Social Mobility in the Workplace
We invited a host of HR professionals to join us for our recent roundtable centred on social mobility in the workplace. Elspeth introduced the session by defining socio-economic diversity and the factors that can impact the attraction and retention of a diverse talent pool. In its simplest form, socio-economic diversity relates to a collection of factors about an individual, including educational background and economic status. The definition of social groups has grown in complexity in recent years, now officially divided into seven social classes in the UK, making it even more challenging to support and measure socio-economic diversity in the workplace.
Alongside the fundamental morality of ‘doing the right thing,’ there is a significant commercial benefit to a diverse workforce. Indeed, there was agreement right from the start that HR metrics on socio-economic diversity are becoming a priority for audit purposes from investors. Therefore, firms have seen increased pressure to attract and retain this talent.
Attracting Diverse Talent:
The importance of language and accessibility throughout the end-to-end hiring process is crucial in attracting diverse talent, particularly for roles such as PA, EA, and business support. Including only the requirements in an advert will broaden the applicant pool and reduce the current educational gap, where studies show that individuals with bachelor’s degrees have an employment rate over 40% higher than those without. Similarly, when we look internally at HR roles requiring a CIPD qualification, while the resource it provides can be very useful to individuals and organisations, circumstances that may have hindered a candidate’s chance of studying the qualification, such as the cost of self-funding and the study time, must be considered. Opening roles up to reasonable adjustments will also encourage a broader candidate pool to apply. Indeed, we typically see two- to four-fold increases in the numbers of applicants for roles advertised with part-time or remote opportunities.
Moreover, where the advert is placed will undoubtedly impact the applicant pool. Ensuring they are placed on a variety of accessible job boards, as well as advertised internally—not just offered through ‘personal networks’—will also help champion internal progression and help reach a wider talent pool. Additionally, there were some encouraging initiatives around utilising the ATS to anonymise profiles shared by attendees, which has helped reduce unconscious bias from decision-making. While it is difficult to collect significant data around this, it has, on the face of it, improved the diversity of candidates further along the interview process.
Interviewing:
Conversation seamlessly progressed to reflections on the interview process, where again it was interesting to observe the self-awareness and occasional exasperation from attendees around a lack of accessibility and an absence of interview training. From an agency perspective, it can be challenging to schedule interviews with requirements that may not consider the cost of travel for candidates or may disregard limitations around personal access to laptops and quiet spaces for virtual interviews. Often, the requirements can be amended upon request; however, opening up a safe space for these conversations from the start to facilitate a psychologically safe environment is an area of improvement across all recruitment processes.
There was also clarity in thought around the current absence of interview training for hiring managers, which leads to unstructured questions, limited feedback, and stronger unconscious bias in the selection process. As one of the most popular courses, Lucy Chamberlain’s (CEO and Founder of C&C Search, ICF Master Coach, Global Speaker, W Corp Ambassador, and UN Delegate) Interview Masterclass delivers training to managers at all levels on the types of questions to ask in interviews that will evaluate the capabilities and core values of candidates. This, alongside demonstrating the importance of structured interviews and interviewer preparation, enhances the ‘success’ of hires from retention and productivity and facilitates an equal platform for evaluation.
Early Careers Programmes:
Arguably, the most successful way to increase the pool of socio-economically diverse talent in your organisation has been through early career programmes, from work experience, internships, apprenticeships, and graduation schemes. Partnerships with foundations and charities that support minority and/or vulnerable groups in the workplace—from 1-week work experience at global management consultancies to 6-month internship programmes at venture capitalist organisations—provide access to diverse talent pools and often offer resources for additional childcare support, interview travel costs, and technology, which supports the transition into the workplace.
In addition to that, there has been a big focus on apprenticeships within the legal sector, with the City Century Scheme helping to bridge the educational gap within the industry. For Early Careers programmes, partnering with a broad variety of universities will again help to widen the selection pool for candidates who may not otherwise be encouraged to apply.
Lifecycle:
Across the employee lifecycle, three key areas consistently came up around mentorships and promotions as key drivers of retention. Building clear, alternative pathways is crucial. While clear global skills matrices may not be possible for small to medium-sized organisations, the point remains that ensuring employees understand what is possible and how to get there is extremely important for encouraging promotions for all employees.
Moreover, encouraging internal movements will ensure teams are more inclusive across the business and facilitate progression and new challenges for employees who may not have access, confidence, or opportunities to drive retention.
The benefits of formalised mentorship programmes have found their way into many of our roundtables and seminars in this series. From a social mobility perspective, structured programmes can support in a plethora of ways: highlighting ‘success stories’ within the business, creating cross-departmental partnerships that facilitate future internal movement and progression, and creating an additional environment to identify goals and overcome challenges. Several attendees present shared their successes in increasing uptake to as high as 30% of the workforce by including questions around mentorship in employee surveys and providing structural outlines and potential exercises for partnerships based on surveys.
A major project for many companies represented at the roundtable has been around ensuring company benefits are inclusive and working on increasing uptake in current benefit schemes. Collecting data through anonymous surveys was a key way of learning what types of benefits your employees want, which can support retention and ensure all employees feel supported and included. One client shared how making the annual survey anonymous increased the uptake in completion from 15% to 64%, therefore, producing more accurate data that can be used to track where the company is currently at and also helps to measure the success of future events and initiatives. Along similar lines, providing alternative options to alcohol-based events or after-work events that may not be possible for some who then miss out on company socials, is often picked up as a pain point by employees following these surveys. For small and medium-sized organisations, providing a choice of benefits through a ‘cashback benefits’ plan can be an effective way of allowing for individual preference and engagement in benefit schemes while still providing a level of structure and monitoring.
Overall, it was insightful to hear the challenges and successes of attendees around how HR can promote, recruit, and retain socio-economically diverse employees. There was a genuine interest in the successes of other organisations around early career programmes, gaining qualitative data to support HR metrics and produce more aligned benefits and cultural initiatives.
For recruitment in HR, Marketing, Client Services, PA, EA, or Business Support roles, or for more information on training, please contact us at grace@candcsearch.co.uk or elspeth@candcsearch.co.uk. We look forward to seeing you at future events!
