PageSourceSearch

https://blogs.greatworkreset.com/post/the-great-work-reset-equality

html greatworkreset.com collected 2026-10-06 20:15:31 UTC 65,097 bytes, 336 lines download raw bytes

1<!DOCTYPE html>
2<html lang="en">
3
4<head>
5    <meta charset="UTF-8">
6    <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0">
7    <meta name="robots" content="" />
8    <meta property="og:title" content="Resetting equality in work" />
9    <meta property="og:type" content="" />
10    <meta property="og:url" content="" />
11    <meta property="og:image" content="" />
12    <meta property="og:description" content="&lt;h3&gt;The pandemic has exposed just how deep inequalities run in society. We must seize this opportunity to re-evaluate and reset equality in work – and HR has a pivotal role to play. Katie Jacobs and Siân Harrington look at how HR leaders can help to create a more inclusive and equal future of work&lt;/h3&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://assets.grooveapps.com/images/5e96fe28bfd2170cabe02c67/1616256688_Great Work Reset Equality small.png&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;At the start of the first UK lockdown, way back in March 2020, it became rather fashionable to reflect on how we were ‘all in this together’, all impacted by the coronavirus pandemic. It didn’t take long for the cracks to show. What soon became painfully, obviously, clear was that while we might all be in the same storm, we are in very different boats – and some have sprung a leak. Inequalities weren’t exactly hidden pre-COVID, but the pandemic has exposed just how deep and entrenched they run in society.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;It’s not hard to find stark evidence for this. The Institute for Employment Studies recently revealed that the UK’s lowest-paid workers were more than twice as likely to have lost their jobs in the pandemic than higher-paid employees. And research from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation has found that the pandemic has hit the lowest paid hardest financially too.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Meanwhile, black and ethnic minority workers are not only a staggering 26 times more likely to have lost their jobs than white employees, according to the TUC, but people from ethnic minority backgrounds are also twice as likely to die from COVID. That’s partly due to being overrepresented in lower paid, frontline jobs: people in some of these roles are more than three times more likely to be killed by the virus.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;And then there’s the impact the pandemic has had on young people and women. An LSE study found that young people have been hardest hit by COVID-related job losses, potentially leading to damaging long-term unemployment. Women have been forced back into more traditional caring roles, either working from home while juggling home schooling and caring responsibilities or because many of the hardest hit sectors provide ‘service’ jobs more often filled by women.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;“It’s plunged a lot of women in particular into the ranks of the working poor, while the working poor who were already in that category have become poorer,” says Jo Brewis, professor of people and organisations at The Open University Business School and a member of the research cluster Gendered Organisational Practice which sits within the academic centre of excellence &lt;a href=&quot;http://business-school.open.ac.uk/research/research-activity/reef&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;REEF&lt;/a&gt; (Research into Employment, Empowerment and Futures).&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;“Women are over-represented in sectors like personal care which cannot always be done from home. Some have been able to furlough but that isn’t always economically sufficient. And then the notion that somehow the domestic division of labour has changed dramatically over the last few decades – well, the data just does not bear that out at all. We’ve got a lot of catching up to do.”&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://assets.grooveapps.com/images/5e96fe28bfd2170cabe02c67/1636979235_Brewis blog quote.png&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;In addition, she notes, the pandemic has highlighted how complex and varied experiences of inequality are. More than 30 years after Kimberlé Crenshaw, law professor at Columbia and UCLA, coined the term intersectionality as a way of seeing how various forms of inequality often operate together and exacerbate each other, the pandemic has shone a spotlight on how some people are subject to a wide range of inequalities.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;“For example,” says Brewis, “if you look at data on women employees during the pandemic and the data on employees of colour during the pandemic, you can see that women of colour have been worse off as a result of the intersection of race and gender than either men of colour or other women.”&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Meanwhile, if you add in having a disability the picture is even bleaker. A survey by UK disability charity Leonard Cheshire in October 2020 found that 71% of disabled people in employment in March that year were affected by the pandemic through loss of income, being put on furlough or being made redundant. This rose to 84% of those aged 18-24. Moreover, 42% of employers polled said a barrier to hiring disabled 
12workers was the concern that they would not be able to properly support them through the pandemic, while 20% admitted they would be less likely overall to hire someone with a disability. The report said not only were many disabled people clinically at high risk from the virus, but many also worked in sectors hardest hit by the outbreak, including retail and hospitality.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Changing perceptions of key workers&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;However, alongside this exposure of inequality has come a recognition of just how essential the services provided by key workers are. Without the carers, the supermarket workers, the refuse collectors and delivery drivers, society would have ground to a halt. As Brewis says: “The pandemic has surfaced our awareness of a wider range of key workers, especially people who work in care homes, who I think were largely invisible to the public beforehand”.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Sharon Benson, HR director at Sunrise Senior Living and Gracewell Healthcare, agrees that the pandemic has changed perceptions of care workers and the social care sector, putting it on a par with the much-loved NHS. “Frontline care workers have finally been acknowledged and praised for the work they do, for their bravery, passion, commitment and selfless acts of kindness as they look after the thousands of vulnerable people in our society,” she says.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Yet unfairness is baked into this system. As Kate Guthrie, CPO of Virgin Money, puts it: “It’s the people who are the lowest paid that have been taking the most personal risks. Why is it the roles that have been so crucial throughout this pandemic are the ones we value the least?”&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;And while courier Ethan Bradley, an elected rep of the IWGB, the UK&#039;s leading union for precarious workers, has also seen a change in attitude towards gig workers like himself – “instead of being ‘unskilled’ workers, the pandemic has shown that such workers are essential for society to function, and to allow people to stay at home” – he notes that such workers are still regularly&amp;nbsp;denied basic rights, such as sick pay and PPE provision.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;“What is the point of our being applauded in the streets when the companies we work for pay us poverty wages and treat us as disposable? Being able to work-from-home or shield is not a privilege afforded to the lowest paid workers in our society,” he says.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Indeed, the mixed reaction over the resurrection of the UK’s ‘Clap for Carers’ movement (rebranded ‘Clap for Heroes’) gives some indication of a growing realisation that recognition alone is not enough. As Brewis says: “You can’t eat claps and neither can you use them to pay the rent or household bills. I’m not persuaded by the hero discourse. I don’t think a lot of people in those occupations want to be described as heroes. The heroic discourse almost makes it harder for them to say, actually I feel really unsafe, or I&#039;m really worried about my kids. Yes, these workers are so much more visible. But we haven’t taken anything like enough steps to value them properly and to create a much fairer way of working for them.”&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;So when we finally come out of this crisis, is it possible to use our experience as a catalyst to redefine what ‘valuable work’ is, and examine how it should be rewarded?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Rewarding &#039;valuable&#039; work&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Neil Morrison, HR director at utilities provider Severn Trent, believes this issue is about more than just pay. “It’s about societal value,” he says. “How do we look after these [essential workers]? We need to build a world of work that is based on them and their needs. What is a fair deal for those people? How do we create a society that recognises the value they provide for us?”&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;
12The “fair work ecosystem” he envisages goes beyond pay, encompassing security of employment (Morrison references the recommendations made in 2017’s Taylor Review of Modern Working Practices, aka the ‘Good Work Plan), autonomy and freedom within work, pensions and retirement plans, and increased regionalisation of employment (rather than people having to travel or move to find work).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;At Sunrise, the HR team has changed several policies and introduced new rewards and benefits, in recognition of just how tough it has been to work in care during COVID. Pay has increased to £9.10 an hour minimum, the sick pay policy has moved from statutory sick pay to full sick pay and staff in homes are being provided with free hot meals. Benson says she is “constantly” thinking about how to evolve reward strategies to better recognise frontline staff. “This won’t just apply to financial rewards but in all other areas too,” she says. “We will be looking at the free meals on shift and whether we can make it a more permanent offering, [as well as how we can enhance] transport allowances.”&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;While it’s encouraging to hear from responsible employers, it cannot be overlooked that many living in poverty in the UK are the working poor, in precarious and low paid employment, often working more than one job and relying on food banks and Universal Credit to top up their income. “We typically think of poverty as something that happens to people not in work but this is an issue that’s affecting our workforce,” says Norman Pickavance, an independent advisor and founder of the Financial Inclusion Alliance. “You can’t have a fair society if you don’t have fair jobs. We continue to operate in a society where the minimum wage is insufficient to support a working family.”&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Steps organisations can take to improve fairness&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;While this is evidently a systemic issue requiring a response at the very highest levels (Pickavance advocates a profound rethink of the UK’s economic strategy, investing in technology and “restoring the dignity of working people”), there are steps organisations can take to reset fairness. Pickavance recommends paying a living wage and providing “living hours”, examining whether the “push for agility has gone too far” through the use of zero-hours contracts, for example, and providing access to low-cost credit and debt management services. Stability is key: “People feel out of control when they don’t know how much money is coming in every month, and 50% of all workplace absences are caused by financial stress.”&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;To support all this, he believes it would be “beneficial for businesses to think more constructively about the future of trade unions”, as well as encouraging HR professionals to consider models like employee ownership. After several years of decline, union membership appears to be growing again, according to government data, boosted by more women signing up and their increased political capital during the pandemic. IWGB’s membership has surged by 40% since COVID struck. “For frontline workers marginalised by society and abandoned by government during this crisis, unions have stepped up to provide support and representation,” says Bradley.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Post-COVID must be more, not less, inclusive&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Beyond redefining the value of low paid roles, the HR profession and business more broadly also need to take steps now to ensure post-COVID workplaces are more genuinely inclusive, not less so. The stats highlighted earlier show just how real the risk is of the diversity and inclusion agenda slipping backwards. However, while acknowledging that women are bearing the brunt of home schooling and that black, Asian and ethnic minority&lt;span style=&quot;color: rgb(23, 43, 77);&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;workers are more exposed in frontline roles, diversity and inclusion (D&amp;amp;I) expert Charlotte Sweeney is cautiously optimistic about the potential for improved inclusion in the long-term.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;
12“I was initially nervous that D&amp;amp;I would fall off the agenda,” she says.&amp;nbsp;“However, given the combination of COVID and the death of George Floyd, I see that the D&amp;amp;I agenda has increased in prominence.&amp;nbsp;Many more companies are saying it’s important to them.” But, she caveats: “Let’s see how that translates into meaningful actions.”&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Julie Humphreys, head of D&amp;amp;I at publisher Reach PLC, recognises a clear link between wellbeing and inclusion, and wants to see a more holistic approach to both post-COVID. “Mental health is an increasing worry; I am concerned the&amp;nbsp;UK is heading&amp;nbsp;for a real spike in people&amp;nbsp;taking their own life,” she says. She adds that HR professionals need to have the potential impact of long COVID, where people suffer debilitating symptoms for months, if not longer, after becoming infected, on the radar:&lt;strong&gt;&amp;nbsp;“&lt;/strong&gt;There are so many&amp;nbsp;implications,&amp;nbsp;including for D&amp;amp;I…is the Equality Act fit for this new development&amp;nbsp;in disability?”&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;She also wants to see measurement and reporting come back on the agenda (gender pay gap reporting was controversially scrapped in 2020 thanks to the pressures of the pandemic), with ethnicity pay gap reporting coming into force, and social mobility reporting included in legislation too.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;While vaccines offer light at the end of the tunnel, we likely still have many dark days ahead. But this time could be used to radically and genuinely rethink what work could look like for those groups who have suffered the most.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;And there is precedence for HR. Brewis says her experience researching menopause and work demonstrates the active role in resetting inequality that HR leaders can play if they listen to employees in their own organisations as well as taking inspiration from other employers: “What I&#039;ve seen time and again is that there&#039;s a viral thing that happens in this space. First movers bring in some form of supportive intervention, not necessarily a policy. Then you begin to see a ripple effect where other employers look at what they&#039;re doing. I don&#039;t really care what their motivations are, if it’s all some form of CSR washing or just a way to make them look good to their customers and employees or to attract new talent. The fact they are doing something to address the issue is good enough and the viral effects can be really quite extraordinary.”&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Sweeney urges the people profession to involve everyone in discussions about what the future of work can and should look like.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;“Make sure you really do listen to the usually unheard voices,” she says. “Part of this should be renewing the psychological contract with work. Resist the temptation to ‘get back to normal’.&amp;nbsp;We can create great change in times of disruption – take this opportunity with both hands to really push your companies to be more inclusive.”&lt;/p&gt;" />
13    <meta name="title" content="Resetting equality in work" />
14    <meta name="keywords" content="" />
15    <meta name="description" content="&lt;h3&gt;The pandemic has exposed just how deep inequalities run in society. We must seize this opportunity to re-evaluate and reset equality in work – and HR has a pivotal role to play. Katie Jacobs and Siân Harrington look at how HR leaders can help to create a more inclusive and equal future of work&lt;/h3&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://assets.grooveapps.com/images/5e96fe28bfd2170cabe02c67/1616256688_Great Work Reset Equality small.png&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;At the start of the first UK lockdown, way back in March 2020, it became rather fashionable to reflect on how we were ‘all in this together’, all impacted by the coronavirus pandemic. It didn’t take long for the cracks to show. What soon became painfully, obviously, clear was that while we might all be in the same storm, we are in very different boats – and some have sprung a leak. Inequalities weren’t exactly hidden pre-COVID, but the pandemic has exposed just how deep and entrenched they run in society.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;It’s not hard to find stark evidence for this. The Institute for Employment Studies recently revealed that the UK’s lowest-paid workers were more than twice as likely to have lost their jobs in the pandemic than higher-paid employees. And research from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation has found that the pandemic has hit the lowest paid hardest financially too.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Meanwhile, black and ethnic minority workers are not only a staggering 26 times more likely to have lost their jobs than white employees, according to the TUC, but people from ethnic minority backgrounds are also twice as likely to die from COVID. That’s partly due to being overrepresented in lower paid, frontline jobs: people in some of these roles are more than three times more likely to be killed by the virus.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;And then there’s the impact the pandemic has had on young people and women. An LSE study found that young people have been hardest hit by COVID-related job losses, potentially leading to damaging long-term unemployment. Women have been forced back into more traditional caring roles, either working from home while juggling home schooling and caring responsibilities or because many of the hardest hit sectors provide ‘service’ jobs more often filled by women.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;“It’s plunged a lot of women in particular into the ranks of the working poor, while the working poor who were already in that category have become poorer,” says Jo Brewis, professor of people and organisations at The Open University Business Sc
15hool and a member of the research cluster Gendered Organisational Practice which sits within the academic centre of excellence &lt;a href=&quot;http://business-school.open.ac.uk/research/research-activity/reef&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;REEF&lt;/a&gt; (Research into Employment, Empowerment and Futures).&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;“Women are over-represented in sectors like personal care which cannot always be done from home. Some have been able to furlough but that isn’t always economically sufficient. And then the notion that somehow the domestic division of labour has changed dramatically over the last few decades – well, the data just does not bear that out at all. We’ve got a lot of catching up to do.”&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://assets.grooveapps.com/images/5e96fe28bfd2170cabe02c67/1636979235_Brewis blog quote.png&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;In addition, she notes, the pandemic has highlighted how complex and varied experiences of inequality are. More than 30 years after Kimberlé Crenshaw, law professor at Columbia and UCLA, coined the term intersectionality as a way of seeing how various forms of inequality often operate together and exacerbate each other, the pandemic has shone a spotlight on how some people are subject to a wide range of inequalities.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;“For example,” says Brewis, “if you look at data on women employees during the pandemic and the data on employees of colour during the pandemic, you can see that women of colour have been worse off as a result of the intersection of race and gender than either men of colour or other women.”&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Meanwhile, if you add in having a disability the picture is even bleaker. A survey by UK disability charity Leonard Cheshire in October 2020 found that 71% of disabled people in employment in March that year were affected by the pandemic through loss of income, being put on furlough or being made redundant. This rose to 84% of those aged 18-24. Moreover, 42% of employers polled said a barrier to hiring disabled workers was the concern that they would not be able to properly support them through the pandemic, while 20% admitted they would be less likely overall to hire someone with a disability. The report said not only were many disabled people clinically at high risk from the virus, but many also worked in sectors hardest hit by the outbreak, including retail and hospitality.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Changing perceptions of key workers&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;However, alongside this exposure of inequality has come a recognition of just how essential the services provided by key workers are. Without the carers, the supermarket workers, the refuse collectors and delivery drivers, society would have ground to a halt. As Brewis says: “The pandemic has surfaced our awareness of a wider range of key workers, especially people who work in care homes, who I think were largely invisible to the public beforehand”.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Sharon Benson, HR director at Sunrise Senior Living and Gracewell Healthcare, agrees that the pandemic has changed perceptions of care workers and the social care sector, putting it on a par with the much-loved NHS. “Frontline care workers have finally been acknowledged and praised for the work they do, for their bravery, passion, commitment and selfless acts of kindness as they look after the thousands of vulnerable people in our society,” she says.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Yet unfairness is baked into this system. As Kate Guthrie, CPO of Virgin Money, puts it: “It’s the people who are the lowest paid that have been taking the most personal risks. Why is it the roles that have been so crucial throughout this pandemic are the ones we value the least?”&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;And while courier Ethan Bradley, an elected rep of the IWGB, the UK&#039;s leading union for precarious workers, has also seen a change in attitude towards gig workers like himself – “instead of being ‘unskilled’ workers, the pandemic has shown that such workers are essential for society to function, and to allow people to stay at home” – he notes that such workers are still regularly&amp;nbsp;denied basic rights, such as sick pay and PPE provision.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;“What is the point of our being applauded in the streets when the companies we work for pay us poverty wages and treat us as disposable? Being able to work-from-home or shield is not a privilege afforded to the lowest paid workers in our society,” he says.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Indeed, the mixed reaction over the resurrection of the UK’s ‘Clap for Carers’ movement (rebranded ‘Clap for Heroes’) gives some indication of a growing realisation that recognition alone is not enough. As Brewis says: “You can’t eat claps and neither can you use them to pay the rent or household bills. I’m not persuaded by the hero discourse. I don’t think a lot of people in those occupations want to be described as heroes. The heroic discourse almost makes it harder for them to say, actually I feel really unsafe, or I&#039;m really worried about my kids. Yes, these workers are so much more visible. But we haven’t taken anything like enough steps to value them properly and to create a much fairer way of working for them.”&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;So when we finally come out of this crisis, is it possible to use our experience as a catalyst to redefine what ‘valuable work’ is, and examine how 
15it should be rewarded?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Rewarding &#039;valuable&#039; work&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Neil Morrison, HR director at utilities provider Severn Trent, believes this issue is about more than just pay. “It’s about societal value,” he says. “How do we look after these [essential workers]? We need to build a world of work that is based on them and their needs. What is a fair deal for those people? How do we create a society that recognises the value they provide for us?”&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The “fair work ecosystem” he envisages goes beyond pay, encompassing security of employment (Morrison references the recommendations made in 2017’s Taylor Review of Modern Working Practices, aka the ‘Good Work Plan), autonomy and freedom within work, pensions and retirement plans, and increased regionalisation of employment (rather than people having to travel or move to find work).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;At Sunrise, the HR team has changed several policies and introduced new rewards and benefits, in recognition of just how tough it has been to work in care during COVID. Pay has increased to £9.10 an hour minimum, the sick pay policy has moved from statutory sick pay to full sick pay and staff in homes are being provided with free hot meals. Benson says she is “constantly” thinking about how to evolve reward strategies to better recognise frontline staff. “This won’t just apply to financial rewards but in all other areas too,” she says. “We will be looking at the free meals on shift and whether we can make it a more permanent offering, [as well as how we can enhance] transport allowances.”&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;While it’s encouraging to hear from responsible employers, it cannot be overlooked that many living in poverty in the UK are the working poor, in precarious and low paid employment, often working more than one job and relying on food banks and Universal Credit to top up their income. “We typically think of poverty as something that happens to people not in work but this is an issue that’s affecting our workforce,” says Norman Pickavance, an independent advisor and founder of the Financial Inclusion Alliance. “You can’t have a fair society if you don’t have fair jobs. We continue to operate in a society where the minimum wage is insufficient to support a working family.”&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Steps organisations can take to improve fairness&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;While this is evidently a systemic issue requiring a response at the very highest levels (Pickavance advocates a profound rethink of the UK’s economic strategy, investing in technology and “restoring the dignity of working people”), there are steps organisations can take to reset fairness. Pickavance recommends paying a living wage and providing “living hours”, examining whether the “push for agility has gone too far” through the use of zero-hours contracts, for example, and providing access to low-cost credit and debt management services. Stability is key: “People feel out of control when they don’t know how much money is coming in every month, and 50% of all workplace absences are caused by financial stress.”&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;To support all this, he believes it would be “beneficial for businesses to think more constructively about the future of trade unions”, as well as encouraging HR professionals to consider models like employee ownership. After several years of decline, union membership appears to be growing again, according to government data, boosted by more women signing up and their increased political capital during the pandemic. IWGB’s membership has surged by 40% since COVID struck. “For frontline workers marginalised by society and abandoned by government during this crisis, unions have stepped up to provide support and representation,” says Bradley.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Post-COVID must be more, not less, inclusive&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Beyond redefining the value of low paid roles, the HR profession and business more broadly also need to take steps now to ensure post-COVID workplaces are more genuinely inclusive, not less so. The stats highlighted earlier show just how real the risk is of the diversity and inclusion agenda slipping backwards. However, while acknowledging that women are bearing the brunt of home schooling and that black, Asian and ethnic minority&lt;span style=&quot;color: rgb(23, 43, 77);&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;workers are more exposed in frontline roles, diversity and inclusion (D&amp;amp;I) expert Charlotte Sweeney is cautiously optimistic about the potential for improved inclusion in the long-term.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;
15“I was initially nervous that D&amp;amp;I would fall off the agenda,” she says.&amp;nbsp;“However, given the combination of COVID and the death of George Floyd, I see that the D&amp;amp;I agenda has increased in prominence.&amp;nbsp;Many more companies are saying it’s important to them.” But, she caveats: “Let’s see how that translates into meaningful actions.”&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Julie Humphreys, head of D&amp;amp;I at publisher Reach PLC, recognises a clear link between wellbeing and inclusion, and wants to see a more holistic approach to both post-COVID. “Mental health is an increasing worry; I am concerned the&amp;nbsp;UK is heading&amp;nbsp;for a real spike in people&amp;nbsp;taking their own life,” she says. She adds that HR professionals need to have the potential impact of long COVID, where people suffer debilitating symptoms for months, if not longer, after becoming infected, on the radar:&lt;strong&gt;&amp;nbsp;“&lt;/strong&gt;There are so many&amp;nbsp;implications,&amp;nbsp;including for D&amp;amp;I…is the Equality Act fit for this new development&amp;nbsp;in disability?”&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;She also wants to see measurement and reporting come back on the agenda (gender pay gap reporting was controversially scrapped in 2020 thanks to the pressures of the pandemic), with ethnicity pay gap reporting coming into force, and social mobility reporting included in legislation too.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;While vaccines offer light at the end of the tunnel, we likely still have many dark days ahead. But this time could be used to radically and genuinely rethink what work could look like for those groups who have suffered the most.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;And there is precedence for HR. Brewis says her experience researching menopause and work demonstrates the active role in resetting inequality that HR leaders can play if they listen to employees in their own organisations as well as taking inspiration from other employers: “What I&#039;ve seen time and again is that there&#039;s a viral thing that happens in this space. First movers bring in some form of supportive intervention, not necessarily a policy. Then you begin to see a ripple effect where other employers look at what they&#039;re doing. I don&#039;t really care what their motivations are, if it’s all some form of CSR washing or just a way to make them look good to their customers and employees or to attract new talent. The fact they are doing something to address the issue is good enough and the viral effects can be really quite extraordinary.”&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Sweeney urges the people profession to involve everyone in discussions about what the future of work can and should look like.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;“Make sure you really do listen to the usually unheard voices,” she says. “Part of this should be renewing the psychological contract with work. Resist the temptation to ‘get back to normal’.&amp;nbsp;We can create great change in times of disruption – take this opportunity with both hands to really push your companies to be more inclusive.”&lt;/p&gt;" />
16
17    <!-- Pixel head -->
18
19    <!-- Custom Css Code -->
20    
20<script src="https://app.groove.cm/grooveblog/js/inpage_published.js" defer></script>
20
21    
21<script src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/[email protected]/dist/cdn.min.js" defer></script>
21
22    <base href="/" id=blog-base>
23    
23<script>
24        function setBasePath() {
25            if(document.getElementById("blog-base")) {
26                const baseURL = document.getElementById("blog-base").href;
27                const pathArray = window.location.pathname.split("/");
28                const segment_1 = pathArray[1];
29                var currentBaseUrl = window.location.protocol + "//" + window.location.host + '/' + segment_1 + '/';
30
31                // Set correct Base URL for redirections
32                const newBaseURL = baseURL == currentBaseUrl && segment_1 != "" ? baseURL : "/";
33                if(baseURL != newBaseURL) {
34                    document.getElementById("blog-base").href = newBaseURL;
35                }
36            }
37        }
38        setBasePath();
39    </script>
39
40    <link href="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/tailwindcss/1.9.6/tailwind.min.css" rel="stylesheet" />
41    <link rel="preconnect" href="https://fonts.googleapis.com">
42<link rel="preconnect" href="https://fonts.gstatic.com" crossorigin>
43<link href="https://fonts.googleapis.com/css2?family=Merriweather:wght@400;700;900&amp;family=Roboto:ital,wght@0,100;0,300;0,400;0,500;0,700;0,900;1,100;1,300;1,400;1,500;1,700;1,900&amp;display=swap" rel="stylesheet" />
44    <link rel="icon" type="image/png" sizes="16x16" href="https://assets.grooveapps.com/images/5e96fe28bfd2170cabe02c67/1638803031_TPS Logo orange transparent2021 SQUARE.png" />
45    <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="css/style.css?v=281">
46    <title>Resetting equality in work</title>
47</head>
48
49<body>
50    <!-- Pixel after body -->
51    <div id="blogPostListWrapper">
52        <header id="header" class="header relative">
53            <div class="logo md:hidden flex justify-center py-6 text-center">
54  <a id="blog-url" href="" class="logo-img overflow-hidden">
55    <img src="https://assets.grooveapps.com/images/5e96fe28bfd2170cabe02c67/1616254509_TPS OUBS logo.png" alt="logo" class="w-full h-full object-cover"/>
56  </a>
57</div>
58<input class="hidden" type="checkbox" id="menu-toggle" />
59<label for="menu-toggle" class="pointer-cursor md:hidden block menu-label  ">
60  <i class="fa fa-bars menu-icon"></i>
61  <svg
62    xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"
63    viewBox="0 0 12 12"
64    class="cross-icon"
65  >
66    <path
67      d="M7.426 5.971l4.278-4.258a1 1 0 000-1.419 1.012 1.012 0 00-1.426 0L5.999 4.552 1.721.294a1.012 1.012 0 00-1.426 0 1 1 0 000 1.42L4.573 5.97.295 10.23a1 1 0 000 1.419 1.012 1.012 0 001.426 0L6 7.39l4.279 4.258a1.012 1.012 0 001.426 0 1 1 0 000-1.42L7.426 5.972z"
68    ></path>
69  </svg>
70</label>
71
72<div class="menu-bar">
73  <div class="md:py-5 md:border-b border-grey-1">
74    <div class="container">
75      <div class="flex justify-between items-center ">
76        <!-- Left Section -->
77        <div class="logo logo-img hidden md:block overflow-hidden">
78          <a id="header-url" href="">
79            <img src="https://assets.grooveapps.com/images/5e96fe28bfd2170cabe02c67/1616254509_TPS OUBS logo.png" alt="logo" class="w-full h-full object-cover"/>
80          </a>
81        </div>
82
83        <!-- Center section -->
84
85        <!-- Right section -->
86        <div class="md:flex header-navigations flex-wrap justify-end text-center ml-auto menu-child py-3 md:py-0">
87          <div class="md:mx-2 lg:mx-5 md:my-1 my-4"><a href="https://greatworkreset.com" >Home</a></div>
88          <div class="md:mx-2 lg:mx-5 md:my-1 my-4"><a href="https://greatworkreset.com/videos" >Videos</a></div>
89          <div class="md:mx-2 lg:mx-5 md:my-1 my-4"><a href="https://www.thepeoplespace.com" >About The People Space</a></div>
90          <div class="md:mx-2 lg:mx-5 md:my-1 my-4"><a href="http://business-school.open.ac.uk/" >About The Open University Business School</a></div>
91          <div class="md:ml-2 lg:ml-5 md:mb-0 mb-5"><a href="https://www.futureofwork4hr.com/updates"  class="btn-default">Sign up for newsletter</a></div>
92        </div>
93
94        <!-- Search Icon -->
95
96      </div>
97    </div>
98  </div>
99  <div class="py-3 border-t border-grey-1 md:border-t-0 menu-child" x-data="{ open: false }">
100    <div class="container">
101      <nav class="md:flex flex-wrap justify-center text-xs uppercase leading-8 text-center">
102        <div class="md:mx-4 md:my-0 my-2 relative  "><a
103            href="categories/latest" >LATEST<span class="nav-arrow"></span></a>
104
105          <div class="bg-white rounded border border-grey-1 md:absolute px-4 py-2 text-left nav-dropdown" >
106          </div>
107
108        </div>
109        <div class="md:mx-4 md:my-0 my-2 relative  "><a
110            href="categories/aboutthegreatworkreset" >ABOUT THE GREAT WORK RESET<span class="nav-arrow"></span></a>
111
112          <div class="bg-white rounded border border-grey-1 md:absolute px-4 py-2 text-left nav-dropdown" >
113          </div>
114
115        </div>
116        <div class="md:mx-4 md:my-0 my-2 relative  "><a
117            href="categories/equality-in-work" >RESETTING EQUALITY<span class="nav-arrow"></span></a>
118
119          <div class="bg-white rounded border border-grey-1 md:absolute px-4 py-2 text-left nav-dropdown" >
120          </div>
121
122        </div>
123        <div class="md:mx-4 md:my-0 my-2 relative  "><a
124            href="categories/trust-and-reputation" >RESETTING TRUST AND REPUTATION<span class="nav-arrow"></span></a>
125
126          <div class="bg-white rounded border border-grey-1 md:absolute px-4 py-2 text-left nav-dropdown" >
127          </div>
128
129        </div>
130        <div class="md:mx-4 md:my-0 my-2 relative  "><a
131            href="categories/work-and-income-models" >RESETTING CAPITALISM<span class="nav-arrow"></span></a>
132
133          <div class="bg-white rounded border border-grey-1 md:absolute px-4 py-2 text-left nav-dropdown" >
134          </div>
135
136        </div>
137        <div class="md:mx-4 md:my-0 my-2 relative  "><a
138            href="categories/the-workplace" >RESETTING THE WORKPLACE<span class="nav-arrow"></span></a>
139
140          <div class="bg-white rounded border border-grey-1 md:absolute px-4 py-2 text-left nav-dropdown" >
141          </div>
142
143        </div>
144        <div class="md:mx-4 md:my-0 my-2 relative  "><a
145            href="categories/human-work" >RESETTING HUMAN WORK<span class="nav-arrow"></span></a>
146
147          <div class="bg-white rounded border border-grey-1 md:absolute px-4 py-2 text-left nav-dropdown" >
148          </div>
149
150        </div>
151      </nav>
152    </div>
153  </div>
154</div>
155
156        </header>
157        <div class="ads-wrapper md:pt-10 md:pb-0 pt-5 pb-5" id="header-ads">
158            <div class="container flex justify-center">
159                
160            </div>
161        </div>
162        <main id="main-content" class="main-content pt-10 md:pb-20 pb-10">
163            <div id="container" class="container-small">
164                <div id="middle-wrapper" class="md:flex ">
165                    <div class="flex-1">
166                        <div id="middle" class="">
167                            <div class="flex-1">
168
169                                <div id="post-categories" class="flex flex-wrap breadcrumbs uppercase items-center text-xs text-blue-1 mb-3">
170                                    <div id="category-breadcrumbs">
171                                        <a href="" slug="">Home</a>
172                                        <i class="pb-1 mx-2 text-xs fas fa-chevron-right" aria-hidden="true"></i>
173                                        <a href="categories/equality-in-work" class="mr-2" slug="categories/equality-in-work">RESETTING EQUALITY </a>
174                                        <i class="pb-1 mr-2 text-xs fas fa-chevron-right" aria-hidden="true"></i>
175                                    </div>
176                                    <div id="category-title">
177                                        Resetting equality in work
178                                    </div>
179                                </div>
180
181                                <div class="ql-editor">
182                                    <h1>Resetting equality in work</h1>
183                                    <div class="text-sm text-grey-2 mt-3 mb-10">Mar 20, 2021</div>
184
185                                    <div>
186                                            <h3>The pandemic has exposed just how deep inequalities run in society. We must seize this opportunity to re-evaluate and reset equality in work – and HR has a pivotal role to play. Katie Jacobs and Siân Harrington look at how HR leaders can help to create a more inclusive and equal future of work</h3><p><br></p><p><img src="https://assets.grooveapps.com/images/5e96fe28bfd2170cabe02c67/1616256688_Great Work Reset Equality small.png"></p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>At the start of the first UK lockdown, way back in March 2020, it became rather fashionable to reflect on how we were ‘all in this together’, all impacted by the coronavirus pandemic. It didn’t take long for the cracks to show. What soon became painfully, obviously, clear was that while we might all be in the same storm, we are in very different boats – and some have sprung a leak. Inequalities weren’t exactly hidden pre-COVID, but the pandemic has exposed just how deep and entrenched they run in society.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>It’s not hard to find stark evidence for this. The Institute for Employment Studies recently revealed that the UK’s lowest-paid workers were more than twice as likely to have lost their jobs in the pandemic than higher-paid employees. And research from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation has found that the pandemic has hit the lowest paid hardest financially too.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>Meanwhile, black and ethnic minority workers are not only a staggering 26 times more likely to have lost their jobs than white employees, according to the TUC, but people from ethnic minority backgrounds are also twice as likely to die from COVID. That’s partly due to being overrepresented in lower paid, frontline jobs: people in some of these roles are more than three times more likely to be killed by the virus.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>And then there’s the impact the pandemic has had on young people and women. An LSE study found that young people have been hardest hit by COVID-related job losses, potentially leading to damaging long-term unemployment. Women have been forced back into more traditional caring roles, either working from home while juggling home schooling and caring responsibilities or because many of the hardest hit sectors provide ‘service’ jobs more often filled by women.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>“It’s plunged a lot of women in particular into the ranks of the working poor, while the working poor who were already in that category have become poorer,” says Jo Brewis, professor of people and organisations at The Open University Business Sc
186hool and a member of the research cluster Gendered Organisational Practice which sits within the academic centre of excellence <a href="http://business-school.open.ac.uk/research/research-activity/reef" target="_blank">REEF</a> (Research into Employment, Empowerment and Futures).&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>“Women are over-represented in sectors like personal care which cannot always be done from home. Some have been able to furlough but that isn’t always economically sufficient. And then the notion that somehow the domestic division of labour has changed dramatically over the last few decades – well, the data just does not bear that out at all. We’ve got a lot of catching up to do.”</p><p><br></p><p><img src="https://assets.grooveapps.com/images/5e96fe28bfd2170cabe02c67/1636979235_Brewis blog quote.png"></p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>In addition, she notes, the pandemic has highlighted how complex and varied experiences of inequality are. More than 30 years after Kimberlé Crenshaw, law professor at Columbia and UCLA, coined the term intersectionality as a way of seeing how various forms of inequality often operate together and exacerbate each other, the pandemic has shone a spotlight on how some people are subject to a wide range of inequalities.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>“For example,” says Brewis, “if you look at data on women employees during the pandemic and the data on employees of colour during the pandemic, you can see that women of colour have been worse off as a result of the intersection of race and gender than either men of colour or other women.”</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>Meanwhile, if you add in having a disability the picture is even bleaker. A survey by UK disability charity Leonard Cheshire in October 2020 found that 71% of disabled people in employment in March that year were affected by the pandemic through loss of income, being put on furlough or being made redundant. This rose to 84% of those aged 18-24. Moreover, 42% of employers polled said a barrier to hiring disabled workers was the concern that they would not be able to properly support them through the pandemic, while 20% admitted they would be less likely overall to hire someone with a disability. The report said not only were many disabled people clinically at high risk from the virus, but many also worked in sectors hardest hit by the outbreak, including retail and hospitality.&nbsp;</p><p><br></p><p><strong>Changing perceptions of key workers</strong></p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>However, alongside this exposure of inequality has come a recognition of just how essential the services provided by key workers are. Without the carers, the supermarket workers, the refuse collectors and delivery drivers, society would have ground to a halt. As Brewis says: “The pandemic has surfaced our awareness of a wider range of key workers, especially people who work in care homes, who I think were largely invisible to the public beforehand”.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>Sharon Benson, HR director at Sunrise Senior Living and Gracewell Healthcare, agrees that the pandemic has changed perceptions of care workers and the social care sector, putting it on a par with the much-loved NHS. “Frontline care workers have finally been acknowledged and praised for the work they do, for their bravery, passion, commitment and selfless acts of kindness as they look after the thousands of vulnerable people in our society,” she says.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>Yet unfairness is baked into this system. As Kate Guthrie, CPO of Virgin Money, puts it: “It’s the people who are the lowest paid that have been taking the most personal risks. Why is it the roles that have been so crucial throughout this pandemic are the ones we value the least?”</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>And while courier Ethan Bradley, an elected rep of the IWGB, the UK's leading union for precarious workers, has also seen a change in attitude towards gig workers like himself – “instead of being ‘unskilled’ workers, the pandemic has shown that such workers are essential for society to function, and to allow people to stay at home” – he notes that such workers are still regularly&nbsp;denied basic rights, such as sick pay and PPE provision.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>“What is the point of our being applauded in the streets when the companies we work for pay us poverty wages and treat us as disposable? Being able to work-from-home or shield is not a privilege afforded to the lowest paid workers in our society,” he says.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>Indeed, the mixed reaction over the resurrection of the UK’s ‘Clap for Carers’ movement (rebranded ‘Clap for Heroes’) gives some indication of a growing realisation that recognition alone is not enough. As Brewis says: “You can’t eat claps and neither can you use them to pay the rent or household bills. I’m not persuaded by the hero discourse. I don’t think a lot of people in those occupations want to be described as heroes. The heroic discourse almost makes it harder for them to say, actually I feel really unsafe, or I'm really worried about my kids. Yes, these workers are so much more visible. But we haven’t taken anything like enough steps to value them properly and to create a much fairer way of working for them.”</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>So when we finally come out of this crisis, is it possible to use our experience as a catalyst to redefine what ‘valuable work’ is, and examine how 
186it should be rewarded?</p><p><br></p><p><strong>Rewarding 'valuable' work</strong></p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>Neil Morrison, HR director at utilities provider Severn Trent, believes this issue is about more than just pay. “It’s about societal value,” he says. “How do we look after these [essential workers]? We need to build a world of work that is based on them and their needs. What is a fair deal for those people? How do we create a society that recognises the value they provide for us?”</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>The “fair work ecosystem” he envisages goes beyond pay, encompassing security of employment (Morrison references the recommendations made in 2017’s Taylor Review of Modern Working Practices, aka the ‘Good Work Plan), autonomy and freedom within work, pensions and retirement plans, and increased regionalisation of employment (rather than people having to travel or move to find work).</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>At Sunrise, the HR team has changed several policies and introduced new rewards and benefits, in recognition of just how tough it has been to work in care during COVID. Pay has increased to £9.10 an hour minimum, the sick pay policy has moved from statutory sick pay to full sick pay and staff in homes are being provided with free hot meals. Benson says she is “constantly” thinking about how to evolve reward strategies to better recognise frontline staff. “This won’t just apply to financial rewards but in all other areas too,” she says. “We will be looking at the free meals on shift and whether we can make it a more permanent offering, [as well as how we can enhance] transport allowances.”</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>While it’s encouraging to hear from responsible employers, it cannot be overlooked that many living in poverty in the UK are the working poor, in precarious and low paid employment, often working more than one job and relying on food banks and Universal Credit to top up their income. “We typically think of poverty as something that happens to people not in work but this is an issue that’s affecting our workforce,” says Norman Pickavance, an independent advisor and founder of the Financial Inclusion Alliance. “You can’t have a fair society if you don’t have fair jobs. We continue to operate in a society where the minimum wage is insufficient to support a working family.”</p><p><br></p><p><strong>Steps organisations can take to improve fairness</strong></p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>While this is evidently a systemic issue requiring a response at the very highest levels (Pickavance advocates a profound rethink of the UK’s economic strategy, investing in technology and “restoring the dignity of working people”), there are steps organisations can take to reset fairness. Pickavance recommends paying a living wage and providing “living hours”, examining whether the “push for agility has gone too far” through the use of zero-hours contracts, for example, and providing access to low-cost credit and debt management services. Stability is key: “People feel out of control when they don’t know how much money is coming in every month, and 50% of all workplace absences are caused by financial stress.”</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>To support all this, he believes it would be “beneficial for businesses to think more constructively about the future of trade unions”, as well as encouraging HR professionals to consider models like employee ownership. After several years of decline, union membership appears to be growing again, according to government data, boosted by more women signing up and their increased political capital during the pandemic. IWGB’s membership has surged by 40% since COVID struck. “For frontline workers marginalised by society and abandoned by government during this crisis, unions have stepped up to provide support and representation,” says Bradley.</p><p><br></p><p><strong>Post-COVID must be more, not less, inclusive</strong></p><p><br></p><p>Beyond redefining the value of low paid roles, the HR profession and business more broadly also need to take steps now to ensure post-COVID workplaces are more genuinely inclusive, not less so. The stats highlighted earlier show just how real the risk is of the diversity and inclusion agenda slipping backwards. However, while acknowledging that women are bearing the brunt of home schooling and that black, Asian and ethnic minority<span style="color: rgb(23, 43, 77);">&nbsp;</span>workers are more exposed in frontline roles, diversity and inclusion (D&amp;I) expert Charlotte Sweeney is cautiously optimistic about the potential for improved inclusion in the long-term.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>“I was initially nervous that D&amp;I would fall off the agenda,” she says.&nbsp;“However, given the combination of COVID and the death of George Floyd, I see that the D&amp;
186I agenda has increased in prominence.&nbsp;Many more companies are saying it’s important to them.” But, she caveats: “Let’s see how that translates into meaningful actions.”</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>Julie Humphreys, head of D&amp;I at publisher Reach PLC, recognises a clear link between wellbeing and inclusion, and wants to see a more holistic approach to both post-COVID. “Mental health is an increasing worry; I am concerned the&nbsp;UK is heading&nbsp;for a real spike in people&nbsp;taking their own life,” she says. She adds that HR professionals need to have the potential impact of long COVID, where people suffer debilitating symptoms for months, if not longer, after becoming infected, on the radar:<strong>&nbsp;“</strong>There are so many&nbsp;implications,&nbsp;including for D&amp;I…is the Equality Act fit for this new development&nbsp;in disability?”</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>She also wants to see measurement and reporting come back on the agenda (gender pay gap reporting was controversially scrapped in 2020 thanks to the pressures of the pandemic), with ethnicity pay gap reporting coming into force, and social mobility reporting included in legislation too.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>While vaccines offer light at the end of the tunnel, we likely still have many dark days ahead. But this time could be used to radically and genuinely rethink what work could look like for those groups who have suffered the most.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>And there is precedence for HR. Brewis says her experience researching menopause and work demonstrates the active role in resetting inequality that HR leaders can play if they listen to employees in their own organisations as well as taking inspiration from other employers: “What I've seen time and again is that there's a viral thing that happens in this space. First movers bring in some form of supportive intervention, not necessarily a policy. Then you begin to see a ripple effect where other employers look at what they're doing. I don't really care what their motivations are, if it’s all some form of CSR washing or just a way to make them look good to their customers and employees or to attract new talent. The fact they are doing something to address the issue is good enough and the viral effects can be really quite extraordinary.”</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>Sweeney urges the people profession to involve everyone in discussions about what the future of work can and should look like.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>“Make sure you really do listen to the usually unheard voices,” she says. “Part of this should be renewing the psychological contract with work. Resist the temptation to ‘get back to normal’.&nbsp;We can create great change in times of disruption – take this opportunity with both hands to really push your companies to be more inclusive.”</p>
187                                    </div>
188                                </div>
189
190
191                                <div class="fb-comments border-solid border-grey-200" id="fb-comments"></div>
192
193                            </div>
194                        </div>
195                        <div id="post-detials-ads" class="mt-4"></div>
196                    </div>
197
198                    <div class="sidebar">
199                        <div id="sidebar">
200                            
201                        </div>
202                        <div id="sidebar-ads" class="">
203                            
204                        </div>
205                        <div>
206                          
207                        </div>
208                    </div>
209                </div>
210            </div>
211
212        </main>
213        <div class="ads-wrapper md:pb-10 pb-5 hidden" id="footer-ads">
214            <div class="container flex justify-center">
215                
216            </div>
217        </div>
218
219        <footer id="footer" class="footer">
220            <footer class="footer">
221  <div class="container">
222    <div
223      class="flex md:flex-row md:justify-between flex-col justify-center items-center md:py-20 py-10 border-b border-grey-1">
224      <div class="logo logo-img overflow-hidden">
225        <a id="footer-url" href=""><img src="https://assets.grooveapps.com/images/5e96fe28bfd2170cabe02c67/1616254509_TPS OUBS logo.png" class="w-full h-full object-cover" alt="footer logo" /></a>
226      </div>
227      <div class="md:flex flex-1 flex-wrap justify-center text-center md:my-0 mt-6 mb-3">
228        <div class="md:mx-5 md:my-1 my-4"><a href="https://www.thepeoplespace.com/" >Community</a></div>
229        <div class="md:mx-5 md:my-1 my-4"><a href="https://www.thepeoplespace.com/privacy-policy" >Privacy Policy</a></div>
230      </div>
231      <div class="flex items-center">
232        <div class="ml-4">
232<a href="https://twitter.com/tpshub" target=”_blank” aria-label="social icon"><i class="fab fa-twitter"></i></a></div>
233        <div class="ml-4"><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/company/11073347" target=”_blank” aria-label="social icon"><i class="LinkedIn"></i></a></div>
234      </div>
235    </div>
236    <div class="flex justify-center text-xs py-10">
237      <div class="leading-6">© 2022 The People Space. All rights reserved</div>
238    </div>
239  </div>
240
241        </footer>
242        <!-- Pixel before body close -->
243    </div>
244
245    
246
247    
248    
248<script src="https://app.groove.cm/groovemail/embed/app.js" defer></script>
248
249
250    <style>
251        .main-content {
252            background-color: #ffff;
253        }
254    </style>
255    
255<script type>
256        var showComments = 0;
257        var app_id = 0;
258        const isLive = 1;
259        let blogPreview = false;
260
261        function setBreadcrumbWidth() {
262            const breadcrumbs = document.getElementById('post-categories');
263            const anchors = document.getElementById('category-breadcrumbs');
264            const title = document.getElementById('category-title');
265
266            if (
267                title !== null &&
268                anchors !== null &&
269                (breadcrumbs.offsetWidth - anchors.offsetWidth > 100)
270            ) {
271              title.style.maxWidth = (breadcrumbs.offsetWidth - anchors.offsetWidth - 15) + 'px';
272            }
273        };
274
275        window.addEventListener("load", function () {
276
277            // This block will check if it is a preview page
278            var pageURL = window.location.href;
279            let search_params = (new URL(pageURL)).searchParams;
280
281            if (!isLive && search_params.has("email") && search_params.has("token")) {
282                const userEmail = search_params.get("email");
283                const token = search_params.get("token");
284                try {
285                    const decoded = jwt_decode(token);
286                    if (decoded.email == userEmail) {
287                        blogPreview = true;
288                    }
289                }
290                catch (err) {
291                    console.log(err);
292                }
293            }
294            // Show "not live modal" if blog is not live and current page is not a preview page
295            const modalElement = document.getElementById("notLiveModal");
296            if(!isLive) {
297                if (!blogPreview) {
298                    document.body.classList.add("overflow-hidden");
299                } else if(modalElement) {
300                    modalElement.classList.add("hidden");
301                }
302            }
303
304
305            var BasePath = document.getElementById("blog-base").href;
306            document.getElementById("blog-url").href = BasePath;
307            document.getElementById("header-url").href = BasePath;
308            document.getElementById("footer-url").href = BasePath;
309
310            setBreadcrumbWidth();
311            //HIding ADs DIv
312            const headerAdsDiv = document.getElementById('header-ads');
313            !headerAdsDiv.children[0] || headerAdsDiv.children[0].innerHTML == 0 ? headerAdsDiv.classList.add("empty-ads") : headerAdsDiv.classList.remove("hidden");
314            const sidbarAdsDiv = document.getElementById('sidebar-ads');
315            !sidbarAdsDiv.children[0] || sidbarAdsDiv.children[0].innerHTML == 0 ? sidbarAdsDiv.classList.add("empty-ads") : sidbarAdsDiv.classList.remove("hidden");
316            const footerAdsDiv = document.getElementById('footer-ads');
317            !footerAdsDiv.children[0] || footerAdsDiv.children[0].innerHTML == 0 ? footerAdsDiv.classList.add("empty-ads") : footerAdsDiv.classList.remove("hidden");
318
319            //show facebook comment widget
320            if (showComments) {
321                setTimeout(function () {
322                    let myCommentCode = document.createElement("script");
323                    myCommentCode.setAttribute("src", "https://connect.facebook.net/en_GB/sdk.js#xfbml=1&version=v9.0&appId=" + app_id + "&autoLogAppEvents=1");
324                    myCommentCode.setAttribute("crossorigin", "anonymous");
325                    myCommentCode.setAttribute("nonce", "QBaEqTGW");
326                    document.body.appendChild(myCommentCode);
327                }, 1000)
328            }
329
330        });
331    </script>
331
332    
332<script src="https://widget.groovevideo.com/widget/app.js"></script>
vendor: 1 bytes, line 332
332
333<script type="module" src="https://static.cloudflareinsights.com/beacon.min.js/v31edd6df95cf4e85bb4c19e7a9bdbcba1788362987495" integrity="sha512-iIg7k2xntmwu6/uSb5tpc/hySgZc4eoL31yB29W6tJFo2akwjPWcEqnCEdJvGexCL0KEQwVYv5BlowfhVz26hg==" data-cf-beacon='{"version":"2024.11.0","token":"667cbf8f2eda44a28a3cd272b3c16202","r":1,"spa":2}' crossorigin="anonymous"></script>
333
334</body>
335
336</html>

Line numbers count LF bytes from the start of the resource, as the search results do. Vendor segments are library code the classifier recognised; they are stored but not indexed. Bytes are shown as Latin1 characters, one per byte.