Improving employment standards to help employers grow and succeed

A new toolkit offering practical advice and resources to aid the development of good employment initiatives is driving improvements in employment standards.

The toolkit, developed by researchers at Manchester Metropolitan University, is based on the processes involved in the development of Greater Manchester’s Good Employment Charter, allowing other regions who may be engaged with the design or development of similar initiatives, in the UK and beyond, to share in their learning.

Greater Manchester’s Good Employment Charter helps employers to grow and succeed through improved employment standards by encouraging and supporting employers to develop good jobs and deliver opportunities for people to progress.

By signing up to the Charter, employers can support the health, development and resilience of their workforce whilst sharing good employment practices and learning from other employers in the city region.

The Charter’s toolkit contains a wealth of practical resources for reflecting upon the challenges and opportunities at each stage of design, to help regions to navigate the different steps and to act as a sense-checking tool.

Dr Sarah Crozier, a researcher in the Centre for Decent Work and Productivity at Manchester Met, developed the toolkit as part of a three-year project with Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) that examined the impact of the introduction of the Charter on participating organisations.

Dr Crozier said: “Our toolkit provides a framework to help navigate the three broad areas of establishing a good employment initiative, from defining the concept, to implementation, evaluation, impact and evolution.

“It is fantastic to see how sharing the learning from the development of the Greater Manchester Good Employment Charter is helping other regions around the UK to build their own initiatives that will help them to improve employment standards, and we look forward to continuing to help support our partners and employers in this area.”

Working with the GMCA, Dr Crozier also explored differences in employee experiences of good employment across different sizes of organisations and sectors. This provided industry comparisons, showcasing good practice and areas for further development across the region.

The project also provided recommendations for building good employment practices alongside statistical modelling to map which of these are most important in shaping employee perceptions of good employment.

Andy Burnham, the Mayor of Greater Manchester, said: “The Good Employment Charter is a major step towards making sure that new and existing jobs right across Greater Manchester are underpinned by a commitment to equality, fair pay, and giving employees a say in how their workplaces are run – securing our city-region as an area of employment excellence.

“As we face up to the challenges of these unprecedented times, the Good Employment Charter will be absolutely fundamental to our ambitions to build back better and fairer for all.”