Developing
Recommendations for developing a socio-economic strategy.
Activities at each level are related, but distinguished by scale,
detail or commitment.
Analyse data to understand how assessments, progression rates, pay and bonuses or other rewards may be affected by socio-economic background; examine how decisions about this are made (see section above on ‘Using data’).
Create a clear definition of talent at each level of the firm, and an explicit narrative about what experiences, skills and behaviours should contribute to progression.
Create clear processes and policies for work allocation and performance management.
Consider whether your firm offers ‘accelerator’ roles or experiences, which enable individuals who access them to fast-track up the ladder.
Promote and, if able, target training opportunities at those from low socio-economic backgrounds, who regularly receive less training at all levels of jobs.
Ensure training opportunities are evenly taken up by those from all backgrounds.
Provide support and empowerment for management to make informed decisions around business and diversity and inclusion culture priorities.
Establish talent and leadership diversity training schemes that are targeted at those from lower socio-economic backgrounds.
Optimising
Recommendations for optimising your approach.
Activities at each level are related, but distinguished by scale,
detail or commitment.
Undertake more advanced analyses to understand staff profiles and intersectionality in more detail, for example:
- correlations between different diversity characteristics (e.g. socio‑economic background, gender and ethnicity) and relative performance, pay and progression
- regressions of different diversity characteristics (e.g. school attainment, university attended, gender and ethnicity) on progression rates throughout the organisation
- qualitative research to understand issues in more detail
Empower senior leaders with key performance indicators about recruitment, retention, remuneration and progression of colleagues in their area from lower socio-economic backgrounds and with other characteristics; this then can be built into part of senior leaders’ performance review processes.
Ensure that performance management processes celebrate and reward individual strengths and differences, enabling individuals to shine and be promoted on worth, rather than needing to assimilate ‘perceived’ behaviours or conform.
Reward management on developing an inclusive work environment in their team and on client projects.
Processes for work allocation should be communicated clearly and regularly, with consequences for those who continually fail to follow firm processes.
Career tracks must be redesigned to be more flexible, demonstrating alternative routes to senior roles.
Where managers have autonomy, set managers targets regarding socio‑economic diversity in their practices or teams to review decisions made in performance, pay and promotion.