Work/Life is a research project conducted by the Innovation School at the Glasgow School of Art (GSA) in collaboration with Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE). This six-month project explored equality and inclusivity around how people work and live in Moray. The project was commissioned in response to HIE’s previous research around occupational segregation and inclusive growth. HIE’s previous research, as outlined in the 2017 report ‘Occupational Segregation in the Highlands and Islands’, provided quantitative data on patterns of segregation across the HIE area. GSA worked with HIE to pull out key statistics from the report, which formed the brief for this piece of research.

The Innovation School at GSA was asked to design and conduct a piece of research that would interrogate previous data at a deeper, local level, and uncover the lived experiences behind the big data; effectively, the
‘stories behind the stats’. Using innovation research methods, our aim was to better understand and represent underlying causal phenomena, and to more meaningfully depict the experience of citizens of Moray. Rather than doing research on people, the research was done with people, using design-led approaches and methods that
are appropriate, non-invasive, creative, and novel. By working with communities and people in this way, the research insights generated were experiential in nature, rich, and provided innovative and inclusive ways of opening up discussion and participation. In addition, we used ethnographic photography to capture stories, relationships and places encountered during the research. Together, these approaches provide a powerful way of representing local lived experiences.

This report will outline the Work/Life project background, research approach, key research outcomes and insights, and opportunities for future action in terms of how it connects to other activity in the region. During the project, the research team engaged with over 300 people of
all ages in the local community through workshops, pop-up events, interviews, site visits and ethnographic photography. A public exhibition of photography from the research was held at The Tolbooth in Forres, from 14th–17th September 2018, where over 200 locals came to view the work and talk about the research.

The research has generated six key insights:

1. There is a strong presence of resilient, entrepreneurial, micro-business activity among women in Moray that is thriving, but could be better nurtured and supported;
2. There is a need for local childcare provision to be more exible;
3. Working families would bene t if there was a way of incentivising businesses to be more family-friendly;
4. When considering their future careers and opportunities for development, young people want to feel a greater sense of ownership, e.g. spaces, means and access to social and cultural capital;
5. Young people in Moray want to feel more empowered about their future;
6. It is a challenge to better engage the third age (e.g. people aged 55+ who have retired or are considering retirement and who possess skills and experience that could still prove valuable in the workplace or in the third sector) in these conversations.

These insights were framed as questions to prompt further discussion and exploration at a Stakeholder Workshop, led by GSA and HIE at the Tolbooth in Forres on
17th September, 2018. A range of support organisations in the region attended this. During the workshop, stakeholders identified existing initiatives that connect to this research, and put forward opportunities for future action.

These included:

• Developing a collective understanding of the future workforce demographic in the Moray region;
• Planning for integration of technology in the future and the implications for the workforce;
• Exploring new and agile ways of working and Moray careers of the not-too-distant future;
• Exploring career models and partnerships across generations and skill sets;
• Supporting and nurturing micro- businesses – and not just those who want to grow (the research identi ed a strong presence of those run by women);
• Making micro-business support more visible and tangible;
• Better engagement with transient populations e.g. RAF and MOD;
• More opportunities for women at work to address gender inequality – whether that be for mothers through exible childcare or providing more opportunities for MOD/ RAF women to utilise their skill sets;
• Better prepare the younger population for work through innovation of the curriculum and working models – as well as teaching resilience.

While this research has provided rich insights on working life in Moray, it is HIE’s ambition to be able to apply a similar methodology to other areas across the region, in order to identify opportunities and actions to address occupational segregation.