Fair Working Policy
At Material, we have a proud work culture, excellent client relationships built up over long periods of time and we have committed staff who strive to deliver our award-winning work. We are committed to ensuring that we have fair work practices in place and are committed to advancing the Fair Work First criteria.
Employee Engagement and Empowerment
Professional and personal development is a key focus area, offering staff learning and development opportunities in a range of ways:
• Formal training sessions, including but not limited to; Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Workshops, Carbon Literacy Training and the Circular Glasgow Circular Economy Workshop
• Employee coaching and mentoring
• On-the-job training
• Job shadowing
• Access to industry training and development courses
• Industry conference participation
Company Directors and Senior Management are committed to an open-door policy for any individual who would like to spend some time in a less formal setting, to provide guidance, motivation, emotional support, and role modelling.
We conduct formal annual appraisals to discuss employee progression and goals for the coming year, set against KPI’.
Managers meet monthly on a one-to-one basis with their team members to discuss their wellbeing at work, professional development, workload and any concerns. The Board meet every month, while the Senior Management team meets every week and project teams meeting as frequently as required.
Employees are consulted on many aspects of the business, from policy updates to changes to the office space. They are encouraged to suggest better ways of working and to utilise cross-departmental learning and collaboration.
Employee Contracts and Pay
Material does not use zero hour contracts. Our staff are either employed on a full time or fixed term basis, the details of which are mutually and explicitly agreed with employees in advance. We strongly oppose the use of fire and rehire practices, any contractual changes would be made in full consultation with our staff, alongside our external HR advisors.
Material is an accredited Living Wage Employer. Our policy is to always pay above the Real Living Wage as calculated by Living Wage Scotland to all employees, including interns and freelance contractors. Currently the Real Living Wage in Scotland is £ £9.90 per hour and is under regular review.
Material meets the legal requirements of equal pay for equal work. We have identified our gender pay gap and are in the process of exploring the causes of this and creating an action plan to reduce the gap. We work with our external HR advisors to annually benchmark our salary bandings, making changes where necessary. We track and monitor our attrition rate, outperforming industry benchmarks.
Material provides enhanced annual leave to all employees of the Company alongside enhanced Maternity, Paternity, Adoption and Shared Parental Pay.
Fair Employment
Material operates a fair and flexible working environment. Employees manage their own time and can be flexible whenever needed. Our Hybrid Policy allows our employees to work from home up to two days a week, with the ability to change these days from week to week. We offer flexibility around individual family situations and support employees to agree the best way of working.
We do not tolerate any racial, sexual, physical, mental harassment or bullying in the workplace or at events connected with the workplace. We’re committed to ensuring everyone can enjoy a working environment which is safe and nurturing.
We have appropriate measures in place to deal with any issues or concerns, with a clear route to resolve these through measures such as grievance or disciplinary procedures.
We accept anyone’s right to join a trade union or staff association and we will consult and negotiate with any such body that is formally recognised.
We believe in creating a vibrant and comfortable workplace for everyone which in turn will help to maximise the effectiveness of our business for the benefit of our clients and stakeholders.