Fair Work First Statement

Paragon Housing Association Ltd is fully committed to advancing the Fair Work First criteria.

1. Real Living Wage

• We pay the real living wage
• We are members of Employers in Voluntary Housing (EVH) and have adopted their terms and conditions and pay scales to ensure equality and transparency in relation to pay.

2. We provide appropriate channels for effective workers' voice

•  We are members of Employers in Voluntary Housing (EVH) and our Trade Union agreement is at a national level
•  We have a Staff Health & Safety & Well Being Group in place with a staff representative from each area of the business
• We utilise the services of independent consultants to support staff through our Well Being Programme using the World Health Organisation 5 (WHO-5) criteria and use survey results to feedback to staff, to agree and take forward actions
• We have one to one processes in place
• Managers operate an “open door” policy
• We carry out staff surveys and communicate the results and proposed actions
• We have a Staff Safety Representative who is a member of our workplace Health and Safety committee
• Staff are involved in consultation on health and safety issues such as risk assessments
• We hold periodic strategy review days involving all staff and Management Committee

3. We invest in workforce development

• Staff members have an annual appraisal in place to determine training needs
• We offer both formal and informal learning opportunities
• We fund further education courses for staff where appropriate
• We have introduced measures such as secondments to help staff progress in their career by 'learning on the job'

4. We do not use zero hours contracts inappropriately

• We have no zero-hour contracts in place
• We do not envisage the use of zero hours contracts

5. We act to tackle the gender pay gap and create a more diverse and inclusive workplace

• We have pay scales set through EVH with our Trade Union agreement at a national level and have adopted their terms and conditions and pay scales to ensure equality and transparency in relation to pay.
• We have an Equality Policy in place together with procedures, action plan and support from a specialist consultant
• We operate open recruitment practices

6. We offer flexible and family friendly working practices for all workers from day one of employment

•  We have a policy in place to support this
• We have positive experience in this area with a number of staff working flexibly
• We are looking to develop our practice in this area by working with Flexibility Works to support us on this evolving journey

7. We oppose the use of fire and rehire practice

•  We have never employed this practice
•  We do not envisage using this practice in the future

Signed

Audrey Anderson, Chair

Pamela Easton , Staff H&S Representative

 7th Feb 2024