Response to A Fair Work Charter for Edinburgh Consultation

Gemma Gourlay, the University’s Head of Social Impact, responded to the Fair Work Charter for Edinburgh consultation. The Fair Work Charter for Edinburgh is part of a commitment to end poverty by 2030.

Response ID ANON-XR3H-U3T9-T
Submitted to A Fair Work Charter for Edinburgh
Submitted on 2025-09-23 14:05:13

Your details

1 Your details

First name:
Gemma

Surname:
Gourlay

Email address:
gemma.gourlay@ed.ac.uk

Postcode:
EH1 1LT

Yes, I consent to being contacted about this consultation:
Yes

2 Are you responding as an individual or on behalf of an organisation?

On behalf of an organisation

Organisation details

3 Please provide the following information about your organisation.

Organisation name:
University of Edinburgh

Third and voluntary sector

Other (please specify):

Your job title:
Head of Social Impact

Fair Work

4 To what extent would you agree or disagree with our definition of Fair Work?
Strongly agree

5 To what extent do you think Edinburgh currently meets our definition of Fair Work?
Partially

Please tell us about any current barriers to Fair Work. :

The many socio-economic challenges that businesses in the city are facing to ensure that their organisations survive month to month are not helping barriers to fair work. Creating employment opportunities and navigating the recruitment market is extremely challenging for a lot of employers with
employees expectations in quite a different place to years gone by. We know that improving employees experiences is critical to successful employment and successful businesses but that is also a time investment and with so many other pressures currently it’s a challenging one for a lot of employers to
balance. Edinburgh has a rich history of entrepreneurial SME type employers who add significantly to the experience of living and working in the city, but who are/will be significantly challenged to deliver on the expectations of Fair Work given their size and tight margins.

6 What does Fair Work mean in practice for you?

Enter comments:

Ensuring robust policies and practices are in place for employees and people managers to deliver for employees to achieve the fair work definition set out above. As a large employer we recognise we have a responsibility to set a positive example, that delivering on Fair Work is good for our reputation
and employee experience. However, we are concerned that it may be much harder for smaller organisations to meet the standards, and that there is a risk that this might be problematic for them and for the city’s ability to achieve its goals.

An Edinburgh Fair Work Charter

7 To what extent do you agree or disagree that these four themes are the right ones to focus on for the city?

Agree

Please tell us why.:

Assessment Criteria

Theme 1: Respect and Effective Voice

8 To what extent do you agree or disagree with the following statements related to the theme, Respect and Effective Voice?

Respect and Effective Voice – The actions for each level are clear:
Strongly agree

Respect and Effective Voice – The actions for each level are achievable:
Agree

Respect and Effective Voice – Progress towards the actions will be easy to measure:
Agree

Respect and Effective Voice – Businesses will be able to evidence that they have met the theme:
Agree

Respect and Effective Voice – The different levels give businesses a structured way to develop fair work practices for this theme:
Agree

9 Please share any thoughts or comments you have on the theme, Respect and Effective Voice.

Enter comments:

Measurement methodology will have to be simple to deliver and free from unnecessary bureaucracy. Work will be needed to consider the user experience (i.e. employer).

Theme 2: Security

10 To what extent do you agree or disagree with the following statements related to the theme, Security?

Security – The actions for each level are clear:
Strongly agree

Security – The actions for each level are achievable:
Disagree

Security – Progress towards the actions will be easy to measure:
Agree

Security – Businesses will be able to evidence that they have met the theme:
Agree

Security – The different levels give businesses a structured way to develop fair work practices for this theme:
Disagree

11 Please share any thoughts or comments you have on the theme, Security.

Enter comments:

Feels very geared towards medium and large employers, or those with large margins. Very challenging for many small employers (even aspirational level).

Consider some sort of threshold of size or number of employees? This hurdle as set may rule out many organisations, and risks losing a lot of the wider benefits of Fair Work.

Theme 3: Opportunity

12 To what extent do you agree or disagree with the following statements related to the theme, Opportunity?

Opportunity – The actions for each level are clear:
Strongly agree

Opportunity – The actions for each level are achievable:
Disagree

Opportunity – Progress towards the actions will be easy to measure:
Disagree

Opportunity – Businesses will be able to evidence that they have met the theme:
Disagree

Opportunity – The different levels give businesses a structured way to develop fair work practices for this theme:
Agree

13 Please share any thoughts or comments you have on the theme, Opportunity.

Enter comments:

The targets assume a growing economy. They also need a strong understanding of appropriate HR practice. Or resource to support this. Many small organisations lack this. Also, language used (e.g. career pathways) is vague and too open to interpretation. Rephrase to ‘employees understand how they develop their career and have access to appropriate tools’. Standards at each level need to be made more achievable.

Theme 4: Fulfilment

14 To what extent do you agree or disagree with the following statements related to the theme, Fulfilment?

Fulfilment – The actions for each level are clear:
Strongly agree

Fulfilment – The actions for each level are achievable:
Disagree

Fulfilment – Progress towards the actions will be easy to measure:
Disagree

Fulfilment – Businesses will be able to evidence that they have met the theme:
Agree

Fulfilment – The different levels give businesses a structured way to develop fair work practices for this theme:
Agree

15 Please share any thoughts or comments you have on the theme, Fulfilment.

Enter comments:

The standards all assume organisations and staff are email literate and staff have access to appropriate kit. Many organisations and their staff do not operate in this way. Needs rethinking to reflect that. We are a large employer, and we have staff who would not be able to meet these standards, and have to use approaches that would not allow us to achieve these as laid out.

Signing up to the Charter

16 Should businesses meet all Aspiring criteria and at least three Achieving criteria before being able to sign-up to the Charter?

No

Please tell us why.:

Given the breadth of businesses and organisations that operate in Edinburgh who are at varying levels of operating who can identify as aspiring, also asking for an achieving criteria to a minimum of three themes may be unachievable. But aspiring shows some good practice that could be built on with some guidance and support that could be provided through participation in the charter programme. It particularly may exclude many SMEs, the very groups needed if this is to be successful.

Guidance and support

17 What type of support and guidance would you find useful to help you complete a self-assessment and record progress towards Fair Work practices?

Enter comments:

Additional links/contact on where to find business support to develop practices to support progress through the ratings in each theme.

18 If you have any further questions or comments about a Fair Work Charter for Edinburgh, please let us know.

Enter comments:

Suggest this framework needs to be sense checked from a user perspective, particularly small and marginally profitable organisations and made attractive to applicants to engage with.

Feedback about this engagement process

19 To what extent do you agree or disagree with the following statements about this consultation and engagement activity?

Feedback about engagement process – I was given all the information that I needed to have my say.:
Strongly agree

Feedback about engagement process – This activity was clear and easy to understand.:
Strongly agree

Feedback about engagement process – I was given the opportunity to have my say.:
Strongly agree

Please provide any other comments or suggestions you may have about this consultation and engagement activity..: