Through the Social Mobility Employer Index employers are redesigning their workplaces to be more inclusive and benefiting from more socially diverse workforces.
Across the UK, career and education outcomes are still often shaped by the situation you’re born into and not by your potential.
That means young people from lower socioeconomic backgrounds find themselves locked out of opportunities to pursue careers they’d flourish in.
And this comes at a cost. The UK is missing out on young people who could be at the forefront of healthcare, could be part of upholding our justice system, could be creating innovation in our economy and across our communities.
Shutting these young people out means failing to harness a generation of potential.
In fact, research shows that greater social mobility could increase UK business profits by £1.8bn per year.
Role of employers
At the Social Mobility Foundation, we know that employers play a significant part in turning opportunity into a reality for young people from all social backgrounds.
That’s why we run the Social Mobility Employer Index – the leading authority on employer-led social mobility. The Index is an annual benchmarking and assessment tool and employers taking part are all leaders in building more inclusive, representative, and successful organisations.
Across eight sections, the Index supports organisations to improve social mobility in terms of who gets into the workplace, who gets on, and who belongs.
Who gets in
Our Index shows that employers across the UK are performing strongly in terms of reaching out to young people across the four nations.
Last year, 75% of employers focused careers outreach on schools with lower social mobility. Many are also supporting young people into competitive industries by offering virtual and in-person work experiences.
However, there are key areas that employers could work on:
- Targeted outreach: Talent is everywhere, but opportunity is not. That’s why we recommend targeting outreach to young people from lower socioeconomic backgrounds using key metrics such as Free School Meals eligibility. Using resources like our map, employers can reach schools where young people are often overlooked.
- Provide a variety of routes in: Apprenticeships, school leaver programmes, graduate schemes all give young people a number of ways to access your organisation. Alternative routes are often more accessible to young people from lower socioeconomic backgrounds.
Who gets on
People from lower socioeconomic backgrounds are often paid less and progress at a slower rate than their peers, despite no difference in performance. Not only is this unfair but also impacts productivity.
Employers creating more inclusive workplaces ensure that they pay the real Living Wage or higher, as 82% of entrants in last year’s Index did for all apprenticeships.
They also collect socioeconomic background data, as 74% of last year’s Index employers do.
We recommend:
- Collect socioeconomic background data: What gets measured, gets done. That’s why we recommend employers use the Social Mobility Commission’s guidance to collect data on new hires, current employees, and unsuccessful applicants so you can understand where people are coming up against barriers.
- Collect data and report on the Class Pay Gap: On average, people from lower socioeconomic backgrounds are paid 12% less than their peers, even in the same role. Measuring the Class Pay Gap within your organisation will help you to close it.
Who belongs
When workplaces aren’t inclusive, employees don’t participate fully. We know that belonging is central when it comes to improving social mobility in the workplace.
Our employers generally perform strongly here, often with a dedicated social mobility lead, ensuring accountability, and with many taking part in additional social mobility initiatives across their sectors.
To build inclusion, we support:
- Get senior buy-in: Making workplaces more inclusive is about cultural transformation and leadership. So, ensuring senior leadership understand the importance of social mobility will allow you to make changes more seamlessly.
- Build a social mobility network: Both internally and externally, taking part in social mobility initiatives helps to support belonging and raise the profile of social mobility in the workplace.
This year, the Index is turning ten years old – that’s a decade of impact. To mark ten years, we have updated the recognition system to reflect the growing number of employers joining our movement to stretch advanced organisations and remain accessible to those earlier in their journeys.
We’ll be banding employers as Pioneering, Progressive, Established and Committed. There’s never been a better time to join.
Join the movement for change this year, and set the foundations for a more inclusive workforce where people from all social backgrounds can thrive.