By Sarah Jane Enson, Senior Policy & Programme Manager at the City of London Corporation
If there is a HR buzz-word that keeps doing the rounds in business, it is ‘social mobility’. Social mobility is the ability of people to move up or down the social ladder, and is largely tied to access to wealth, education and jobs.
Many Finance and Professional Services businesses are switched on to this issue and have developed leading initiatives to ensure that their businesses are open to talent from all backgrounds and a hot-bed of opportunity.
Whilst we’re seeing some fantastic examples of social mobility initiatives, many businesses struggle to grasp how to embrace the social mobility agenda and support it in their firms. If this sounds like you, here are some top tips for your business:
- Understand the benefits of social mobility
The positive impact of social mobility on businesses is undisputable.
Diversity of thought increases creativity and solutions for your customers. If your people come from similar backgrounds and studied similar courses at similar universities, you probably have a homogenous team with a single way of thinking. If this sounds like your business, and you are struggling to recruit the people you need, there is no better time to start thinking outside the box on recruitment on who and where you recruit.
Across London, there is an untapped pool of talent who come from different backgrounds, who have climbed different career ladders and have different life experiences. They can meet skills shortages, foster innovation and bring richer brainstorming and stronger customer relationships to your business. A diverse workforce breeds creativity and inclusion, and an environment in which people want to work.
- Get to know your workforce
Only when you build a picture of your business can you target interventions. Collect demographic data as part of your diversity and inclusion strategy. Measure key data on your workforce and job applicants and develop an annual data collection exercise. Data can include type of school attended; first generation to go to university, free school meal eligibility and postcode at 16 years old). This information will paint the picture of the social make-up of your workforce.
Explore:
- How diverse is your applicant pool?
- What are the success rates of candidates from different backgrounds?
- What’s the relationship between employee background and performance?
- Is there a socio-economic pay gap?
- Understand what’s happening in your business
Think about where your people come from, and where your people go.
Where do your people come from? To increase the social diversity of applicants to your business, broaden the universities you target. Consider school leavers and apprentices for your entry level roles and check they have progression routes.
Examine your recruitment tools. Recruiters often look at your current workforce and send you a shortlist of candidates that match that picture. If you want to increase diversity, give your recruiters a diversity brief and widen the places you recruit from.
Where do your people go - and why are they leaving? Many businesses are getting better at recruiting people from diverse backgrounds, but can’t seem to keep them. Capture data on who stays and for how long, who was promoted, who received a pay rise or bonus and ask people why they leave.
Is your business open? Do you allow difference or expect assimilation? Check the business embraces difference and allows people to be themselves.
- Get leaders and the business on board
Gain the input and support of senior colleagues, so that they don’t sponsor talent in their image. Provide training to staff and new hires, so that they are open to diversity in their management and recruitment practices.
- Recruit for potential, not polish
Review your hiring process – Look for where people from diverse backgrounds might be deterred from applying and consider a flexible approach to skills required in your person specifications.
Ensure job descriptions are open to all - Internships and extra-curricular activities aren’t available or accessible to everyone, so favouring applicants who have them might discourage some people from applying.
So, what action can you take today?
Pay the London Living Wage - The easy win is to become living wage accredited. 21% of Londoners are paid less than the living wage, £10.20/hour. Make sure your business is paying staff and contractors appropriately and encourage your suppliers to follow suite.
Pay and advertise your internships – Unpaid internships cost interns over £1,019 per month in London. In investment banking, nearly 80% of jobs go to those who have already worked in the business (i.e., have completed an internship). But many internships are unadvertised, and only 42% of Financial Services internships are paid. Unpaid internships are inaccessible for many and prevent those from less privileged socio-economic backgrounds from gaining the work experience they need.
https://www.suttontrust.com/research-paper/internships-unpaid-unadvertised-unfair/
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