SDG8: Policies and Practice
The information contained on this webpage overviews the various policies, practices and operational measures in place at the University of Glasgow in support of SDG8 – Decent Work and Economic Growth.
Living Wage:
The University of Glasgow is proud to be an Accredited Living Wage employer. This means:
- We are committed to paying all employees at least the Living Wage
- We ensure that all casual workers engaged directly by the University are paid at least the Living Wage
- We have set up our procurement procedures to ensure that we engage with contractors and potential contractors to encourage them, as far as possible, to also pay the Living Wage to people regularly working on our premises.
Labour rights and trade union recognition:
The University of Glasgow recognises labour rights (freedom of association and collective bargaining) for all staff and formally recognises four Trade Unions (UCU, Unison, Unite and GMB) for consultation and negotiation purposes on behalf of all staff. This includes women and international staff. Each represents a different group of staff but employees who wish to join a Trade Union may join any that they wish.
We value the role that the Union representatives play within the University and the support that they provide to their members. Nominated representatives will be provided with reasonable paid time off to attend Union accreditation training sessions, as well as to fulfil their duties as representatives.
The University has a formal Recognition Agreement signed by recognised Trade Unions listed above. This sets out the formal arrangements for collective consultation and negotiation and the staff groups each Union has such formal collective rights for. During Collective consultation the unions represent all employees that fall within the Recognition Agreement whether they are members or not of that union.
The Agreement also includes details of the time off granted to the elected Union Officers, also known as Facilities Time. Finally, it includes the terms of reference for the Joint Committee of Consultation and Negotiation which includes representatives from each of the Trade Unions along with Senior Managers on behalf of the University. This is a 'single table' arrangement, so all topics are discussed with all the Unions in this forum.
If there are topics for consultation which only impact some groups of staff these may be discussed in ad-hoc sub-groups of the JCCN with a summary report being presented to all members at the next full meeting. The minutes of the JCCN are shared with the HR Committee which is a sub-committee of the University Court.
Equivalent Rights Outsourcing Policy:
The University of Glasgow’s Supply Chain Code of Conduct (reviewed in 2025) requires suppliers and subcontractors to uphold equivalent worker rights and employment standards.
Suppliers and sub-contractors must ensure workers are free from forced, bonded or child labour, receive at least minimum wage or a realistic living wage, work reasonable hours, and have access to safe and hygienic working conditions. The Code also protects freedom of association, equal pay, non-discrimination, dignity at work, and protection from bullying or harassment.
Importantly, suppliers are required to ensure that subcontractors and wider supply-chain partners comply with the same standards, extending worker protections to outsourced activities.
Policies on pay scale equity:
The University of Glasgow is committed to the principles of equal pay for all of our employees. We operate a single job evaluation scheme to measure the relative value of all jobs in our pay and grading structures within an overall framework that is consistent, transparent and fair. The University aims to eliminate any gender bias in our pay and remuneration systems and understands that equal pay between males and females is a legal right in accordance with the Equality Act 2010, Public Sector Equality Duty and European law.
Our Policy (reviewed in 2025) aims to reflect equal pay with respect to remuneration, development and career progression for all staff in ensuring that the level of reward is appropriate to the relative size and content of the job. It is in the interests of the University to ensure that we have fair and just pay and remuneration systems as this assists in attracting and retaining the best employees. The University’s policies and procedures associated with pay and remuneration have been developed and implemented with a view to eliminating gender bias. Further, we regularly review our processes, in partnership with the recognised trade unions, to ensure their integrity in relation to equal pay considerations.
We believe that eliminating gender bias in pay and remuneration processes demonstrates the University’s commitment to its employees and students and best practice through equitable, fair and transparent pay and reward mechanisms whilst effectively managing University finances. We believe avoiding unfair discrimination in the ‘application of equitable and fair pay and performance systems that reward excellence’ helps the University to realise its ambitions as outlined in the University Strategy (launched in 2026).
Our equal pay objectives are to:
- eliminate any unfair, unjust or unlawful practices that impact on pay
- take appropriate action to address these accordingly
- regularly monitor and review the application of its policies and procedures and
- conduct an annual equal pay review in terms of gender, and within the relevant timeframe, to do so for disability and ethnicity in accordance with the Public Sector Equality Duty.
The results of annual equal pay auditing inform future action planning in relation to potential issues identified, i.e. addressing occupational segregation. Additionally, other diversity initiatives upon which the University is embarking, may positively impact upon aspects of equal pay and occupational segregation, e.g. the Public Sector Equality Duty Equality Outcomes, the University’s Equality and Diversity Strategy and Athena SWAN Charter status.
Tracking pay scale for gender equity:
The University recognises that it is important to tackle the underlying causes of the gender pay gap, as these apply to equality of opportunity, career development and progression. Success in these areas is demonstrable in the increased representation of women across our senior grade cohort in the period since the 2023 published report.
The most recent Academic Promotion round, concluded in the summer of 2024, reported a higher number of successful female applications to professorial level than that of male applications. This is fundamental to our ambition to achieve parity in demographics at this level. Consequently, females now represent 35% of our Professoriate, an increase of 4% from 2022. Additionally, our Senior Management Group is now almost 50% female, an increase of 3% from 2022.
Overall, the University continues to make good progress in reducing our gender pay gap (2024/25 report) from our position in 2020, while noting a relatively static picture with respect to the average pay gaps and a slight increase in the median pay gap since 2022.