. In addition, our Fair Work First guidance to support those administering and receiving public funding provides a strong foundation of support for employers adopting Fair Work First and driving change. Using these resources and the progress we have made as our reference, we want to engage with a wide range of stakeholders to shape and understand what a successful Fair Work Nation looks like. The vision will be a useful and practical document, linking closely with Scotland's broader economic and social ambitions, set out in the National Performance Framework, for Scotland to be inclusive, sustainable and globally competitive, with the wellbeing of all citizens at the centre of our policy objectives.

Working closely with the Fair Work Convention and the STUC, we will engage with stakeholders, employers and workers across Scotland to identify the key objectives that we must reach to maximise the positive impacts of Fair Work can, and develop a shared Fair Work Vision and the success criteria for this. We already know there are some key things we want to see, and are working towards, including:

• an increase in collective bargaining coverage and trade union membership as ways to strengthen employee voice and security;
• an increase in the proportion of people paid the real Living Wage;
• an effective skills system which supports people throughout their working lives, based on a culture of shared investment between employers, employees and Government;
• a significant reduction in precarious work, including inappropriate zero-hours contracts;
• a step change improvement in labour market performance, including employment and pay gaps for women, disabled people and BAME groups;
• more migrant workers being attracted to Scotland from the rest of the UK and abroad; and
• attracting more inward investors who share our Fair Work values.

Fair Work is central to achieving the Scottish Government's priorities for an inclusive and sustainable recovery from the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and a Just Transition to a low carbon economy, with economic wellbeing and high quality jobs for all. Fair Work will drive success and prosperity for individuals, businesses, and society.