Social mobility masterclass for employers #4: Advocacy

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October 27, 2020 | SMC Admin

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Advocacy – becoming an advocate for change, with PWC

The fourth session in our employers’ masterclass series, Advocacy, took place on 15 October. Our previous sessions covered outreach, hiring and culture & leadership. Advocacy with PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC) is about changing perceptions and striving for change beyond your organisation. 

Once you have pin-pointed the commercial, as well as the moral, arguments for increasing socio-economic diversity, it then becomes about using the tools, connections and opportunities at your disposal to become a force for change. This may be by building a presence at industry-specific events, playing an active role in national campaigns, linking up with other employers on joined-up initiatives, or leveraging your supply chain. It’s all about having an active national voice, to drive a sustainable change.

Advocating for change will not just do good, it will increase your visibility as a business and has the potential to shape your reputation. A forward-thinking, inclusive ethos positively affects reputation, as customers and clients increasingly want to see diversity reflected in the brands they are associated with. And embracing diversity drives innovation – an ‘innovation mindset’ is six times higher in the most-equal cultures*, something that both your business and sector as whole can benefit from.

This session took the form of:

• A short presentation by the Social Mobility Commission, we are leading advocates for social mobility in England, who produce a rich body of research and guidance for employers.

• An in-depth case-study from PWC who will be talking about what they do to inspire others to take action.

• An interactive workshop for employers in which to explore ideas, share insights and tackle some of the road blocks.

Using the insights from that workshop we are sharing a checklist Masterclass: Advocacy afterpack to help you refine your ideas. And you can find a video of the presentation and case-study above if you’ve not already watched it.

Our employers’ toolkit is also packed with ideas on the data you can use to measure progress, build a strong outreach programme or create a more inclusive culture. Each individual section includes tailored guidance, as well as videos that will give you our top tips on the key themes of data, outreach, hiring, progression and culture & leadership – enabling you to become a real change-maker in this space. You can watch the culture & leadership video below.

We hope that you find these tools and videos both insightful and inspiring.

Our fifth session in this series, Progression with Ministry of Justice (MoJ) is about how you can support employees throughout their careers, by offering equal access to opportunities. It takes place on Thursday 12 November at 2pm.

 

* Accenture’s Getting to Equal report, 2019