Working But Struggling: Why In-Work Poverty Is a Business Issue
June 4, 2025
Working But Struggling: Why In-Work Poverty Is a Business Issue
Business in the Community’s Scotland Director, Louisa Macdonell explores why tackling in-work poverty—impacting one in seven working households in Scotland—is a business imperative and explores actionable steps for employers.
If you look around your workplace — at all your colleagues — consider this: for every seven working households in Scotland, one is living in poverty.
One in seven.
Employers are not expected to solve this social issue, but they have a role to play. In-work poverty is not just a social concern — it’s a business issue. Evidence shows that financial stress among employees can lead to lower productivity, higher absenteeism and turnover, and weaker staff engagement.
At a time when businesses face labour shortages, rising costs, and greater scrutiny of their employment practices, job quality has become central to attracting and retaining talent and to fulfilling wider environmental, social, and governance commitments.
Addressing in-work poverty is not only a moral imperative, but also a route to improving operational efficiency and long-term workforce sustainability.
Scotland’s commitment to becoming a Fair Work Nation by 2025 adds further urgency. Employers that take meaningful, visible action now will be better positioned to meet public expectations, build employee and customer trust and future-proof their operations.
The launch of the Work Pathways funding by the Robertson Trust will help the development of practical actions that employers can take to not just relieve poverty but address some of the causes of poverty.
BITC Scotland is proud to be part of this 3-year programme and is working with our members to interrogate not just the WHY this is a business issue but the HOW can my business look at this and show up in a more responsible way.
This report is the first step of the project for us and looks at both the WHY and surfaces the WHAT in the report review launched today.
The next stage is the HOW. Our member businesses will come together from September to learn and to lead on the implementation of the recommendations through a year-long practical Lab.
Bringing responsible business organisations together to take on social and environmental challenges that are bigger than all of us, is what Business in the Community does best.
