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Why focus on socio-economic background?
Competitive advantage
Raise your game. Employees from a lower socio-economic background perform at least as well as their more advantaged colleagues, and often outperform them. In professional service firms, for example, trainees from lower socio-economic backgrounds are more likely to achieve the highest performance.
Why restrict your talent pool? Diverse workforces give you access to a wider recruitment pool. You may also benefit from higher employee engagement and lower turnover. Greater diversity could make you a destination employer for the high-performing individuals that will drive your success in the future.
Work on your image. People want to see people who look like them, and they want to work for a business with a purpose. Building a visibly diverse workforce signals a commitment to inclusion and improving society. Companies interested in the long term recognise the benefits of this for their reputation and image.
The next frontier
Recent years have seen a drive to increase diversity in businesses. So far, these efforts have focused primarily on gender and ethnicity. However, forward-looking companies across industries are now looking at how to increase socio-economic diversity as part of this thriving agenda.
The socio-economic backgrounds of people in professional jobs
From a professional background
From a working class background
An untapped opportunity
Individuals from lower socio-economic backgrounds are a positive asset to businesses, but they are under-represented in professional occupations. People whose parents held professional jobs are more likely to be in a professional job themselves. Likewise, people from professional backgrounds are three times more likely to move
to London where the greatest concentration of professional jobs exists. However, larger employers are increasingly recognising the benefits of shifting this pattern, and are targeting the UK’s social mobility ‘coldspots’ to benefit from talent that exists there.
The power gap: the percentage of privately educated people in leading UK roles
People attending independent schools
Privately educated people in leading roles
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Secondment opportunity
The Social Mobility Commission is looking to appoint two secondees to join our dynamic secretariat on a 3-month secondment. The Social Mobility Commission is an advisory arms-length body which is sponsored by the Cabinet Office. The Social Mobility Commission exists to create a United Kingdom where an individual’s future isn’t determined by the circumstances of […]
Latest Linkedin
18/05/2023
Employers play a key role in #socialmobility outcomes for many.
They determine where they set up their business, the types of job roles they create, and how and who they recruit; the income set by employers impacts living standards, pension contributions, as well as spending power in their local economy; they also play an important role in the health and wellbeing of employees.
However, with each part of the UK having an individual identity, history and economy, impacting its local population and their opportunities, the challenges to social mobility, and the solutions, may differ from region to region.
That’s where we think the use of our new #Data Explorer tool can help – join us at this event on 7 June at 12pm for employers to find out how you can utilise our new tool to understand your workforce distribution; provide insight for outreach activity and hiring activity; and to serve and support regional communities.
👇🏻 Register below.
Find out more