Fair Work First

Fair Work First is the Scottish Government's flagship policy for driving high quality and fair work, and workforce diversity across the labour market in Scotland by applying fair work criteria to grants, other funding and public contracts being awarded by and across the public sector, where it is relevant to do so. Although all Ourea Events permanent staff are currently all based in England, we seek to align with the Fair Work First principles for various reasons:

  • They represent great employment practice and are simply the right thing to do by our staff.

  • We organise major events in Scotland - Cape Wrath Ultra and Skyline Scotland - and contract freelance staff in Scotland and services from Scottish based companies.

  • It is a condition of public sector funding which we apply for - for example from Event Scotland - that we meet or are working towards Fair Work First practices (and for good reason!).

Below we describe what the seven Fair Work First principles mean to us at Ourea Events and how we are meeting them or are working towards them.

You can learn more about Fair Work First at Creative Scotland (the organisation that consulted on the original principles) , the Scottish Government (that requires organisations to meet the criteria in certain situations) and the Fair Work Convention.

1. Payment of at least the real Living Wage

We are an accredited member of the Living Wage Foundation. This means:

  • We pay all permanent staff at least the Real Living Wage. This is currently £12.00 (outside London) in 2024.

  • We pay all our directly contracted freelancers at least the Real Living Wage, taking into account their daily pay rates and the typical hours they will be working on an event.

  • The Real Living Wage is reviewed annually by a panel of independent experts (in November each year), and we commit to ensuring all our staff are paid at least in line with any increase within 6 months (by 1st May following the increase). The Real Living Wage for 2025 is £12.60 (outside London).

  • We do not use any agency staff on our premises on an ongoing basis (for example cleaning, catering or security) and instead share those roles equally between our office staff. If we did use such staff, the Real Living Wage would be equally applicable to them.

From our 2025 events onwards we will also be starting to engage with our event suppliers to encourage them to also pay their workers the Real Living Wage (for example companies providing infrastructure, toilets, food and drink, security), although this is not a criteria of Real Living Wage accreditation.

2. Appropriate channels for effective workers' voice

For larger companies this might mean recognising, raising awareness of and engaging with trade unions. That would be inappropriate for a small business of our size and no dedicated trade union exists in our industry. Instead we focus on offering a range of individual and collective voice channels, drawing on workers' experience when considering organisational policy and practice, and encouraging open dialog. Our practices include:

  • Weekly 1:1 meetings between every member of staff and their manager, where they can voice concerns and provide input to the business.

  • Weekly “Week Ahead Meetings” with all staff, where we take time to check-in with everyone at a personal level, share plans for the coming week, identify areas of collaboration, and provide another forum to voice any group concerns.

  • Monthly All Hands meetings with members of staff, with time for staff Q&A.

  • Biannual Appraisals where staff can reflect on the period since their last appraisal, share the successful business impact they have had as well as the challenges they faced, agree future objectives, where they need support, training and development needs, and engage in dialog about how we can improve our working life and the business as a whole.

  • Operate an open office culture with transparent business practices, and encourage and listen to staff suggestions about how to move the business forward.

3. Investment in workforce development

We invest in developing our staff through a range of ways.

  • We allow time within working hours and cover costs for training and qualifications necessary to the operation of the business, such as GDPR/privacy, anti-terrorism, food hygiene and first aid qualifications.

  • Staff training holds a specific line in the annual budget, for which we balance business priorities with employee learning objectives to determine how it is allocated.

  • We seek explicit input from staff on learning and development needs in biannual appraisals.

In recent years we have supported staff through a range of learning objectives:

  • CIM marketing diploma for our Marketing Manager.

  • Sustainability courses for our Chief Operations Officer.

  • Health & Safety courses for some staff in the operations team.

  • Multi-channel marketing apprenticeship for our Digital Marketing Coordinator.

  • AAT Level 2 Accountancy course for our Finance Bookkeeper.

  • Carbon Literacy education day for staff in our sustainability working group.

4. No inappropriate use of zero hours contracts

We do not use zero hours contracts.

  • All staff are employed on permanent open-ended or fixed term contracts with confirmed hours and work pattern.

  • All permanent / office staff have a contract which accurately reflects the hours worked, guarantees a fair minimum number of hours per week or per month.

  • All freelance staff have a contract that is clear about the events they will be working for the duration of the contract.

It is the nature of our business that we need many staff to work on our events, and that frequently includes working weekends, bank holidays, very early or late hours, and is often hard work. However, we have several measures in place to ensure this is sustainable and results in acceptable working conditions and a supportive environment.

  • We build realistic staffing rotas to share the load of all roles across the daily cycle of our events. For example one staff member covering an early shift, one a later shift, and overlap in the middle of the day for busy periods and effective handover.

  • We actively encourage staff to take reasonable down-time and relax (or sleep!) between shifts on events, and create an inclusive environment where we support each other.

  • We announce our event dates well in advance, so we can get staff input regarding personal commitments to help draw up staffing rotas. The dates of our established multi-day event are made public 12 months in advance and known internally at least 18 months ahead, while smaller events are public 6 months in advance and known internally 9-12 months ahead. New events may be confirmed with shorter lead times, but we still aim share provisional dates as early as possible and fit around personal commitments.

  • While there is an expectation that some staff work work on a large number of our events, we engage in meaningful discussion with staff around their availability and accommodate personal commitments where possible and reasonable.

5. Tackle the gender pay gap and create a more diverse and inclusive workplace

We have a comprehensive Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Policy.

  • We are committed to both a diverse and inclusive workplace for our staff in the office, and also for our staff, freelance contractors, volunteers and participants at our events.

  • We have specific commitments to increase female participation at our events (underpinned by our partnership with SheRACES, the leading advocate for female friendly policies at events) and specific measures for transgender participants.

  • We have a zero-tolerance approach to discrimination at our events, and will not shy away from removing participants or event team members from an event for inappropriate behaviour (which, sad to say, we have had to do on occasion).

  • We lead diverse recruitment campaigns, ensuring gender neutral language in job adverts, diversity in interview panels, selection based on merit, and calling out potential bias in the decision making process.

  • We provide opportunities for all staff to discuss any support needs with their manager in weekly 1:1s and biannual appraisals.

  • We conduct exit interviews to understand the reasons behind any staff departures, so we can build a better workplace for the future.

6. Flexible and family friendly working practices for all workers

  • We have adopted a flexible culture that allows staff to start and finish at different times in the morning and afternoon, while retaining core hours during the day. This allows staff to pursue their own recreation outside work, and accommodate any parental or other care roles they may have.

  • Staff are able to attend a doctor’s appointment or go to a child’s assembly without having to take this as annual leave.

  • Staff are trusted to work their contracted work hours.

  • We generally encourage working in the office, because we believe it allows us to more effectively and efficiently collaborate to deliver on our business objectives. However, staff are able to work from home periodically when required.

7. Oppose the use of fire and rehire practice

We do not use fire and rehire practice (the practice of dismissal and re-engagement - or the threat to do so - to pressurise staff into accepting changes to terms and conditions). If we ever need to change terms and conditions for business reasons we engage in meaningful discussion with staff.