The city region’s Good Employment Charter helps employers to grow and succeed through improved employment standards by encouraging and supporting employers to develop good jobs and deliver opportunities for people to progress.

With the Charter, employers can support the health, development and resilience of their workforce whilst experiencing the business benefits that come alongside this.

Signing up as a Supporter of the Charter allows employers to join the Good Employment Charter Network to share good employment practices with and learn from other employers in Greater Manchester. There are exclusive Charter Network events designed to educate, engage, and inspire employers, covering topics across all the characteristics of good employment.

Employers within the Charter Network also get access to a growing host of resources, as we signpost to information and support services, helping to improve employment practices across all characteristics.

Engaging with the Charter and improving employment standards will benefit employers with better employee retention and satisfaction and other business benefits of such practice, whilst making a visible commitment to improving the lives of their employees.

Watch our quick explainer video on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lOAiStNR2jU

The Charter has had impact on over 500,000 employees across Greater Manchester, with more than 1,500 employers engaged.

For the latest numbers of employers engaged with the Charter, visit the Impact of the Charter page.

You can view a detailed list of organisations involved on our Supporters and Members pages.

Any organisation that is based in Greater Manchester and is an employer, can join the Greater Manchester Good Employment Charter.

This includes businesses, public sector bodies, service providers, the third sector and voluntary and community organisations.

Employers of any size or sector can become a Supporter of the Charter by making the Supporter Commitment to good employment.

To make the commitment, employers sign up as a Supporter of the Charter by filling out the Registration Form outlining their progress toward, success with and plans to improve practice across our seven good employment characteristics.

All documents needed can be found on the Key Documents page.

Employers will then be approved by the Charter Implementation Unit and officially become Supporters of the Charter.

Equality, Diversity and Inclusion was considered as a characteristic of the Greater Manchester Good Employment Charter.

However, it was decided that EDI is woven throughout our seven characteristics – for example positive recruitment practice involves creating inclusive and open recruitment methods that encourage a diverse workforce. EDI is integral to good employment practice and will be considered when reviewing Supporters for the Membership tier.

There are two membership tiers: Supporters and Member.

To get involved, all employers begin their journey as a Supporter.

Learn more about The Charter Tiers or about the process and how to Get Involved.

Employers who register as Supporters will be required to demonstrate their commitment to improving employment practices during reviews of their performance. This review will be ongoing, conducted in annual reviews for all Supporters and Members, with some elements of self-assessment.

Employers that are signed up to the Charter as Supporters and who feel ready to pursue Membership, must provide evidence to the Charter Implementation Unit that they meet the Membership Criteria in all seven characteristics of good employment.

A template document, along with other information, can be found on the Key Documents page. The Charter Implementation Unit will work closely with employers who meet the Charter's criteria and put them forward to the Charter board, in consideration to become Charter Members.

If you are a Supporter of the Charter that meets the membership criteria, please collect all evidence and express your interest in the Membership tier by completing our Contact Us form (select “We are a Registered Supporter and we want to be an Approved Member of the Charter” option). Once we receive it, a member of the Charter Implementation Unit will contact you with your progression.

You can view a diagram outline the key points of the transition here: click here.

Yes. Employers will not be required to pay for any resources provided by the Greater Manchester Good Employment Charter.

The Charter provides fully funded events and networking opportunities, as well as signposting employers to fully funded or paid resources and support services based on their specific needs and requirements.

The Charter also engages with partners and providers who share the same goal of promoting good employment practices in Greater Manchester.

Once an employer has joined and is a Supporter of the Charter, they will be able to access a wide variety of network resources and attend exclusive webinars and events throughout the year, setup to exchange good employment practices with other employers, share employment challenges, and network with like-minded individuals.

In addition to being in an invaluable community, the Charter Network offers additional support from Member organisations that have previously faced similar employment challenges to yours. When it comes to developing solutions to your employment challenges, having these skeleton foundations at your fingertips can be a big help.

We recognise that some organisations, especially small or medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), may require additional assistance in achieving the requirements of the Charter.

As a result, each organisation will be evaluated on an individual basis to ensure that no one is unfairly excluded from participating in the Charter.

The Charter is open to all employers with employees in Greater Manchester.

Even if some employers are unable to meet the specific membership criteria in Greater Manchester due to differing or higher standards compared to their location, they are still welcome to participate as Supporters and enhance their practices across all Charter characteristics.

To join the Greater Manchester Good Employment Charter, an organisation must have employees in Greater Manchester.

There are other Charters that seek to ensure the same level of good work and good employment practices outside of the region like Liverpool Fair Employment Charter, West Yorkshire Good Employment Charter and West of England Good Employment Charter.

We aim to raise employment standards in Greater Manchester across all businesses regardless of their size or sector; this is an inclusive movement and we are eager to work with and support any organisation striving to improve its standards.

Employers interested in supporting the initiative are welcome to become Supporters, but to become Members only employers with excellent practices across all characteristics of good employment are eligible.

We appreciate that there are a number of existing employment standards and accreditations that deal with a wide range of employment characteristics.

The Greater Manchester Good Employment Charter does not intend to replace these or duplicate processes, but instead to enhance employers' ability to demonstrate they achieve excellent practice across all the characteristics of the Charter.

Our team has been in constant contact with other local charters, like that of the Salford's City Mayor Charter, as well as with other places that are developing similar charters or pledges, such as Liverpool's Fair Employment Charter, the West of England Good Employment Charter, London and the Scottish Government.

Additionally, The Convention of the North set an ambition to develop Charters across the North.

While these Charters will need to be developed from the bottom-up, regional and national employers would find consistency helpful. We will therefore keep working with other locations on their Charters to ensure consistency and find mutual recognition where possible.

The Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) is made up of the ten Greater Manchester councils and the Mayor, who work with local services, businesses, communities and other partners to improve the city region.

The ten councils (Bolton, Bury, Manchester, Oldham, Rochdale, Salford, Stockport, Tameside, Trafford and Wigan) have worked together for many years on issues that affect everyone in the region, like transport, regeneration, and attracting investment.