POP shop enterprises is a community interest company committed to community wealth building and growing Fair work opportunities in our community.

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As an organisation we employ a growing team of people who work in Dunoon and remotely to deliver a wide range of projects and services. We also appoint people on short term, freelance contracts to work for us to deliver time bound projects.

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We are committed to the Scottish Government’s Fair Work First policy. This means that we strive to be an organisation that sees employees and people delivering work for us on a freelance basis as being fully engaged in what we do.

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We aim to support employees and freelancers work for us to reach their full potential through the provision training and development opportunities, and we actively promote positive approaches to flexible working to make POP shop enterprises CIC a dynamic and inclusive organisation to work for.

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We aim to work with partners, funders and our growing membership to ensure that the principles of Fair Work are understood and enacted across the region, as we believe this will make Argyll and the Isles a more economically inclusive place to live and work for all.

 

There are 5 principles of Fair Work that POP shop enterprises will use to meet our Fair Work objectives:

• Effective Voice - Having the opportunity to contribute your ideas, be listened to, and be able to make a difference. 

• Opportunity – Access to fair work, training, and progression for all. 

• Security - Job security, fair contracts, stable and predictable wages, predictability of working hours, paying at least the Real Living Wage.

• Fulfilment - Opportunity to use your skills and take responsibility.

• Respect - Respectful relationships at all levels (health, dignity and wellbeing, your efforts, contribution and work life balance). 

 

Effective Voice

For people to feel valued by POP shop enterprises it is essential that when working with us they feel listened to and that they are given the opportunity to contribute their ideas to the organisation.

To ensure this happens POP shop enterprises will:

• Ensure that all employees have an annual review with a line manager, and that part of that review provides a space for ideas to be listened to and discussed. Where ideas are workable, we will put a plan in place to make positive changes with the employee.

• Freelancers are allocated time with a line manager as part of their contract to feedback and review the outcomes of projects and make suggestions on improvements.

• We will carry out an annual staff and freelance worker survey to collect ideas and feedback from people who work with us. In the case of freelancers paid time will be allocated within contracts to participate in this survey.

• We will develop and manage a working group that includes a mix employees, freelancers and the management team. This working group will support the strategic development of the organisation. In the case of our employees time will be allocated for them to attend development meetings, in the case of freelancers a fee will be paid for their participation in this working group at an agreed rate.

 

Opportunity

POP Shop enterprises CIC aims to create inclusive work opportunities that are progressive and for filling for all. To ensure this continues we will:

• Recruit employees using fair, transparent, and inclusive processes in alignment with the Equality Act and the principles of supporting workplace diversity.

• We will ensure that our board and management team are aware of their duties as a Fair work employer and have access to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion training.

• For short term contracts delivered on a freelance basis we will make recruitment processes proportional to the level of renumeration.

• We will work with staff and freelancers to identify any training needs they have and make paid time available for freelancer to participate in training to support them to deliver their work with confidence.

• We will also work with regional partners to ensure training and development opportunities are extended to our wider membership and board as a route to sharing learning and good practice across the region.

 

Security

POP shop enterprises CIC offers meaningful work which provides a reliable income for our staff team. We recognise that stable, regular work, training and development opportunities alongside wage progression is good for a person’s health and wellbeing and fundamental to the growth of a progressive, thriving creative economy in the Argyll region.

• As a funded organisation we strive to secure revenue to cover the costs of a permeant staff team. Retaining staff is fundamental to the organisation’s effectiveness and we will always seek to make work permeant where possible.

• We do not use or issue zero-hour contracts and do not endorse their use.

• We do appoint freelance workers to deliver time bound projects and provide the organisation with services that support our work on a flexible basis. When appointing freelancers, we make sure that there is a clear contract in place that sets out:

  • The level of renumeration

  • The length of contract

  • The deliverables

  • Training and review time, including an introduction to POP shop enterprises CIC

  • Defines a line manager for the work

  • Includes information on budgets for materials and training

  • Details anticipated meeting and review dates in advance, where possible

 

• POP Shop enterprises CIC’s minimum entry level of renumeration is at Real Living Wage level and we do not employ anyone below this rate.

• Employees and freelancers working for us are given clear contracts and job descriptions that are regularly reviewed to ensure employees and freelance workers are receiving the right level of renumeration for the work they are doing.

• We produce fee guidance for freelancers based on recommendations made by Creative Scotland’s Fair Work guidance, and the Scottish Artist Union regularly reviewing these fees to ensure they reflect inflation and the cost of living.

• We understand that freelance workers have the right to set their own fees, rates and terms for work. POP shop enterprises CIC will always provide space for fee negation.

 

Fulfilment

POP shop enterprises CIC aims to create a positive and supportive environment to work in. We want employees and freelance workers to have a sense of belonging to the organisation and a pride in the work they do.

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Fulfilment at work gives a person a personal sense of achievement resulting in higher rates of staff retention and improved wellbeing. To ensure people working with us feel fulfilment at work we will:

• Engage all our employees in staff events and share information about the strategic direction of the organisation, our business plan, our values and our goals.

• We will ensure that freelance workers have an induction to the organisation and key members of staff.

• Invest in training and skills development for employees and freelance workers.

• Make time at annual reviews and interviews to understand the personal goals and motivations of individuals and explore how as an organisation we can support people to meet their goals.

• To address the negative impacts of working in a remote team and to reduce the professional isolation felt by creative workers living in rural places, we will encourage peer to peer learning and support between members of our staff team.

• We will embed time into freelance contracts for people to review work and engage with our permeant staff team and peers.

• We will celebrate and promote the achievements of our staff and freelance workers widely in our annual report, at board meetings and through our social channels and website.

 

Respect

Everyone working with POP shop enterprises CIC has the right to a respectful workplace that is free of bullying, harassment, discrimination and victimisation. A respectful workplace is essential to the wellbeing of employees and freelancers.

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We are all entitled to be treated with respect and dignity at work and have a personal responsibility for ensuring that they treat others with the way they would expect to be treated themselves. If people working with POP shop enterprises CIC are unclear about what this means, we will ensure that policy information is available through the provision of a POP shop enterprises CIC Work With Us Guide.

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We consider dignity at work to mean being free to work without experiencing these four unacceptable behaviours:

• Bullying is offensive, intimidating, malicious or insulting behaviour involving the misuse of power that can make a person feel vulnerable, upset, humiliated, undermined or threatened. Power does not always mean being in a position of authority but can include both personal strength and the power to coerce through fear or intimidation. Bullying can take the form of physical, verbal, and non-verbal conduct. Bullying at work means harassing, socially excluding someone, or negatively affecting someone's work tasks.

• Harassment is any unwanted physical, verbal, or non-verbal conduct which has the purpose or effect of violating a person's dignity or creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment for them. It may be repeated behaviour, or in serious cases, may involve only a single incident. It also includes treating someone less favourably because they have submitted or refused to submit to such behaviour in the past.

• Discrimination is being treating unfairly because of who you are. Direct discrimination occurs when a person is treated less favourably because of a protected characteristic as identified by the Equality Act 2010. Indirect discrimination occurs where employers have a condition, rule, policy or practice that applies to everyone but particularly disadvantages people who share a protected characteristic. Discrimination can also occur by perception and by association.

• Victimisation is the less favourable treatment of someone who has complained or given information about harassment or discrimination or supported someone else’s complaint. Employees have the right to raise grievances and to raise issues relating to discrimination or bullying in good faith and to have these matters investigated. Where a member of staff raises an issue in good faith, they should not suffer any detriment or victimisation by virtue of raising their grievance or complaint with management.

• Health and Safety for our employees is embedded into the working practices of the organisation. As the POP shop enterprises CIC team works remotely we provide guidance to workers on what health and safety means within the home working environment and will fund reasonable adjustments to ensuring that workers have the right equipment and software to carry out their duties whilst keeping well.

• To support a positive work life balance we offer flexible working to all employees and work flexibly with individuals on their needs to balance work and family life.

 

We recognise that the right to dignity at work is not always extended to include the needs of creative freelancers who are often disadvantaged by poor pay and a lack of security.

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As an organisation working to progress the development of the creative industries, we recognise the critical role freelancers play in the industry and how Fair Work guidance has not always incorporated the needs of freelance workers into policy.

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We will take the following practical steps to improve fair work for freelancers and extend workplace respect to this group.

 

TRANSPARENCY

POP shop enterprises CIC will be transparent in our working practices by having a policy we can share which sets out how we aim to work with, contract and pay freelancers (referencing industry standard rates of pay) and we commit to paying on time.

 

CONTRACTS

We always provide a formal contract or Letter of Engagement that clearly describes the work being commissioned, whether the contract and negotiated fee includes payment of time to develop proposals and the costs of materials or equipment, the delivery timetable for the work, the negotiated fees and any rights granted, and what will happen in terms of fees if the activity contracted is postponed or cancelled.

 

PROVIDE CLARITY

We will provide clarity about the scale and scope of the project or commission and its accompanying budget. This information will include how the project is funded, the amount of funding is already in place, or still to be secured.

 

INCLUDE FREELANCERS

We will include freelancers at the point of decision-making in projects where their contribution is central to the successful delivery of the work. Their contribution will be renumerated.

 

PROTECTION

We will ensure the health and safety of freelancers working for POP shop enterprises, as well as their right to work without discrimination, bullying or harassment by sharing our policies with freelancers and shaping our policies to work for freelancers.

 

REIMBURSE

POP shop enterprises CIC will reimburse freelancers for attending meetings, as well as travel and training that is essential for the delivery of a project e.g., client meetings, health and safety training or travel and time to reach project delivery sites.

 

TRAINING

Where possible, we will offer training sessions to freelancers that are available to salaried staff and seek funding to pay for time to learn.

 

CONNECT

We will introduce freelancers to your workplace and at least one named member of staff so they are comfortable and confident in asking for help or support while they work for you.

 

LEARN MORE

As an organisation POP shop enterprises CIC will continue to engage with Creative Scotland and Creative Carbon to explore how to improve conditions for freelance workers and share this learning with our staff, boards and members.

 

We will use and promote documents such as the Illustrated Freelancer’s Guide for best practice examples and case studies from a freelancer perspective.

 

We will gather our own case studies about Freelance experiences and publish these to support learning.

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