Direction Autumn 2023 - IoD Scotland members magazine

DIRECTION | TECHNICAL BRIEFING
www.iod.com/scotland
Business leaders believe
in justice and compassion
- not just the bottom line
Peter Kelly, Chief Executive of The Poverty Alliance,
outlines the role business leaders and IoD members can
play in lifting more of Scotland’s citizens out of poverty
Business leaders care about the fact that
more than one million people in Scotland
struggle every day in the grip of unjust
poverty. Some 250,000 of them are
children – that’s nearly 1-in-4 children.
They are concerned that being in a
paid job is no longer a guarantee of
financial security, with around two-thirds
of children in poverty living in a working
household.
In research we recently carried out
alongside the Scottish Women’s Budget
Group, working women told us about
the stress that low pay puts on their
health and their home life.
Sue – a lone parent mother with
long-term health issues – described what
it was like to work two part-time,
low-income jobs.
Sue described the impact of “working
extra day and night to try to meet the
financial pressure” including severe
tiredness and “not enough quality time”
with her children.
She said: “I try to hide my emotions
from my children, so they do not worry
about anything...I try to be positive and
fix all the financial burdens. However, by
doing this it takes all my time from the
kids.”.
Working both jobs means she “suffers
from daily pain... heightened with all the
extra workloads”.
Employers are far from blind to the
effect that low incomes can have on staff.
A good example of that empathy was
found in a survey of Living Wage
employers in the UK, where a majority
reported they wanted to continue with
their support of the Living Wage
movement because doing so reflected
their values, and because the scheme
was contributing to the reduction of
working poverty both in their own
organisations and beyond.
Similarly, London-based businesses
signalled their concern for the impacts of
poverty on workers in a survey last year,
where some 79% agreed that ‘poverty is
an issue that impacts the people in the
capital’, 84% said that poverty among
their own workers should be a concern
to London businesses’ and 70% said
they were motivated to help by taking
voluntary measures above and beyond
legal minimums – such as paying the real
Living Wage.
At the Poverty Alliance, we know that
business leaders in Scotland are putting
their values into practice. In partnership
with the Living Wage Foundation, our
Living Wage Scotland team has
accredited more than 3,000 real Living
Wage employers, including household
names from a variety of sectors such as
SSE, ENABLE Scotland, and the
University of Strathclyde. Some 75% of
the network is made up of SMEs.
Living Wage Employers commit to
paying the independently calculated
“Employers are far from
blind to the effect that low
incomes can have on staff ...
that’s why there is such
strong support for the Living
Wage ... doing so reflects
their values, many said”
Living Wage rates – currently £10.90 per
hour – to all directly employed and
contracted third-party staff. In Scotland,
there are more accredited Living Wage
employers per head of population
compared to any other region in the UK.
Why do they do it? Living Wage
employer Craig Hume, Managing
Director of Utopia Computers said:
“Paying a fair wage is a moral imperative
and a wise business decision. At Utopia,
we understand that investing in our team
through the real Living Wage improves
their standard of living, enhances
productivity, reduces turnover, and
strengthens Utopia’s reputation as a
responsible and ethical employer.”
Businesses in Scotland are also leading
the way when it comes to achieving
Living Hours accreditation. Living Wage
employers are seeking to provide
security, alongside a living wage, signing
up to provide a contract reflecting
accurate hours worked and a guaranteed
minimum of 16 hours a week unless the
worker requests otherwise. They also
ensure at least four weeks’ notice of
shifts and guaranteed payment if shifts
are cancelled within this period.
That’s important because the Glasgow
Centre for Population Health has found
that job insecurity is a strong predictor of
poor health outcomes, and that the
quality of people’s jobs is an important
social predictor of their health.
We know that IoD Scotland members
are focused on exploring what a
wellbeing economy means, alongside
the WEAll Wellbeing Alliance and others,
because they know that there is still a
way to go.
18 AUTUMN 2023