Social mobility at work

Why the business case for social mobility cannot be ignored

When you need experience to get a job, how do you get a job without experience? It’s a knot that work experience applicants endlessly tie themselves up in.

Professional development, and new opportunities, are key to social mobility.A socially mobile society gives everyone a fair chance of reaching their potential. However, for today’s young people where you’re from, and where you’re going, are more tightly linked than ever.

We need to break that cycle. As our economy and ways of working change we need to foster the brightest, most resilient talent from across the UK. We’re offering some ideas and best practice on being sensitive to this challenge and bringing people into your organisation in a fair and supportive way.

Promoting social mobility in the workplace

• Around two thirds of the companies that submitted to the 2018 Social Mobility Index said they now cover travel costs for their work experience placements, comparedto 60% in 2017. This small amount of funding is often the difference between a disadvantaged student taking up aplacement or not.
• One in five organisations said they had a strong link between outreach work and recruitment.
• One in three organisations were now tracking student outcomes after they interact with themas opposed to 14% in 2017. Evidence shows that prolongedinterventions are more effective.
• Connect your work with young people to your graduate recruitment, apprenticeship and school leaver pipelines and track success rates as they apply for recruitment programmes and permanent roles

• Target your outreach work at schools or areas of the country most in need of support.

As a good example, we’re impressed with the efforts of publisher Penguin Random House UK. They offer 450 two-week placements every year. These are all paid the National Living Wage, and all places are offered through random selection. Personal referrals from both staff and external stakeholders are banned, and the company also offers a subsidised flat to those on work experience who live outside London.

Social mobility at work

We believe that employers have an important role in shaping the extent of social mobility in our country. Local decision-makers would once have run programmes that encouraged and supported young people to look beyond the opportunities of their immediate environments. And that’s especially true of under-resourced and deprived areas.

Today, those programmes are underfunded and lack scale. If we are truly to progress as a society, business must do more to support our young people. And in doing so, progress for us all.

We’re proud to work with organisations that support fair and equitable employment. Search available vacancies here.