Fair Work First Statement

East Ayrshire Leisure Trust is committed to ensuring there are fair working practices in place and demonstrates its commitment to the Scottish Government’s Fair Work First policy by confirmation of the following:

Appropriate channels for effective voice, such as trade union recognition 
All employees of the Trust have the opportunity to join any Trade Union. Employees are currently represented by Unite, GMB and Unison.  We consult and ensure effective communication and feedback with employees through regular joint Trade Union liaison meetings.
We support the development of a working environment where there is space for people to be heard, and where people can be who they are and can have choice and can participate. Our ‘Exchange’ programme encourages people to ask questions, raise concerns, seek support and network across our organisation. 
We carry out annual ‘Review of BEST Practice’ with every member of staff and are committed to a comprehensive meeting schedule that includes team and individual meetings.  We also have a programme of ‘Organisational Learning’, where we collect feedback in various forms and share best practice and lessons learned with the Strategic Leadership team.

Investment in workforce development 
We support learning and development across the organisation at individual, team and organisational level using a range of learning opportunities.  We expect line managers and employees to proactively engage in career performance and development planning conversations regularly.

No inappropriate use of zero hours contracts 
We have a limited number of zero hour contracts in use for legitimate and appropriate reasons, e.g. to provide cover for annual leave and absence from work.  We review zero hour contracts on an annual basis to determine if their use is still appropriate.

Action to tackle the gender pay gap and create a more diverse and inclusive workplace 
East Ayrshire Leisure is fully committed to an inclusive culture that welcomes all people for who they are.  We are implementing an Equality, Diversity and Inclusion programme of change that recognises we need diverse people to work both in the organisation and in the community.  All jobs are evaluated by an independent panel, which includes trade union representatives, to ensure that all employees are recognised for the role in the organisation and not their gender or any other characteristic.

Payment of the real Living Wage 
The bottom of our pay scale reflects the 2023 real Living Wage rate.  Any apprentices or interns are paid on our pay scale.

Offer flexible and family friendly working practices for all workers from day one of employment 
East Ayrshire Leisure Trust supports its workforce to work flexibly at the time and in the location that best meets the needs of the organisation, the job, the employee and the team.  We embrace flexibility where possible with remote working, home-based working and hybrid working where appropriate. 
Our flexible and family friendly working practice policies are available to employees in line with statutory requirements.  In practice all requests are considered on the merits of the request and business needs and line managers are advised they should agree to flexible working requests unless there is a business reason not to.

We oppose the use of fire and rehire practices