In-work progression for workers in lower paid roles

In-work progression for workers in lower paid roles

In December 2020, we consulted with members and disabled employees on the Government’s consultation and call for evidence on good practice on in work progression for staff in ‘entry level’ roles. We asked businesses why progressing entry level staff was key for their business, and we looked at how external factors have enabled or prevented staff from progressing within their organisations. These external factors included the impact of transport and connectivity, support from job centres and Access to Work, and the effectiveness of role models and mentorships.

As a result, our key recommendations included the following:

• Invest in training for Job centre staff on Access to Work, the Disability Confident scheme, and current inclusive recruitment practices.
• Bring Access to Work and the Mental Health Support Scheme into job centres to enable earlier adjustments interventions for disabled applicants.
• Continue and further invest in Disability Confident regional events to focus on linking employers with schools and colleges.
• Create supported employment and learning standards so that work readiness and skills development programmes keep pace with what employers are looking for. This may include a type of accreditation that must be reapplied for regularly and with skills that reflect the local jobs market.
• Expand existing Government guidance to encourage employers to ensure internal recruitment practices are reflected in policies.
• DWP to make clear the Disability Confident scheme’s expectations about the offer an interview scheme for internal recruitment.

Our full response can be downloaded at the right side of this page.

The Government’s response

The Government responded to this Consultation on 13 December 2022. In that response, the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions states that, to increase productivity and prosperity across the UK, more people need to enter employment, skills need to be enhanced, and earnings need to increase. The Government has an agenda “to build our economy to deliver highly skilled roles and opportunities across all sectors” (Mel Stride, in “Helping people secure, stay and succeed in higher quality, higher paying jobs: UK Government Response to the In-Work Progression Commission’s Report”, published December 2022).

As a result, the Government has established a “wide ranging” approach, comprising the following themes:

• Making work pay and boosting work incentives of low-income households.
• A new offer to support UC claimants in work who want to progress.
• Giving people greater opportunities to develop new skills or enhance and utilise existing skills.
• Providing targeted help for people who need extra support in tackling barriers to working more hours and taking up opportunities for higher skilled, higher paying jobs.
• Ensuring transport effectively connects people to opportunities.
• How public procurement and other UK government activity supports the growth of quality jobs.
• The role of employers.

What we think about this response

• Disabled people are little mentioned. Overall, there is no mention of how this agenda includes progressing disabled people and moving disabled people into higher skilled and higher paid roles. The only mention is of Access to Work – which we said needs majorly reforming to be effective, particularly given recent announcements of the unsustainable backlog of applications – and referring to the Government adjustments passport pilot. However, the pilot referred to is for university graduates moving into employment, and many people this consultation is seeking to include do not reach university. This is therefore an unhelpful suggestion if not extended or supported for people who take other routes. There is a welcome focus on older workers and of course as the likelihood of acquiring a disability or long-term condition increases with age, it is likely that this focus will also encompass disabled people.
• The Disability Confident Scheme. The response says that the Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) is a means of “working with employers”. This is a great aspiration for the scheme, but many reforms and improvements are needed for that genuinely to be the case. We made many recommendations on such improvements in our response to the separate consultation on Disability Confident (work on this review has now paused due to the uncertainty over the National Disability Strategy). Communication between Disability Confident and employers is a key area that needs addressing; many of our members want more contact with the Disability Confident team and one of our key Recommendations for the DCS Review is to develop a means of two-way communication between the Disability Confident team and employers. In any case, the role of the Scheme is to not work with employers to help people stay in work; it is for employers to self-assess their disability inclusion actions as an employer. Employees are not actively supported through the Scheme at the moment, and a further key recommendation that we have made through our work with the Disability Charities Consortium is to create a Disability Confident portal to support employers to progress through the scheme.
• Job Centres. We specifically called for more investment in upskilling Job Centre staff who work with employers. Employers told us Job Centres often did not know how to advise candidates on adjustment for interviews, and they often did not know about the Disability Confident or Access to Work schemes. Employers told us they were often having to advise the Job Centre on these things. Some employers even told us they had become aware the Job Centre had turned away disabled applicants that the employer would have flexed or altered the interview process for. There was no mention of remedying this in the Government’s response. The response mentions investment in Work Coaches and Progression Leads, but training and upskilling on disability related support and inclusive interviews and applications were not mentioned.
• ‘Basic skills for all’: There is a commitment to “fully funding” English and Maths qualifications and IT skills, but no mention of ensuring these are inclusively designed and accessibly delivered with a wide range of disabled people in mind.
• The role of transport: We were pleased to see transport raised as an issue, because disabled employees told us that inaccessible and high-cost transport was preventing them seeking progression opportunities elsewhere in their organisations if those roles were at different sites, campuses, or locations. However, actions committed to in this area centre around providing ‘more’ local transport, with no mention of inclusive and accessible transport options. Some hefty investments will not help many disabled people at all – such as a £600 million investment in ensuring more walking and cycling.
• Flexible working: The response cites lack of flexible working options as being a barrier to progression. We agree. However, as a solution, they cite the Government’s recent changes to flexible working rights, and we do not feel these changes are enough to fully include and remove barriers for many disabled workers and working carers. You can read our flexible working reform policy page here.

What should employers do now?

We are recommending three key actions for employers to consider:

1. Identify the lowest paid roles in your organisation and implement a ‘Progression Discussion’ with people in those roles. Progression should be an organisation-wide agenda that applies to every employee. However, if this is new to your organisation, start at the lowest paid roles. A ‘progression discussion’ should include understanding the below from the employee for this to then be balanced with the strategic direction and priorities of the business:

• What they currently think about working in their current job.
• What they enjoy and do not enjoy about their current role.
• What skills or knowledge they would like to develop.
• Where they would like to see their future in the organisation.
• What the organisation can do to help them achieve that and in what timeframe.

2. Consider implementing the values of the Low Pay Commission’s Five point Progression Plan:

• Individualised progression and learning plan. Every employee should have this, and it should be regularly reviewed via an in-depth conversation with a manager or senior member of staff. This plan should be embedded into the employee’s end-to-end employment ‘lifecycle’, and the first discussion should therefore take place during on-boarding.
• Mentoring. This involves a less-senior member of staff informally learning from a senior colleague (or colleagues). It does not have to be via a formal scheme, but there should be an agreed space and time for an individual to learn from more senior colleagues. Reverse or inverted mentoring can also help senior staff understand the barriers less-senior staff experience. Mentoring helps colleagues understand the wider business and helps them understand other people’s journeys to and experiences of progressing at work.
• Flexibility. Entry level jobs should be flexible; this is a key advantage cited by lower paid workers; yet employees too often assume there is less flexibility at senior level. Therefore, the behaviours, words, and messaging that come from senior staff really do matter for how less-senior colleagues feel about whether ‘upwards’ progression is for them.
• Shadowing and work experience. Allowing staff to experience different areas of the organisation – and at all levels of the organisation. Again, this does not have to be a formal scheme. Joining meetings or sitting in on projects can be incredibly insightful and helpful in itself. This may also include secondments in larger organisations, where/if possible.
• Supporting professional development. This includes paying for and providing paid time off for staff to gain a professional qualification or new skills that would help them progress within their current role or elsewhere in the organisations.

3. Ensure progression strategies and practices respect the diversity of what ‘progression’ means to different people and how they achieve it. Employers should have mechanisms for measuring employees’ progression over time in line with the individuals’ own preferences and ambitions and balanced with the needs of the employer as well. This also includes ensuring workplace adjustments are reviewed regularly and revised along with each change to someone’s job to ensure they have everything they need to be their best and enjoy progressing at work.