Chapter Three: Lessons learnt and “factors of success”
The purpose of this and the previous chapter is to identify factors and best practices that are linked with successful performance across the indicators included in the International Fair Work Nation Framework. In this chapter, we distilled key lessons from our rapid evidence review on the dimension of Fair Work in countries leading in the International Framework. The core objective of our work in this chapter is to highlight a set of policies and schemes that could be regarded as key contributors to success in achieving favourable Fair Work outcomes in different countries.
Scotland's institutional context differs from most comparator countries where discussed policies have been successful. For example, Scotland’s legislative environment is unique, as the Scottish Government has limited control over legislative powers, as many aspects of key legislation are reserved to the UK government. For this chapter, we opted to focus on policies that could be implemented in the Scottish context considering the Scottish Government’s devolved powers. However, the policies and best practice discussed below should be subject to thorough research to assess their applicability and potential impact within the Scottish context.
Active labour market policy (ALMP)
- Active labour market policies may include a range of measures such as: workforce training, job search assistance, job creation, and various subsidies.[189]
- Denmark’s active labour market policy aims to support people in upskilling and seeking employment. The strategic objectives of Denmark’s ALMPs include: (i) ensuring unemployed people are up-skilled, (ii) supporting more people with disabilities to become employed, (iii) guaranteeing businesses have access to sufficient and qualified labour, and (iv) granting a case-work process to each unemployed person.[190] ALMPs in Denmark are implemented locally by 94 job centres across the country that are supported by local authorities.[191] Programmes funded as part of active labour market policies include job search assistance, job training, education, vocational guidance etc.[192]
- To support people with a disability, the Danish states offer employer incentives such as (i) subsidies to businesses to provide personal assistance for disabled employees, (ii) wage subsidies for newly educated disabled employees, and (iii) subsidies for specialised equipment such as aids, and workplace improvements to support the integration of disabled employees.[193]
- There has been significant spending on job creation schemes in the Netherlands. Job creation schemes are linked with protecting middle skilled workers from underemployment.[194]
- It is important to note that while government policies often focus on addressing skills shortages through additional training and improving education policy, overqualification and overskilling is an important challenge that should also be addressed.
- Different types of ALMP measures can support improvements in indicators such as involuntary part-time work and involuntary non-permanent work, worker underemployment, skills underutilisation, and the disability employment gap.
Supporting families
- Our research has highlighted the importance of supporting families with young children to ensure higher levels of female labour market participation.
- A key policy measure in this area includes supporting increased and earlier enrolment of children in childcare at a lower cost. In Finland, families are supported to access childcare through local authorities at a maximum cost of less than half of the cost an average family in Scotland faces.
- Substantial paid parental leave for both parents is a significant support mechanism for families. Finland offers 320 working days of parental leave to families, split equally between a child’s parents. Higher levels of parental leave are associated with higher rates of female full-time employment.[195]
Health, safety, and well-being
- In terms of worker safety, research indicates the importance of ensuring workers are provided with clear guidance regarding responsibilities and procedures related to health and safety.
- We recommend continued improvement in data collection on workplace safety inspections carried out in Scotland as this is a persistent evidence gap in the Fair Work Measurement Framework.
- Finally, the United Kingdom had the highest rate of establishments with an action plan to prevent work-related stress in 2019. While work related stress, anxiety and depression have risen over recent years in Scotland, Scotland’s performance is favourable relative to most countries in the International Framework. Supporting and expanding this practice might contribute positively to the mental wellbeing of workers in Scotland.
Gender pay equality
Gender pay equality is a challenging policy area considering that significant powers are reserved to the UK Government. Some key measures to be explored further include the following:
- Promoting transparency in firm-level documentation relating to the remuneration of employees to ensure that remuneration policies are gender neutral.
- Supporting the improvement of employee appraisal practices through schemes such as government-offered training to ensure employee evaluation policies are gender neutral and do not promote unfair discrimination of female workers.
- Exploring the feasibility of interventive policies to promote gender neutrality in the workplace. In Belgium, the government can support businesses to develop workplace-specific gender neutrality action plans and protect employees who report unfair treatment. In the 2019 Gender Pay Gap Action Plan, the Scottish Government committed to influencing the UK Government to amend Equalities legislation to support these aims.
- Exploring further the recommendations of previous research commissioned by the Scottish Government on best practice for valuing women’s work and the recommendation of the Fair Work Convention to implement minimum contract standards.
Trade Unions and Collective Agreements
As discussed in numerous parts of this report, in many policy areas related to promoting Fair Work, the Scottish Government is limited in the policy and legislative levers available to influence change. This is recognised in the latest Fair Work Action Plan published by the Scottish Government, which significantly emphasises a collaborative approach to achieving Fair Work, engaging with various partners and stakeholders, including trade unions and employers.[196]
- The Scottish Government announced its intention to support trade union membership and increased collective bargaining to improve Fair Work.[197]
- The Scottish Government also announced its ambition to tackle issues such as low pay, real living wage enforcement, and security of work through sectoral agreements working in partnership with sector employers and trade unions. This aims to improve standards of pay in traditionally low pay sectors and occupations and narrow the gender, disability and ethnicity pay gaps.[198]
- Since its previous Fair Work Action Plan in 2021, the Scottish Government announced its commitment to working with the Scottish Trade Union Congress (STUC) to promote Fair Work and sectoral bargaining in the sectors of (i) social care services, (ii) early learning and childcare, and (iii) hospitality.