Worker wellbeing is crucial in the construction industry, as labourers are vulnerable to modern slavery and exploitation. It is important that businesses take responsibility for workers on site.
Unseen can help a business understand what’s happening on site, address issues of modern slavery and bring about better working conditions.
We do this through Worker Wellbeing site visits. These involve working with businesses to interview their workers, and their sub-contractor workers, to better understand their experiences and provide recommendations for action.
Read on to find out what we’ve discovered so far – and what you can do to protect workers.
The importance of worker wellbeing site visits
Worker Wellbeing site visits allow a business to get a sense of how workers are treated, and what conditions are like on site.
We ask questions around key themes including recruitment, policies and processes, worker engagement and terms of employment.
Worker Wellbeing visits are valuable for:
- Gathering feedback from workers
- Understanding what people know about policies and processes on site
- Identifying any gaps in provisions for workers
- Flagging risks of modern slavery and labour abuse that might otherwise remain hidden.
Our findings
Our Worker Wellbeing visits to date have revealed six key issues. Here’s the summary:
Issue 1: Limited Right to Work checks
Risk: Without proper checks it is difficult to know if workers are who they say they are.
Companies should: Check every worker’s Construction Skills Certification Scheme (CSCS) card and other ID on site. Scanning CSCS cards with the Smart Check App can help to identify fraudulent cards.
Issue 2: Low awareness of confidential reporting routes
Risk: Workers might feel trapped in a situation on site and be unsure about who they can talk to. Speaking to someone in a non-confidential way can put a worker in danger.
Companies should: Regularly inform workers of a whistleblowing/speak-up line. This can be done during an induction and in toolbox talks.
Issue 3: Pay deductions
Risk: Abnormal pay deductions can indicate that a worker is being exploited. Any deductions might take a worker below National Minimum Wage.
Companies should: Regularly inform workers of their employment rights. This can be done during toolbox talks. Information on how to understand your payslip can also help workers to identify abnormal deductions. The information should be made available in a worker’s preferred language.
Issue 4: Language barriers
Risk: Non-English speaking workers often rely on colleagues to translate for them on site, but you cannot guarantee the worker is receiving correct information. This can leave a worker at risk of exploitation.
Companies should: Ensure that key policy documents are translated into a worker’s preferred language or languages common on site. Management should use independent interpreter services such as Clear Voice to communicate with workers.
Issue 5: Limited terms of employment
Risk: Without clear, written terms of employment that set out pay and hours, workers can be vulnerable to having to work overtime and/or not being paid correctly.
Companies should: Encourage all workers, including the self-employed, to obtain written confirmation of their hours and pay before they start. It is important to regularly inform workers of their employment rights in the UK.
Issue 6: Informal recruitment
Risk: Informal recruitment practices such as finding work through friends and family can increase the chance of exploitation. For example, workers might not receive a contract, or wages might be paid into family or friends’ bank accounts, and as a result the worker might not receive their full wages.
Companies should: During recruitment, ask workers how they found the job, and conduct due diligence to cross-check a worker’s personal details and employment agreement.
Work with subcontractors to raise awareness of these issues. If using referral schemes, conduct due diligence and monitor for any individuals providing a large number of workers to a site.
How unseen can help
You can mitigate the risks outlined above.
Whether you are a client, a main contractor, a sub-contractor or a supplier, you should take responsibility for the role you might be playing in worker exploitation on site.
Unseen’s team of trained experts can work with you to conduct Worker Wellbeing interviews.
After a site visit we provide:
- An in-depth report, scoring your business in eight key areas
- Practical recommendations to improve working conditions and protect workers against key risks
- A confidential, person-centred approach – interviews are conducted by trained, Unseen personnel
- Support with escalation and remediation processes if a potential case of exploitation is identified.
To find out more about our Worker Wellbeing site visits and how Unseen can support your business, get in touch at [email protected].
