Coronavirus (COVID-19) - prolonged home working for Scottish Government staff: equality impact assessment

Stage 1: Framing

Results of framing exercise

The policies associated with this impact assessment have been coordinated by the Corporate Continuity Recovery Programme, a senior-led working group, comprising representatives from the organisation’s corporate services business areas (People Directorate; Workplace Division - Security and Business Continuity, Facilities Services, Occupational Health & Safety, Projects Unit; Corporate Communications; and iTECS) and Trade Unions.

This programme approach provided the opportunity to consider widely the impacts of continued home working and the measures being put in place to provide Covid-19-safe workplaces. Consultation was carried out with a number of stakeholders within Scottish Government including Digital Directorate, Chief Medical Officer, Organisational Readiness, Health & Social Care Hub and Economy Hub. Consultation with Ministers, the Scottish Government’s Executive Team and Trade Unions throughout the development and introduction of measures referred to in this document, and various research studies consolidated in the “Measuring the impact of working from home - Phase 1 Report”^[2] have all informed our thinking.

An internal framing exercise identified that there was potential for a period of prolonged working from home to have some impact on all protected characteristic groups, with some groups being more disproportionately impacted than others.

Protected characteristic age

Evidence tells us that older people are at higher risk of serious illness or death from Covid-19. Working from home reduces the risk of exposure to Covid-19 and the design of the workplace will need to comply with government guidelines to help ensure that the risk of transmission at work is low. We will continue to review measures in line with the developments of the pandemic and the interventions to manage it, such as the vaccination programme.

Protected characteristic: disability

Evidence^[3] tells us that some disabled people are more likely to experience exacerbation of already poor physical and mental health as a result of Covid-19 restrictions. The support available to staff needs to consider both physical and mental health of all colleagues, with particular care given to ensuring the range of support and the design of new workplace measures considers the needs of disabled colleagues.

Protected characteristic: sex

Women are more likely to have limiting long-term conditions (36% vs 30% of men, 2018), which can be exacerbated by Covid-19 restrictions.

Women represent the majority of the Scottish Government workforce (54%). We know that women in Scotland have a disproportionate level of caring responsibilities in the home environment. With schools and other caring facilities closed during most of 2020, it is likely that women will have been impacted more than men having to balance working from home whilst caring for others.

Evidence also tells us that over the period of lockdown, many Violence Against Women and Girls organisations observed significant increases in crisis work with victims. This needs to be considered in the range of support available and design of any return to work criteria or classification of essential workers.

Protected characteristic: sexual orientation

There may be an increased risk of exposure to challenging domestic situations with prolonged remote working leading to heightened reporting levels of anxiety and other mental health issues within this category. The range of support and criteria for return therefore needs consideration within that context.

Protected characteristic: race

Minority ethnic staff are more likely to fall into the ‘vulnerable health groups’ classification of the population, and have a higher risk of serious illness from Covid-19. Early data showed that the Covid-19 virus was more harmful for people with underlying health conditions. Prevalence of some of these health conditions is known to be higher in certain ethnic groups. For example, Type 2 diabetes is six times more likely in people of South Asian descent and three times more likely in African and Afro-Caribbean people.

Protected characteristic: religion or belief

Consideration of suitable prayer and reflection spaces at work needs consideration as part of any new measures and changes introduced in workplaces with regards room capacity and available space.

Interaction with Other Policies (Draft or Existing)

Accessibility and Inclusion Workspace strategy

The aim of the Accessibility and Inclusion Workspace strategy is to have a strategic approach for Workplace Division to deliver their functions (Security and Business Continuity; Facilities Services; Projects Unit) in a manner which considers all aspects of making our workplaces as accessible and inclusive as possible for colleagues, visitors and contractors from design to delivery.

Whilst the work from home decision and the changes to workplace to ensure safe environments for staff is the current priority, this needs to be done within the context of a wider need to ensure accessible and inclusive workplaces for all staff and those with a need to visit our buildings.

Extent/Level of EQIA required

The evidence captured in the next section has been drawn from a broad range of sources. Primarily, evidence has been gathered from emerging publicly-available analysis as more is understood about the impact of Covid-19 in the community.

The EQIA process has highlighted the need for Scottish Government to continue to engage closely with staff as we take the next steps in Scotland’s Covid-19 Strategic Framework to ensure that equalities issues continue to be considered in the decisions that impact our workforce whilst Covid-19 remains prevalent.