There is plenty of compelling evidence indicating that the most disadvantaged in the UK are less likely to progress through the career ladder and those who are economically advantaged tend to stay at the top. Over the last few years many organisations have started to embed social mobility strategies as a way of opening up opportunities to those from these disadvantaged pools of talent. We at AMS are committed to levelling the playing field through our commitment to social mobility.
What are we doing?
We formed an employee resource group (ERG) for Social Mobility in 2022, co-led by 2 x Leaders from across our business and sponsored by our Growth & Commercial Managing Director, who sits on Exco. Our Social Mobility ERG is the second largest internal DEI community at AMS playing a critical role in driving the overall social mobility agenda and providing a safe community space enabling different ideas and perspectives to thrive
2 years ago we started collecting social mobility data for our UK based employees – 76% of our employees have voluntarily submitted their data
What does the data tell us? 36% of our employees are from working class or lower socio economic backgrounds, which is slightly less than the national benchmark of 39% We will continue to work tirelessly to increase the representation up to and beyond this national benchmark
We were successful in reaching the Social Mobility Foundation 2022 Employer’s Index Top 75 organisations, recognising our commitment and support to social mobility in AMS. We are currently pulling together our 2023 submission
We continue to partner with the UK charity, Beam, who support homeless people. Since partnering, we have committed that all new employees who started with the business after 1 March 2022, are given a £10 voucher to allocate to an individual supported by Beam to help them off the streets and into a long-term career and home
AMS Client roundtables – throughout 2023 we will be hosting 3 social mobility focused virtual events with our public sector stakeholders
We are partnering with organisations to support in enhancing the reach to under-represented talent pools, including Recruit for Spouses and Bridge of Hope
We support the Princes Trust NI employability programmes including “Get Hired Programmes”, “Enterprise Challenge” and “Unlock Skills for Work” in lower socio economic areas in NI
We are proud of the progress that we are making, we know we have more work to do and we remain committed to making positive change.
I’d love to hear your thoughts on what initiatives your organisations are embarking on that are having a positive impact on social mobility.
In Myth 4 of the AMS Whitepaper “Exploding Digital Myths in Talent Acquisition”, AMS experts discuss the effect of digital transformation on the talent acquisition profession. The paper looks holistically at the fundamental shift that digital transformation has on the way we operate in our businesses as well as diving into the detail of how certain tech enhancements are supporting the various stages of our recruitment processes.
For example, the time saved by the automation of administrative recruitment tasks has allowed us to focus on more strategic, value added and human relationship building aspects of our jobs as well as providing a faster service which is so important in today’s competitive job market. Technology also helps us to engage our candidates and give them a slick experience that reflects well on the company brand. Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) are also evolving rapidly and are helping us push boundaries. However, I think it’s also important to recognise the limitations of tech and that compassion, trust, respect, honesty and empathy are key human elements to building relationships and so the recruitment of people will always rely on a human touch.
The paper also highlights that cultural adaptivity is essential within organisations, to be ready to innovate, experiment and successfully adopt all that is brought about by digital transformation and new tech solutions. The paper argues that technology is an enabler of talent acquisition and not a threat and ultimately it is our responsibility as humans to have the final say and set the parameters and direction to make sure the change is for the better.
On the Public Sector Resourcing (PSR) Framework, managed by AMS, we are wholeheartedly embracing digital transformation and innovative talent acquisition technologies as they are allowing our people to continuously focus on adding value at every step of our recruitment service. We are particularly proud of how our tech is helping us to provide reporting on DEI, reduce bias in screening, as well as helping us to make data led strategic decisions. We are also however, proud of and reliant on, our award winning, innovative, passionate, bold and authentic PSR team.
We hope you enjoy the read!
Technology is an enabler of talent acquisition and not a threat and ultimately it is our responsibility as humans to have the final say and set the parameters and direction to make sure the change is for the better.
Today marks World Day of Social Justice – a United Nations event and this year’s theme is “Overcoming Barriers and Unleashing Opportunities for Social Justice”.
At AMS we are using this day to continue to highlight the importance of social mobility in relation to breaking down barriers and opening up opportunities for all. This is a global issue and the statistics continue to speak loudly:
According to Deloitte research, the UK has one of the poorest rates of social mobility in the developed world.
Goldman Sachs stated in their Briefings letter, 7th April 2022 – “compared with other countries, the most disadvantaged in the UK are less likely to climb the income ladder and the economically advantaged tend to stay at the top”.
“Over half of the UK population think that COVID has increased social inequality” – quoted in the The Bigger Picture, Social Mobility research conducted by Goldman Sachs on Feb 2022
In China, COVID has had a more negative impact on the poorest communities, China’s youth unemployment rate has been at near record levels and the brunt of this impact is felt by those born in to poorer households (quoted FT,com 3rd Jan, 2023)
Social mobility continues to decline in the USA – one of the key reasons is that the ladder of opportunity has become harder to climb. This can be evidenced by rising levels of income and wealth inequality “Currently those in the top 20% of income distribution earn nine times more than those in the bottom 20% (quoted in The Guardian 13th March 2021)
Over the course of this week we have organised a series of events to highlight the importance of social mobility. This continues to be an important issue for AMS, evidenced by our inclusion in the Social Mobility Foundation Employers Index 2022. We are proud of the work that we are doing to progress social mobility, but we know that we have more to do.
Poverty and inequalities within and among countries are on the rise in many parts of the world. The economic and social crises of recent years have been exacerbated by the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic, natural disasters due to accelerating climate change, geopolitical tensions and armed conflicts.
Over the last decade in the tech market, we have all witnessed these accentuating themes; a widening global tech skills gap, rapidly increasing contract rates and more recently a growing emphasis on DE&I and Social Mobility in hiring agendas.
We have seen companies caught in a feedback loop, forced to address their short-term needs by paying higher and higher contract rates each year. Whilst paying the higher rates solves the immediate problem, it isn’t a long-term solution and does little to address the bigger skills gap issue.
Myth 3 of the AMS tech whitepaper discusses the Recruit Train Deploy (RTD) model as a solution. It looks at how AMS’s Tech Skilling team are helping organisations overcome the skills gap by taking a mid to long term approach to building and retaining future talent pipelines.
The RTD model is designed to address niche skills shortages in the economy by investing in future talent from diverse backgrounds. The applicants are selected on their aptitude and future potential as opposed to their academic credentials, following the lead of many companies in the big tech world by removing degree requirements. They are then trained with sought after tech skills before being deploying into long term assignments with the aim of converting into permanent employment. AMS’s Tech Skilling team also offer a reskilling service; helping companies to retrain their existing workforces to keep their skills relevant for future needs, reducing the need for redundancies and increasing talent retention.
We have recently introduced a new “Recruit Train Deploy” service line on the Public Sector Resourcing (PSR) Framework, managed by AMS. It’s a privilege to have recently joined the RTD team which is supporting government departments to not only establish a longer-term solution to addressing their skills gap but at the same time opening the doors to often underrepresented talent and making a positive change by increasing diverse representation across their workforces.
If a department believes they will struggle to hire a skillset through traditional methods, they now have an alternative route to take, an option that allows them to grow and design their own tech workforce from the ground up.
According to a new study by CWJobs, over two thirds (67%) of young adults are considering a career in tech, which highlights the potential we have for narrowing the tech skills gap in this country. I truly believe that this is a real positive, long term and sustainable solution to improving the tech talent marketplace for both employers and employees of the future.
If a department believes they will struggle to hire a skillset through traditional methods, they now have an alternative route to take, an option that allows them to grow and design their own tech workforce from the ground up.
Reading the article linked below really resonated with me. Many organisations in the last 12 months have struggled to find the talent that they need to support their business growth. Whilst we may see some softening in hiring plans in the coming months, as many businesses adapt to the uncertain global economic challenges, the dearth of particular skills will be still be a challenge.
So, what should organisations be considering to deliver an increased flow of candidates in a skills-based approach?
Adopting a social mobility strategy is a key action and reviewing existing recruiting processes and policies eg University grade requirements is a priority, to ensure that those candidates from lower socio-economic groups are not being adversely impacted
Don’t forget older generations? There is a significant number of economically inactive older workers with skills that many organisations need. One of our partners 55 Redefined are focused entirely on supporting older workers in to work
Military, veterans, military spouses – there is a significant untapped pool of talent available here. We are proud of our partnership with Recruit for Spouses who support military spouses to find employment that fits with their changeable lifestyles. Over the last 4 years we have supported over 140 spouses into employment
Ex-offenders – this is always a challenging route given the stringent vetting requirements for many organisations, particularly in the financial services sector. However, we know this works for certain roles / sectors, in the UK for example, the CEO of Timpson has been a strong advocate for ex-offenders and they are a great case study of tapping into the ex-offender community for their store-based roles. Another of our partners, Bridge of Hope, are actively supporting ex-offenders in their search for work.
Working Mums and Dads – this group of skilled individuals are looking for flexibility and support to balance their career and parental duties. Organisations who have adapted post COVID to the new hybrid / flexible ways of working are finding this talent pool is much more accessible. Our partner WM People are well placed to support this important pool of talent
I could go on! It is great to see the tide change here with organisations adopting a wider approach to sourcing from different routes. What are you doing in your organisations to adopt a more skills-based approach to hiring and is it opening up different talent pools that you’ve not previously considered? I would love to hear your thoughts.
Our research has shown that millions of workers are overlooked for roles they could adequately perform due to factors that are largely unrelated to their skills. For instance, they might have disabilities, mental health problems, or a criminal record. Evidence shows that there are millions of "invisible" workers across the economy that are not being utilized by organizations today.
We recently received the fantastic news that AMS have been recognised as one of the Top 75 employers in this year’s Social Mobility employer index. We were delighted to see that our increased commitment around Social Mobility has been recognised, but we know we still have a long way to go.
So, why is Social Mobility and more broadly Social Value important and why do we need to keep it on the workplace agenda?
In our latest AMS Catalyst Story, The UK needs to talk about why social mobility and Social value matter, we explore how having a positive and lasting impact on society is of course the right thing but there can also be real commercial value in social value.
Research by the Social Mobility Foundation found that working class professionals earn an average of £6,718 less than their middle class peers - a pay gap of 13%. This means underprivileged professionals essentially work 13% of the year for nothing - almost one day in every seven.
An interesting article in Personnel Today released this week about the War for Talent which highlights some of the specific challenges related to this in the public sector.
Like most areas of the workforce, candidate shortages in key areas such as Technology and Digital remain in the public sector. When you add tight budgets and low percentage pay-rises into the mix it is no surprise that this is having a significant impact in both attraction and retention of the workforce.
As the war for talent continues to heat up it’s imperative that the public sector broadens their access to skills. Public Sector Resourcing (PSR) recently launched Recruit, Train, Deploy (RTD) which enables our customers to access diverse talent from a variety of backgrounds and skill-sets. Candidates receive paid training or a bursary across in-demand areas and are assigned to work on live projects with our Government customers.
RTD might not be the silver bullet that solves all talent attraction challenges, but we see this as a mid to long term solution for teams to create and build the skills they need rather than buy them in an increasingly constrained, high-cost market.
But one of the biggest benefits of this model is that it supports social mobility by increasing opportunities for candidates where there perhaps was none. A win win if ever there was one.
trying to fill those vacancies in a tight labour market, with stringent budgets, is becoming more and more difficult
This week it was announced that we were included in the The Social Mobility Foundation 2022 Employer’s Index. This is a significant achievement for us and recognises our commitment and progress for taking forward this important initiative.
But, why should organisations be concerned about Social Mobility? The latest research from “The Social Mobility Barometer” (published by the UK Government) unveils public attitudes to social mobility in 2021. These are just a snapshot of some of the views:
Four in five adults (79%) now believe there is a large gap between different social classes
Three-quarters (74%) of people think there are large differences in opportunities across Britain
On average 39% of the public think it is getting harder for people from less advantaged families to move up in British society. 42% of those aged 25 to 49 think it is getting harder
An increasing number of people think that employers should have to take action to improve social mobility – 42% in 2021 compared with 31% in 2019. Ethnic minorities are more likely than average to say that employers should act (58%)
We strongly care about social mobility in AMS. These are some of the initiatives that we have adopted to support this important initiative:
Collecting social mobility data so that we can assess how socially mobile our candidates and employees are
Delivery of targeted work insights programmes to schools and colleges in social mobility cold spot areas
Targeted attraction in cold spot areas for our entry level hiring programmes
Working in conjunction with our clients to raise awareness of the importance of social mobility
We are making good progress, but we know we have a long way to go, but we remain committed to making a difference. Personally, as someone who was brought up in a working class environment, this is also important to me!
The workplace is as important as the classroom in creating social mobility
https://www.index.socialmobility.org.uk/
The attached article from FT.com features some great resources that reference the challenge around social mobility in different sectors. Whilst we have seen change over the last couple of years, barriers still exist for many from lower socio-economic backgrounds.
At AMS, social mobility is key element of our DEI strategy, we are prioritising our UK business initially, before looking to globalise our approach. We have focused on data collection to help us better understand the profile of our employees and candidates who are being hired through our talent acquisition processes. Understanding the data is a critical first step for any business, this allows for the right actions to be prioritised and then taken forward.
We are continually reviewing our approach to hiring to ensure that we are eliminating any barriers and opening up opportunities for all, with a particular focus on attracting talent from socio economic hot spots. We also want to do more to support the communities where we operate and we excited about the impact that we can make by supporting young people with work insights, careers support or via volunteering opportunities.
This is a topic that is very important to me and one that we all need to continue to support. As ever, always interested to hear what others have to say and enjoy reading through the resources in the attached article!
How can managers and companies help their colleagues and employees to thrive and advance, especially when many people may not want to be open about their backgrounds at work?
There has been a theme emerging from recent discussions with EMEA clients. They have not yet seen the US level of ‘Great Resignation’ attrition across their organisations, but they are starting to see an unwelcome increase in the number of Gen Z/late Millennial leavers. The image above is from a drone video of my son and his friend crossing Crib Goch on Snowdon, which they described as totally awe-inspiring and terrifying at the same time! They perfectly personify late millennials in their desire for adventure, travel and independence,
and a warning to us all….
as Covid lifts and freedoms are resinstated, we should be aware that this group of GenZers are all about “striking off on their own, pursuing their own individual paths” (GenZInsights). They’re highly self-reliant and independent. It makes complete sense then that a ‘one size fits all’ employer brand strategy is not going to work for this group. It will however be critical that GenZ managers really understand and embrace an individual’s motivations and aspirations and clear the way to them achieving their personal career goals whilst giving them the space and flexibility to pursue their personal adventures.
Gen Zers are all about striking off on their own, individual paths and succeeding by their own, personal metrics and definitions. They’re entrepreneurial. They’re highly self-reliant.
