Creating opportunities for employers
Creating opportunities allows people to access fair work and progress their career.
As a Fair Work employer, you should give all workers equal opportunities to succeed. This can:
- create opportunities for social mobility
- improve people’s living conditions
- create a workplace culture where everyone can thrive
Training and development are key to creating fair opportunities for everyone.
Find out more about promoting opportunities at work.
How to create opportunities at work
Getting started
Do research to analyse the workforce in your organisation and the wider work sector. Use this research to identify if people face any barriers to recruitment, promotion or progression.
Review any internships to ensure that you offer paid roles that are open to everyone.
Next steps
Check if training and development opportunities are accessible to everyone and offered fairly to people in your organisation.
Put mentor and buddy schemes in place to support new or junior workers, as well as those who have specific needs.
Develop further
Review and create fair recruitment and selection procedures for job applicants.
Read the CIPD guide to inclusive recruitment.
Check your organisation’s promotion and progression procedures to ensure they are fair and based on merit.
Make sure you engage with diverse and local communities. For example, think about where and how you post job advertisements to attract more applicants.
We want to provide our staff with training opportunities to develop themselves to increase skills and decrease turnover. How do we go about doing this?
Employer response
At Connect Three, learning and developmen t are central to how we work. We see growth as a shared responsibility, we invest in our people, and they invest in themselves and each other. Every team member has access to personal development time, coaching, and mentoring, and we use tools like 15Five to set and track goals collaboratively.
This approach has led to high engagement because people feel valued and empowered to progress. By integrating wellbeing into development, from mental health awareness to strengths-based coaching, we’re helping our people grow not only in their roles but as whole individuals. It’s this balance of purpose, development, and wellbeing that continues to drive our Fair Work journey forward.
How do I work with trade unions and what are the benefits to my business?
Employer response
Glasgow Film works with our trade‑union partner Unite through a well‑defined voluntary agreement and an agreed annual schedule of regular meetings. This framework sets out the expectations, roles, and processes that guide how we work together and discuss workplace matters.
The benefits to the business are that the framework provides an agreed structure for consultation and bargaining on the voluntary agreement subjects, and the meeting plan provides a professional process to follow for other discussions too. Operational issues, for example, are first addressed with the relevant line manager before being escalated to the executive team if required. This approach helps us resolve workforce issues early and supports positive, collaborative relationships across staff, management, and the executive team.
Having both the agreement and the meeting structure in place ensures that dialogue is planned and professionally conducted. It enables both the organisation and union representatives to prepare effectively for each conversation. This is particularly important in a seven‑day‑a‑week organisation where workloads are high and union representatives carry out their union duties alongside their core roles and personal commitments. Taking the time to plan properly supports productive discussions, reduces unnecessary pressure, and allows us to keep the wider bargaining unit well informed.