Social Mobility at Mitie

The Mitie Foundation exists to provide varied life opportunities for disadvantaged groups within the communities we are proud to operate in. Our initiatives change minds, raise aspirations and remove barriers, opening ways in to sustainable employment. In doing so we attract the very best potential, enriching the diversity of our workforce.

Our Vision

A registered charity, our vision is to improve employment chances for people with barriers to employment. We harness the skills and expertise of our workforce, our clients and our supply chain to support people of all backgrounds towards improved career chances.

Our Pillars

Employability Aim:

Ready2Work: Through meaningful work experience, Ready2Work gives candidates exposure to the Mitie world and its clients.  Our tailored approach enables individuals to upskill and rebuild confidence, within a supportive environment.   The completion of the programme provides candidates a route in to sustainable employment and offers Mitie with an additional recruitment stream.

Education Aim:

Schools: By developing key relationships with partner schools in socially deprived areas, we increase awareness of Mitie and the opportunities within the FM sector. Students gain employability skills and enhance their career aspirations, helping to shape tomorrows workforce.

Prisons: By working collaboratively with prison establishments, we increase the employment prospects and aspirations of those serving a custodial sentence.  Beyond Bars serves to show case the talent available, changing business minds and creating employment opportunities.

Abdul and Imran joined the Ready 2 Work programme in Northampton. Their journey started when they had to leave Afghanistan in February 2022. They were referred to the programme via their work coach in the DWP.

Imran Ibrahimi, Smallworks Coordinator at Mitie said:

“My biggest obstacle when I first arrived in the UK was the language barrier, but Mitie helped to eliminate that obstacle. Being in a new country and new environment, everything was a lesson, and the Ready2Work Programme provided the support somebody like myself needed. I am still working on it, but Mitie has given me the confidence to believe I can do it.”

In April we are celebrating the 10th anniversary of the Mitie Foundation: 2013 - 2023

To kick off, we spoke with Mollie Green, Head of the Mitie Foundation, shared her reflections, motivations and ambitions.

Mollie Green said:

“It has been an incredible journey so far; knowing that you are actively helping support individuals with barriers to employment is so rewarding.

I have been fortunate enough to meet colleagues who have come through the foundation, and they have all spoken about how supportive the foundation and Mitie have been and that it is a great place to work.

I really want the foundation to become the norm for Mitie, for employers to understand the benefits of supporting individuals with barriers and the change they can make to their lives.

Thank you to all the colleagues who have supported the foundation over the past 10 years, thank you to the chair of trustees who have given the foundation guidance and support and thank you to the foundation team for their ongoing passion and hard work to drive change to people's lives. “

Mitie Social Value Targets - 2022

We are proud to have achieved all 13 of our social value targets, including enrolling over 3.5% of our employees through an apprenticeship scheme, spending over £1 million on VCSEs and recruiting over 4% of our colleagues from the Armed Forces.

Click on the image below to read the 2022 ESG Report.

Ready2Work 2022

A fantastic event at the Shard on Friday 9^th December awarding our Ready2Work candidates their certificates for completing the programme. It was great to see how much their confidence has grown and to see how far they have come in the short time period of the programme.

Thank you to the mentors who joined us, it was great to hear how hard working and dedicated the individuals were to their placements.

2022 has been another successful summer delivering our Virtual Spotlight Sessions.

✔ 4 Virtual Spotlight Sessions delivered
📧 100+ people registered for the sessions
👩‍🏭 100+ people introduce to careers with Mitie
🎁 30 hrs of volunteering gifted by colleagues

Our virtual sessions may be over, but our Ready2Work Programme will be running in Watford & London over the coming months.

Our first Ready2Work Northampton programme came to an end on Friday 19th August, and we celebrated the success of the last 8 weeks.

• Ready2Work candidates completed over 1,000 hours of voluntary work experience
• Mitie colleagues used their #GivingBack hours to provide 50+ volunteering hours supporting candidate development
• 3 candidates have been offered employment with Mitie and will be starting in the coming weeks

A big well done to all candidates, and thank you to the Mitie colleagues that have mentored and supported throughout this programme.

In February 2022 we've been delivering our #Ready2WorkEnable in Birmingham. This programme is in partnership with Mencap, and we've been introduced to 6 young people eager to get into work.

The candidates have completed Pre-Placement week learning about Mitie and how to showcase their skills and personalities during their programme. On Monday they will be starting work experience within various business units in Mitie, based in our Mitie office and customer's sites.

Essex County Council – The Future

Our Ready2Work colleagues completed their 8 week programme on August 30th 2019 which culminated in a celebration and award ceremony in the Council Chamber Foyer.  The Chairman of Essex County Council, Councillor John Jowes, attended and awarded certified to our R2W colleagues.

Our mentors make the programme the success it is; a huge “thank you” to those who mentored and supported our R2W colleagues.

Peter Finch of our Post & Distribution team commented “it was amazing to see the transformation of our candidate from a shy, reserved young man at the beginning of the programme, to a more confident, enthusiastic individuals at the end”.

Steve Trendall of our County Hall FM team said “Always a privilege to be involved in this initiative and these are the schemes that make it a joy to come to work for.  As a mentor it was please to see how the candidates grew in confidence and in the roles they were tasked with.  I hope this scheme continues to grow and I am more than happy to continue as a mentor to pass on knowledge to improve the opportunities of others”.