A Fair Work Ethos

Supporting organisations to become Fair Work Employers

Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) implemented Fair Work conditionally to their funding from 1st April 2022, ahead of this applying to all Scottish Government funded organisations from 1st July 2023.

Any organisation applying for grant funding from HIE must comply with their fair work conditions for financial support. HIE will work with organisations who wish to adopt embed Fair Work practices and support them to develop an action plan.

Fair Work conditionality includes:

• Paying employees aged 18 years or over the Real Living Wage as a minimum (currently £10.90 per hour).
• From 1st July 2023, paying employees, aged 16 years and 17 years (including apprentices), the Real Living Wage (currently £10.90) per hour as a minimum.
• Having a flexible working policy in place and a current Fair Work action plan.
• Be able to demonstrate how they support workforce development and foster employee engagement.

There are a wide range of businesses and organisations working with HIE who are embracing and promoting the Fair Work ethos.

One organisation for example champions staff development and in addition to providing staff training required to run their business, staff can also request training they do not fully require for their role but the organisation would see benefits from. For this type of training 50% of the cost is covered, with the employee covering the remainder.

Another example includes a local business who invest heavily in workforce development and they are a member of the 5% Club. The 5% Club is a dynamic movement of employers committed to earn & learn as part of building and developing the workforce they need as part of a socially mobile, prosperous and cohesive nation.  Members strive to achieve 5% of their workforce in ‘earn and learn’ positions (including apprentices, sponsored students and graduates on formalised training schemes). 

Several businesses and organisations have undertaken to review salaries and have either increased or have plans to increase salaries of those who do not meet the minimum wage.  In a high cost environment such as Shetland this is becoming increasingly important for businesses and organisations to retain their staff in a tight labour market.

This relates to our ‘People’, ‘Money’ and ‘Place’ priorities. By encouraging a fair wage, flexible working policy and supporting workforce development, more people should be able to earn more than the minimum wage, have the chance to develop their skills and work flexibly.