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Standard Life named top 50 employer for social mobility

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Sandy Begbie
Sandy Begbie

Edinburgh insurance giant Standard Life has been ranked as one of the Top 50 employers in the UK’s first-ever Social Mobility Employer Index, entering the new Index in fourth place.

The Index is a joint initiative between the Social Mobility Foundation and Social Mobility Commission, in partnership with the City of London Corporation.

It ranks Britain’s employers for the first time on the actions they are taking to ensure they are open to accessing and progressing talent from all backgrounds and showcases progress towards improving social mobility in the workplace.

The aim of the new Index is to encourage firms to share their initiatives and progress in becoming more inclusive employers and to reveal which sectors and companies are taking the issue of social mobility most seriously.

Research has consistently shown that people from more affluent backgrounds take a disproportionate number of the best jobs and that employers tend to disproportionately employ graduates who went to private schools and elite universities.

Standard Life has been ranked fourth in the Index for the commendable work it has taken to tackle this and enable those from lower socio-economic backgrounds to succeed.

Measures taken by the company to improve social mobility include:

  • Expanding its recruitment network with organisations that support specific groups, such as veterans, school leavers, BAME or those with disabilities, and building supported entry programmes to support the transition into the workplace

  • Introducing structured internships and apprenticeships, along with new recruitment practices to break down barriers e.g. qualification neutral approach for school leaver interns

  • Paying a minimum of the voluntary Living Wage, regardless of age or experience, to all employees including interns

  • Providing a network of support to help people reach their potential, through training, development, employee networks and mentoring

  • Creating a culture that is open and supportive, that helps to build greater advocacy soStandard Life is known to be welcoming to minority groups and supportive of those who face different challenges.

  • Firms from 17 sectors, who collectively employ just under one million people, submitted entries about their practices and procedures in areas such as work with young people, recruitment, selection and progression. The final rankings were decided by a respected panel of experts and all firms will receive a report with recommendations for areas for improvement.

    • Standard Life’s success in the Index will be announced today at a launch event at the City of London and in a supplement in The Times newspaper.

    Standard Life’s Chief People Officer Sandy Begbie said: “Standard Life has made an on-going commitment to break down barriers to employment and to help support people into work, irrespective of background or the individual challenges they may face. We believe that building a diverse and inclusive workforce is crucial to our culture and our future business success, and building greater social mobility is also important to the communities where we operate.

    “We’ve been leading on a number of initiatives, including our youth employment agenda, which has been a huge success helping more young people into work. We’re also actively supporting armed forces veterans and our employees who are working carers. We couldn’t have achieved what we have to date without the support of our people and the partners we work with and we’re immensely pleased to have entered the new Social Mobility Index in fourth place. But there’s always more to be done and working together, we’re looking forward to achieving even more in the future.”

     

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