What is Fair Work? In terms of the big picture, Fair Work is a vision that by 2025, people in Scotland will have a world-leading working life where Fair Work drives success, well-being and prosperity for individuals, businesses, organisations and society.

At a practical level, it is about good work practices that you can carry out, have in place, and lead with, to ensure people, the core of your organisation, can thrive.

Fair Work is focused on giving all individuals these aspects of fair work to balance the rights and needs of individuals and employers. The framework includes 5 dimensions:

  • Effective voice
  • Fulfilment
  • Security
  • Opportunity
  • Respect

The great thing is that no matter how large or small your team, or organisation, we can all implement the Fair Work framework in our everyday practice. We know that Fair Work implementation can be simple in how we operate and behave each day and has clear benefits for individuals and organisations.

Where to Start

To begin it is important to think about the ‘Why’.  Why are you interested in fair work? Because the Government tells us we should do this, or we have to? Or because we know that thriving organisations are built around people-centred cultures and fair work is a simple way for us to implement this.

Some of the ways we recommend building your organisational culture around Fair Work include considering the things you can offer, and not only financial benefits.

According to McKinsey, nonfinancial rewards to motivate employees can lead to a 55% increase in engagement which has huge rewards for the person and business. Things you can consider include:

  • Time off for birthdays/special events/volunteering/passion projects
  • Recognition of effort and contribution, not only performance or results;
  • Flexible working;
  • Personal development;
  • Mentoring;
  • As well as experiential rewards like team events or activities.

Flexible Working

Flexible working does not mean only working from home at hours that suit the person and their family life. There are lots of ways to integrate flexibility, especially in roles where the person needs to be present every day. Additionally, it is important to consider how flexibility opens your organisation up to demographics that cannot do the traditional Monday to Friday 9am-5pm working day, such as people with care responsibilities, older workers, single parents, or people with disabilities or health issues, both physical or mental.

Flexible working encourages diversity in your organisation and allows you to tap into the skills, talents and ambitions of these groups. Having employees who reflect society is a huge benefit and forward-facing employers take this seriously and are proactive in their approach to achieving this.

Where remote working is possible it can encourage diversity of thought and creativity. Those with caring commitments, for example, may need to vary their working hours; however, it can really boost your organisation's innovation.

Other flexible working options include part-time, term time, working from home, hybrid working, flexible hours, job share, annualised hours, compressed working weeks, shift swaps, and additional flexible hours used over the year for special events.

Diversity & Recruitment

Consider your recruitment process, does this encourage diverse applicants?

Diversity is not only about groups but also about contribution. One of the tools we use is Nigel Rizner’s, It’s a Zoo Around Here which is a book, and a free Self-Assessment to understand individuals' styles and preferences for communication. This helps to understand commonalities and differences and how to understand people better, whilst learning to appreciate and adapt to different styles.

This can be both useful and beneficial particularly when the working world, post Covid, tells us that Connection is what they seek most at work. And even for remote working, we can effectively connect with our teams and colleagues, with the use of technology, using check-ins, collaborative online meetings, feedback forums, progress reports, and frequent, effective communication, that is tailored to the style of the people.

Providing Feedback Effectively

One of the most effective ways to give your people a voice and build a fair work culture is through feedback. Not positive, negative or constructive, just feedback that is shared, asked for, consistent, often and useful. There are many models and tools to give a structure for feedback and it is a fantastic, practical way to do Fair Work in your everyday. Radical Candor, the GROW Model, or the BOFF Model are all excellent tools to build your skills and confidence in doing feedback well.

The concept of Psychological Safety is not a new one, though it has gained popularity in recent years and can still often be misunderstood. It is a great way, again, to build and integrate Fair Work principles into your teams and organisations, in 121s, meetings, team sessions, appraisals, reviews and general communications. It focuses on support and learning, and the opposite of a blame culture.

It also represents your organisation's approach to risk and failure as well as how you support and include your people.

Providing Autonomy & Freedom

Fulfilling work benefits employees and employers with key benefits of increased engagement, motivation, productivity and retention. It is worth considering how you can provide work that is engaging, has autonomy, some freedom, that helps others and plays to your strengths, and allows you to have balance with the other things in life that matter to your people. The PERMA model for well-being and happiness is a great tool and structure to consider for this aspect of fair work.

It is crucial to see Fair Work beyond contracts, legal and HR policies, wages and hours at work and vital to think about how you integrate this into your everyday people and practices.

If you would like more information on implementing the Fair Work framework in your organisation, contact us today.

Published by Barbara Clark in Fair Work, Read All Blogs