About Us

Fair Work First

Yoker Housing Association Ltd is committed to the principles of the Scottish Government's Fair Work First for every member of our staff team. We believe that our people are our greatest asset and essential to our future success. We pay, and are committed to paying, the Real Living Wage to all our employees. We want all staff to feel happy, healthy and supported at work.

The principles of Fair Work First are:

  • Appropriate channels for effective voice.
  • Investments in workforce development.
  • No inappropriate use of zero hours contracts.
  • Action to tackle the gender pay gap and create a more diverse and inclusive workplace.
  • Payment of the real living wage.
  • Offer flexible and family friendly working practice for all workers from day one of employment.
  • Oppose the use of fire and rehire practice.

We achieve this by continuously reviewing the way we work to ensure that our policies reflect our commitment to the principles of Fair Work First and by also implementing the following measures:

Appropriate channels for effective voice

  • We are members of Employers in Voluntary Housing (EVH) who have a collective bargaining arrangement with UNITE the union which regulates terms and conditions for employees.
  • We recognise a trade union and staff are given the opportunity to become members.  
  • Our terms and conditions for employment have provisions within them to encourage and support trade union membership for staff, along with support available to staff who carry out official duties for the union.
  • We operate a performance review and appraisal process.
  • We have policies and procedure in place to provide employees with ways to raise workplace concerns or issues.  These include our Whistleblowing Policy and Grievance procedure.
  • We have a Staff Safety Representative who meets regularly with senior Staff and Management Committee.
  • Staff are provided with a range of methods to provide their views on works practices and general concerns.  These include staff meetings, departmental meetings and one-to-one meetings with managers.
  • Managers operate an 'open door' policy from the Director all the way through the organisation.
  • We utilise a variety of technology to support communication and connectivity.

Investments in Workforce Development

  • Training requirements are identified during annual appraisals, one-to-one discussions with managers and by individual staff members in relation to their own professional development.
  • We fund a range vocational training courses to support staff development.
  • We fully fund appropriate further and higher education courses for staff. 
  • We provide paid leave for study / exams to staff that are studying towards a formal qualification relating to their employment.
  • We have created trainee roles within the Association to help staff establish and progress in their career.
  • We support staff financially through the payment of fees for membership to professional institutions.

No inappropriate use of zero hours contracts

  • We have no zero hours contracts in place. 

Action to tackle the gender pay gap and create a more diverse and inclusive workplace

  • Our salary scales are underpinned by EVH's job evaluation system which is based on the typical characteristics of any given job.  This system focuses on the job rather than the staff member and provides a tried and tested system to ensure fair and transparent arrangements for pay.
  • The job evalution system is based on grading guidelines that have been negotiated and agreed between EVH and the trade union.
  • We have implemented an Equality and Diversity Strategy which demonstrates our commitment to fairness and equality.
  • We collect and use equalities data across all protected charcteristics for employment purposes including recruitment.  This allows us to identify and mitigate against any potential discrimination, helping to create a more diverse workforce.

Payments of the real living wage

  • Full EVH members adopt the EVH terms and conditions and pay the real living wage as a minimum which is set at the bottom point of the salary scales.  Our salary scales are based on the EVH job evaluation system but, as associate members of EVH, our salary scales are at an enhanced rate.
  • The bottom points of our salary scales are increased each year to reflect any increase to the real living wage.

Offer flexible and family friendly working practice for all workers from day one of employment

  • Our terms and conditions of employment set out enhanced terms for a range of family friendly policies including:
    • Maternity Leave
    • Paternity Leave
    • Shared Parental Leave
    • Adoption Leave
  • We fully support flexibility and family-friendly working by offering flexi-time and TOIL to all staff.
  • Our terms and conditions of employment set out compassionate and other special leave available to staff members which helps to support a positive work life balance.
  • Our terms and conditions set out our commitment to consider flexible working requests.
  • We operate a Homeworking Policy which allows for flexible working practices in line with our business requirements.

Oppose the use of fire and rehire practice

  • We do not employ nor would endorse the use of fire and rehire practice and commit to not engaging in this activity.
  • We are committed to working with our employees to ensure that there is effective consultation and negotiation relating to change.

Our Joint Statement on Fair Work First which is signed by senior staff and all employees can be viewed here.