Member Article

Deloitte is a top five employer for social mobility

Deloitte has today been ranked fifth in the Top 50 employers in the UK’s first-ever Social Mobility Employer Index*. The Index is a joint initiative between the Social Mobility Foundation and Social Mobility Commission, and showcases progress towards improving social mobility in the workplace.

Deloitte has been praised for the actions it is taking to ensure they are open to accessing and progressing talent from all backgrounds. For example, Deloitte was the largest firm to adopt contextualised recruitment, enabling the firm to make more informed choices about candidates by considering the context in which their achievements have been gained and to look for potential.

The firm has recently launched a five year social impact strategy to help improve the lives of one million people. One Million Futures will see the firm work with more than 45 charities, schools and social enterprises across the UK to invest in a range of programmes that seek to raise aspirations, improve skills and develop leaders. This will include supporting 27 education and employability charities and social enterprises across the UK through Deloitte’s Society Partners programme.**

Richard Bell, practice senior partner for Deloitte in the North West, added: “We are thrilled to be recognised in the Social Mobility Employer Index. We strongly believe a person’s background shouldn’t dictate their future. At Deloitte, we are working hard to ensure that our talent pool is diverse and reflects the make-up of today’s society and have taken various steps to make this happen. We want to show that everyone can thrive, develop and succeed in our firm based on their talent and their potential.”

The Rt Hon Alan Milburn, chair of the Social Mobility Commission, added: “Social mobility is hugely important if the UK is to become more productive and make the most of its talent. But research has shown that people from working class backgrounds – even if they are high educational attainers – are less likely to secure professional jobs because they have less access to the networks and knowledge to navigate the system.

“The Top 50 firms are paving the way by changing their workforce strategies to ensure they get don’t lose out on talented people from less privileged backgrounds. We want the index to herald a step change towards improving social mobility by encouraging many more employers to compete to recruit, and keep, the best and brightest candidates – regardless of background.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Pablo Rodriguez .