Capgemini UK features as the highest ranked employer in the IT & Telecoms sector

The Social Mobility Foundation has announced the Social Mobility Employer Index, recognising the top 75 UK employers who have taken the most action to improve social mobility in the workplace. As the leading authority on employer best practice, the Index ranks Britain’s employers on the work undertaken to ensure they are open to accessing and progressing talent from all backgrounds.

This year, Capgemini UK is again featured as the highest ranked employer in the IT & Telecoms sector and has bagged the 33 position, in the overall index for the commendable work it has taken to tackle this and enable those from lower socio-economic backgrounds to succeed. We are proud to have been recognised for our continued commitment to social mobility throughout the Covid-19 pandemic.

Measures taken by us to improve social mobility include:

• Our market-leading apprenticeship programme, which creates opportunities for those who are looking for an alternative to university
• Our volunteer-led Coding Academy with Code Your Future, trains and supports refugees and people from disadvantaged backgrounds, with several of the course participants now working at Capgemini
• Targeting our schools outreach work on social mobility “cold spots”
• Working closely with organisations including The Prince’s Trust, Urban Synergy, Apps for Good and more to support young people from a wide range of backgrounds
• Internal advocacy in highlighting different backgrounds and routes into our industry from team members at all levels
• Our strengths-based recruitment process also looks for potential rather than past experience, which supports recruiting apprentices and graduates who may have not had the opportunity to take up work experience.

The Rt. Hon. Alan Milburn, chair of the Social Mobility Foundation, added: “As the Covid-19 crisis continues and the UK descends into a sharp recession, more will need to be done to avoid a job catastrophe, for young people particularly. Already 60% of the jobs that have been lost since the pandemic began have been among 18-24 year olds.
I urge those sectors of our economy that are not represented in this year’s Index to participate in 2021 and commit to joining the ranks of those employers who are already making such a difference to young people’s life chances.”

The Index assesses employers on everything – from the work they do with young people and their apprenticeships, through to their recruitment and selection processes and how people from lower income backgrounds progress up the ladder within their organisations. For the 2020 index, 119 employers from 17 sectors, who collectively employ almost one million people in the UK, answered around 100 questions.