The CIPD’s Working Lives Scotland report is now in its sixth year – spanning from just before, during the height of, to after the pandemic. It is unique in its analysis of Scottish job quality changes and continuity over time, highlighting the inequalities and trade-offs between elements of fair work. The findings and conclusions inform policy-makers, employers and HR practitioners who want to improve job quality across Scottish workplaces.
Every year we report on a range of job quality measures, as well as the underlying and persistent differences by occupation, sector, income, gender, age or disability. This blog highlights only a few areas of focus in this year’s report.
Drivers and outcomes of ill health at work
The impact of poor health on the labour market is of increasing importance to policy-makers across the UK, primarily in its relationship to economic inactivity. Preventing those in work from dropping out of the labour market, however, is just as important. Addressing the underlying issues driving ill health at work should be an organisational and policy priority.
We find that a quarter of Scottish employees – equating to around 690,000 – say that work has a negative impact on either their mental or physical health. High workloads, stress, exhaustion as well as poor workplace relationships, management quality and work–life balance are associated with negative impacts on health. Crucially for organisations, we also find that those who report negative impacts on mental health also report poorer job satisfaction, a higher likelihood to quit and are less likely to recommend their employer or go above and beyond at work.
Impact of automation by AI
Given the increased interest in automation – in particular through artificial intelligence (AI) – and its impact on the labour market, this year’s Working Lives Scotland included questions on this too. Overall, we find that only 12% of Scots had tasks they perform automated by AI, with more automation across higher occupational and socioeconomic classes. Those who had tasks automated were most likely to describe the tasks as repetitive (68%).
Positively, out of those who had tasks automated, the vast majority (72%) report that this has improved their performance at work, with only 7% saying it has worsened it. Looking ahead, 30% of Scots think there is a great deal/fair amount of potential to use AI to automate tasks they perform, with the same occupational and socioeconomic differences.
Work–life balance challenges and negative impacts of commuting time
We look at three dimensions of work-life balance in the report, highlighting the spill over of work into personal lives or, vice versa, personal commitments impacting the ability to work. We consistently find that high workloads, long commuting times and caring responsibilities all have a negative impact on work–life balance. Overall, more than a fifth (22%) of Scottish employees find it hard to relax in their personal time due to their job.
Additional analysis in this year’s report also highlights the impact of long commuting times. We find a stark linear relationship between the length of commute and a range of negative individual and organisational outcomes, with impacts on job satisfaction, likelihood to quit and employee health.
Hybrid working stabilising, but flexible working gaps remain
Home and hybrid working patterns are unchanged from last year, but a gap remains between ways of working and preferences, with a higher proportion of employees who would like to work hybrid. Rates of flexible working more broadly remain higher than pre-pandemic, having risen from 53% to 63%. The vast majority of those working flexibly (76%) say this has had a positive impact on their quality of life and 29% say it has a positive impact on career prospects – an increase from 18% in 2022.
That being said, considerable gaps in the availability of flexible working options persist, especially across the private sector. There is significant unmet demand for some flexible working options, primarily the four-day week, compressed hours and flexi-time – perhaps unsurprisingly the ones that don’t involve any loss of income.
Employee voice scores and manager ratings improving
Our employee voice scores have improved for the first time in two years, as have manager ratings overall. Interestingly, this correlates with managers reporting better access to training and having more time to manage staff in our UK-wide Good Work Index data.
On the other hand, nearly a fifth (19%) of all Scottish employees report no access to any voice channels, including one-to-one meetings with managers and team meetings. Concerningly, there has been no improvement here over the report series.
Final thoughts
Our evidence, in addition to a range of academic research, consistently shows that improving work for employees does not only impact their own wellbeing, but also their job satisfaction and performance, while supporting retention and recruitment. This in turn boosts organisational productivity and the country’s economy as a whole.
Understanding the relationships between different aspects of fair work, and the inequalities workers experience, are the first steps towards improving job quality. Working Lives Scotland will continue to add to this crucial evidence base.
Read the full Working Lives Scotland 2025 report here