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Workforce

Workforce

All people are welcomed, respected and their professional and lived experience valued within the museums and galleries sector. Museums and galleries actively diversify the workforce and adopt Fair Work principles. All employees and volunteers have access to opportunities that develop their skills and confidence.

A three strand celtic knot with pink, green and blue for each strand. The pink strand has the word Resilience in white, the blue strand has Workforce in white and the greens strand has Connection in white. Three blue bubbles sit next to the blue workforce strand containing the words "Fair Work", "Diversity", and "Skills & Confidence".
Workforce
Fair Work

Fair Work

Outcome

Scotland’s museums and galleries are attractive employers which offer positive working life experiences. They are places where Fair Work drives success, wellbeing, and prosperity for individuals, organisations, and society.

Sector actions
  • Invest in development opportunities for all staff and volunteers.
  • Implement fair and progressive practices across all areas of work including recruitment, pay, and contracts.
  • Pay the real living wage and only use zero-hours contracts in appropriate ways.
MGS actions
  • Support delivery of Fair Work practices by sharing access to relevant toolkits and resources.
  • Continue to encourage good recruitment practices by promoting Fair Work approved jobs on the MGS website and advocating for the Fair Work First policy.
  • Ensure that organisations which receive MGS grant funding meet good fair work practices.
Resources

You can find out more about the Fair Work priority area by reading articles, advice guides, blogs and case studies on the MGS website.

Focus On: Fair Work
This blog introduces the Fair Work priority area, it highlights useful resources, and suggests practical steps that museums and galleries can take to achieve the aims of the strategy.
Advice guide: Fair Work resources for employers
This guide highlights a range of websites and tool kits which museums and galleries can use to develop Fair Work practices.
Workforce
Diversity

Diversity

Outcome

Scotland’s museums and galleries diversify the workforce (including trustees, staff, and volunteers) seeking to prioritise those who have been previously underrepresented.

Sector actions
  • Review and improve recruitment processes to attract a more diverse workforce.
  • Understand and address barriers within organisational cultures, including embedding anti-racism and anti-ableism practices, to build inclusive workplaces that support and attract a more diverse workforce.
  • Value and embed a range of career entry and progression routes, including vocational learning, to provide opportunities for all.
  • Proactively increase the diversity of sector leadership.
MGS actions
  • Seek out and develop new partnerships to support diversification of the future workforce including working with young people to explore careers in culture.
  • Improve recruitment processes by providing training and resources on areas including best-practice approaches to job advertising.
  • Build the ability of the sector to support a diverse workforce by offering anti-racism and anti-ableism training.
  • Support an increase in the number and diversity of volunteers through engagement with programmes such as Make Your Mark.
Resources

You can find out more about the Diversity priority area by reading articles, advice guides, blogs and case studies on the MGS website.

Focus On: Diversity
This practical guide contains a range of resources which can help museums and galleries to improve the diversity of the museum sector workforce.
Training: Workforce for the Future
This training programme aims to increase workforce diversity by encouraging young people to consider a career in the museum sector.
Workforce
Skills & Confidence

Skills & Confidence

Outcome

Scotland’s museums and galleries workforce has equal access to skills development opportunities and is empowered to operate ambitiously.

Sector actions
  • Prioritise the development of skills essential to delivery of the strategy at all organisational workforce levels including vocational routes, leadership and ongoing continuous professional development.
  • Support the development of core museum skills to meet identified skills gaps – currently in collections care.
  • Encourage innovative, collaborative, and positive leadership.
MGS actions
  • Continue to lead on delivering accredited learning, including Modern Apprenticeships, through the MGS Skills Academy.   
  • Improve sector skills and confidence through inclusive, tailored, and high-quality programmes that meet sector and strategy ambitions.
  • Provide opportunities for the museum sector workforce to share their knowledge and practice.
  • Enable the culture and heritage sectors to respond to the identified skills needs by collaborating with partners and contributing to the Our Place in Time Skills Investment Plan.
Resources

You can find out more about the Skills & Confidence priority area by reading articles, advice guides, blogs and case studies on the MGS website.

Focus On: Skills & Confidence
Explore the resources in this guide to find out how you can build the skills and confidence of the workforce at your museum or gallery.
Training: Modern Apprenticeships
Modern Apprenticeships enable people to earn a wage and gain an industry-recognised qualification through work-based learning.
A group of adults in business attire stand in a group on an interior wooden deck. Behind them is assorted naval equipment including a cannon, a life ring, and a large figurehead in the shape of a unicorn's head.
HMS Unicorn
Wavemakers: Creating a New Volunteering Programme
HMS Unicorn diversified its workforce and strengthened its ties to the local community by offering meaningful museum volunteering opportunities to hard-to-reach groups in the Dundee area.
The main entrance to Aberdeen Art Gallery. It is a long neo-classical building with a modern upper floor. There is a large tree growing on the pavement in front of the gallery.
Aberdeen Archives, Gallery & Museums
Workforce for the Future: Creating the 'Weird Trail'
A Workforce for the Future project at Aberdeen Archives, Gallery & Museums with Hanover Street Primary School.
Two light skinned adults with long, tied back hair and a medium skinned adult with short cropped dark hair and a dark beard, stand around a table that has several different items of old clothing on it. The adults all wear coloured gloves.
Museums and Galleries Edinburgh
Dressed For Success: a Step Change for the Dress History Collection at Museums & Galleries Edinburgh
The Museums & Galleries Edinburgh team talk about the impact of their Dressed For Success project, funded by Museums Galleries Scotland.