East Ayrshire Council committed to gender equality in the workplace

This month East Ayrshire Council was awarded bronze accreditation in the Equally Safe at Work (ESAW) programme in recognition of our commitment to gender equality and preventing violence against women. 

Developed by Close the Gap, Scotland’s expert policy advocacy organisation which works on women’s labour market equality, Equally Safe at Work is an employer accreditation programme which supports Scottish local authorities to progress gender equality in the workplace.

 Our bronze accreditation is valid for two years, after which we must demonstrate our continuing efforts to meet the ‘Equally Safe At Work’ bronze award criteria before working towards the silver accreditation. 

East Ayrshire Council also undertook a workforce survey (317 responses) and employee experience focus group research (9 participants) in early 2023, which has been followed by actions to ensure women in our organisation are ‘equally safe’ from sexual harassment and abuse. 

The findings of the survey are both difficult and shocking to read, with implications for us all. Some of the key findings were that… 

• There are misconceptions among some employees about the causes of the gender pay gap
• Many employees felt undervalued and excluded in the workplace, which was even more prevalent with women
• Line managers play a significant role in employees’ experiences at work, including the extent to which employees can access flexible working, and learning and development opportunities
• Participants perceived a lack of clarity and transparency in how to progress within their roles, this was more prevalent for women working in lower paid roles.
• Experiences of violence against women in East Ayrshire Council impacted on women’s mental health; made them feel unsafe; and made them feel uncomfortable in certain situations at work 

Read a report on this survey and research on the East Ayrshire Council website. 

What about violence against women? 

On this last finding in relation to violence and harassment in the workplace, survey respondents were asked to disclose if they had experienced or witnessed this towards a colleague whilst working within East Ayrshire Council. 

The following shows the types of abusive or violent experiences reported in the survey by staff as having been experienced or observed in the workplace at any point: 

• Hearing colleagues making comments of a sexual nature about another woman or women in general in front of you
• Unwelcome jokes of a sexual nature
• Feeling uncomfortable when alone with a colleague
• Comments of a sexual nature about your body and/or clothes
• Unwanted touching, such as a hand on your knee or lower back, or shoulder rubs
• Unwelcome sexual advances from a colleague
• Receiving unwanted messages, with material of a sexual nature, by email or on social media from a colleague
• Threats or intimidation
• Sexual assault, which could include unwanted touching of breasts, buttocks, or genitals, or attempts to kiss you

Line managers were asked how confident they were in recognising signs of and responding to disclosures of violence against women (VAW). Overall, only around one third felt very confident when it came to responding to disclosures of any particular type of VAW. 

Line managers were least confident when responding to honour-based violence and most confident responding to disclosures of sexual harassment. 

Six recommendations were made in relation to VAW and the Council is taking action in relation to the following…

1. Increase awareness of the employer role in preventing VAW
2. Increase awareness among employees of the different forms of VAW and how they impact women’s experiences at work
3. Build capacity in line managers on responding to disclosures and better supporting victim-survivors, especially male line managers
4. Demonstrate your commitment to challenging VAW and supporting victim-survivors through visible commitment and strong messaging from senior leaders
5. Identify how best to communicate to all staff what policies are in place to support them, such as your VAW policy, and what internal support you provide.
6. Provide information to staff on the external expert support services that are available.

What’s happening next and how do I find out more? 

East Ayrshire Council has taken a number of actions to address the recommendations from the Equally Safe at work report and has made an Equally Safe statement. One of the key actions has been to review and improve the organisation’s Gender-Based Violence Policy, which will be launched on 4 December as part of our 16 Days of Action on Gender Based Violence. 

Awareness-raising of sexual harassment and having a zero tolerance policy against gender-based violence at work will be taking place across all workplaces, with managers and staff given access to trained ‘domestic abuse champions’ over the coming months. 

Whilst this work applies to East Ayrshire Council, it has implications across the entire Health and Social Care Partnership, which also includes our NHS Ayrshire and Arran staff. 

Gender equality, a healthy and positive workplace culture and zero tolerance of sexual harassment at work must be central to our organisation to ensure staff are safe. 

If you would like to find out more, please visit East Ayrshire Council’s Equally Safe at Work webpages.