Mayor asks employers and employees to help make Greater Manchester the best place to work

This week the Mayor, along with Deputy Mayor Sir Richard Leese and Employment Portfolio Lead Cllr Sean Anstee, are launching a consultation on the new Greater Manchester Good Employer Charter.

Andy Burnham, Mayor of Greater Manchester, said: “Our aim is to make Greater Manchester the best place to live, work and invest. But that vision will not become a reality when people in our city-region are working week to week not knowing how many hours they’ll get or in some cases not even knowing whether they’ll have a job next week. 

“The answer, for both employees and employers is clear.  Good jobs with fair pay, security and opportunities get the best out of people.  A motivated workforce boosts productivity and this helps companies to grow. 

“That’s why we need every job in Greater Manchester to be a good job. By working together I know we can meet this challenge.”

On average, Greater Manchester’s businesses are less productive than others in the UK, and even further behind London and the rest of the world, while our public services and voluntary and community sectors face social challenges of increasing complexity. Coupled with this, too many of Greater Manchester residents are in low paid and insecure work which is leaving them unable to fulfil their potential, get a home or provide a secure start for their children. In Greater Manchester, between a fifth and a quarter of the labour force are low paid and around 30,000 workers are on zero-hours contracts.

These challenges are linked and that is why Greater Manchester is setting out to develop a Good Employer Charter.  The charter will to support employers to reach best practice, helping them to grow and provide the good jobs we need.

Greater Manchester’s Leaders are clear that good quality, well-paid work, and connecting our residents with those jobs, is critical for the economic and social success of the city-region. Age, gender, sexual orientation, race, disability, caring responsibilities, or socio-economic background should be no barrier to success. This charter will aim to ensure that all our residents who can get jobs and progress in work are able to, which will support growing our economy.

Existing employer charters cover areas such as encouraging fair pay, promoting good job design, offering skills and training opportunities, employee engagement and healthy workplaces. Many charters include the payment of the Real Living Wage, commitments to security in hours worked, and developing the role of trade unions and worker representation.

Other national challenges which charters can seek to address include reducing the gender pay gap, ending differential rates of pay for young people and apprenticeships and making workplaces more representative and inclusive. The Mayor and Leaders are inviting views on all these issues to make sure this charter is truly be designed by and for Greater Manchester.

People can have their say on the charter online here: https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/GMgoodwork

The responses will be used to help create the draft charter, which will be consulted on later in the year.

Sean Anstee, GMCA lead for skills, employment and apprenticeships, said: “We want to hear from employers of all shapes and sizes, from all sectors and industries. The consultation can be filled out anonymously to help give people the option to be as honest as possible. We really want to make this charter the best it can possibly be.

“There are already existing employer charters but we are looking to make this easier for everyone across Greater Manchester. We want people to be able to easily see what best practice is, which in turn will help our businesses to grow.”

Questions asked in the consultation include:

• What does a good employer do (or not do)?
• What should be in the charter, which employers would have to sign up to?
• How could employers be encouraged to sign up? What could discourage employers from signing up?
• What should the relationship be between the Greater Manchester Good Employer Charter and other local and national standards and charters, to ensure that they are mutually reinforcing and avoid confusion for employers?

Sir Richard Leese, Deputy Mayor of Greater Manchester and lead on economic strategy, added: “We want to make sure people across Greater Manchester can fulfil their potential, access the best jobs and be given the chance to get on in life.

“Businesses agree that the best way to grow is to get the best from their employees, which can be brought about by fairly-paid roles, using skills and strengths accordingly and providing opportunities to progress. Our brand new Business Advisory Panel will help us to shape the charter to truly ensure that Greater Manchester people can access the best jobs.”

Responses to the survey would be welcome by 13th April 2018.