Business Compact signatories
150 businesses have already signed up to the Business Compact, from a wide range of sectors including legal, retail, finance and energy.
We are not currently accepting applications to the Business Compact.
A&N Media
A&N Media, the consumer media company of DMGT plc, is a leading multi-channel media company encompassing some of the UK’s most-loved brands, including the Daily Mail, The Mail on Sunday, MailOnline, Metro, Northcliffe Media regional titles, Jobsite.co.uk and Findaproperty.com. Through our national and regional newspapers, websites and mobile services, we connect with over 45% of the UK’s adult population with over 130 million consumer touch points per month.
We have a long-term commitment to providing opportunities and supporting the training and development of journalists each year from ethnically and socially diverse backgrounds through our partnerships with the Journalism in Diversity Fund and Catch 22. We have also very recently launched 2 journalism bursaries in memory of Stephen Lawrence to help young people from deprived backgrounds succeed in journalism.
AAT
AAT is a professional education and membership body, supporting over 120,000 finance staff working across all levels of the UK economy. AAT trains over 25,000 new students each year (45% aged 16 to 24), and has also recruited 3 local school-leaver apprentices to work in its own head office. AAT’s skills-based qualifications are open access and widely recognised as providing a clear vocational, non-graduate route from the lowest to the highest levels of the chartered accountancy profession.
AAT’s new Level 1 qualification, AAT Access, which provides basic financial literacy and employability skills, will soon be trialled in prisons to support the rehabilitation of offenders. A new ‘professional accountancy’ degree launched with ICAEW and Manchester Metropolitan University will also increase access to higher education and the professions.
Aberdeen
Aberdeen is an independent asset management company. Formed out of a management buy-out in Aberdeen, Scotland, in 1983, we are now a FTSE 100 company operating on-the-ground in over 23 countries across Europe, Asia and the Americas.
We are defined by our pure focus on asset management, including equities, fixed income, property and multi-asset portfolios. All our investment solutions are driven by our commitment to straightforward, transparent investment approaches that stress intensive, first-hand research and a long-term view.
We have a range of opportunities available in Scotland and throughout the UK but whichever area you decide to apply for, you will be given excellent on-the-job training and all the responsibility you can handle.
ACCA
ACCA, a global body for professional accountants, provide opportunities for people from non-conventional backgrounds to get their foot on the accountancy ladder. Over the last 20 years they have provided open entry routes for people to get into accountancy without a degree. Around 48% of ACCA’s approximately 87,000 students in the UK are from a non-graduate route. ACCA also offers access to a bachelor degree with a master’s degree en route via Oxford Brookes University.
In addition, ACCA members and ACCA members of staff frequently give talks and career advice about the profession and professional qualifications to school students. ACCA also works with the government and other bodies as a member of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills Gateways to the Professions Collaborative Forum and has supported the government’s Business Compact since its launch.
Accenture
Accenture is a global management consulting, technology services and outsourcing company, which works with businesses and governments to help them achieve and sustain high performance. Through its Skills to Succeed initiative, Accenture is committed to equipping 500,000 people around the world by 2015 with the skills to get a job or build a business. Accenture and the Accenture Foundations have committed more than US$100 million to achieve this goal.
Working with strategic partners who share this vision, our UK community investment programme focuses on building employability and entrepreneurship skills for young people who are not in education, employment or training. Combining pro bono consulting, cash donations and 3-days paid volunteer leave for our people, Accenture delivers a range of programmes supporting people in the UK to improve their skills and access to opportunity.
Addleshaw Goddard
Addleshaw Goddard has developed an initiative designed to enable those who come from less privileged backgrounds to get a taste for a career in law. In 2011, the firm opened the doors of its London and Leeds offices to students from Years 11 to 12 for a week of legal work shadowing, court visits and skills sessions.
In London, the firm worked in partnership with the Access Project, a charity aimed at helping students from disadvantaged backgrounds win places at top universities. The Legal Access Week has proved so popular that the firm plans to increase the number of students it works with by running a similar scheme in its Manchester office in 2012.
Adecco
Adecco is actively providing unemployed young people with invaluable work experience in their own branches and at other organisations through Get Britain Working.
Adecco Group has launched ‘Unlocking Britain’s Potential’, an initiative designed to engage with UK business in how to unlock potential in the workforce, from bringing employers and educators closer together to addressing the existence of an underclass in the UK.
As the official recruitment services provider to London 2012, Adecco is helping meet the commitment to be the most diverse and inclusive games ever. We have developed innovative and practical tools, from technology that tracks each stream of diversity by recruitment stage and department, to a guaranteed interview scheme and talent pool for disabled candidates and for black, Asian and minority ethnic candidates.
Allen & Overy
Allen & Overy provides 750 work experience places every year, to help students gain the skills and experience that employers are looking for. Programmes include the Smart Start Experience, the largest programme of its kind in the legal sector providing work experience for young people from disadvantaged backgrounds and Smarter Futures, an online mentoring programme through which students get ongoing advice and guidance once work placements have ended.
Allen & Overy work with a specialist education charity to manage the applications process for a number of programmes to ensure openness and transparency.
They are one of 23 UK law firms to have launched PRIME, an initiative to provide fair access to quality work experience across the legal sector.
Anchor
Anchor is England’s largest provider of housing and care for older people, operating from more than 1,000 locations across England and employing 10,000 people.
Anchor is striving to become an employer of choice by professionalising the standards within the social care and housing sector, paying colleagues appropriately, eliminating zero hours contracts, taking the lead in the marketplace to provide first class customer service. Anchor works closely with community partners such as JobCentre Plus to promote ‘local jobs for local people’.
In 2011 a Volunteers initiative was launched and to date 90 volunteer positions have been offered. Anchor recognises the benefits apprenticeships can offer in harnessing new talent, along with addressing skills shortages and recruitment challenges. With this in mind Anchor is preparing to launch a pilot Apprenticeship scheme in 2012, opening up yet another avenue of learning and developing within Anchor.
Arriva
Leading European transport provider Arriva works to attract, develop and retain talented people within its 47,500-strong workforce operating in 12 countries.
Across the UK and mainland Europe we provide a range of programmes, apprenticeships and learning resources and look for innovative ways to deliver training and promote the public transport industry as a career option.
A number of our UK businesses work with Education Business Partnerships to offer school visits and school liaison support and we provide work experience placements and internships to help young people understand and progress into the world of work.
The group also helps young people develop into future leaders through its successful graduate scheme which offers 18-month development programmes in general management and engineering management.
Asda
Asda is the UK’s second largest grocery retailer, with over 175,000 colleagues. We have a rich heritage of corporate responsibility and are focusing on being number one for community involvement by delivering a national ‘Community Life’ programme.
By mid-2012 each of our 528 stores will have adopted 2 local schools and provide mentoring for pupils, workplace visits and City & Guilds accredited work experience placements to help students develop transferrable skills, ready for their future careers.
An early example of this is the support that colleagues from our main centre in Leeds are giving to pupils at Cockburn Secondary School in South Leeds to increase their achievement in a structured long-term approach, sharing their own experiences from their careers and giving students a real insight into the world of work.
Ashurst LLP
Ashurst LLP has long supported initiatives to raise career aspirations and increase access to the legal profession among typically under-represented groups. Initiatives include mentoring programmes with the Social Mobility Foundation and Tower Hamlets Education Business Partnership, workshops on topics such as interview skills and CV preparation with organisations such as the Society of Black Lawyers, and work placements. Placements are organised through Sponsors for Educational Opportunity, on an ad hoc basis for regional Academies serving underprivileged communities and, from 2012, through the PRIME commitment – Ashurst was one of the founding firms involved in PRIME’s launch.
The firm’s approach maximises the range of young people who can benefit from opportunities offered and ensures a variety of programmes likely to appeal to a wide range of partners and employees.
Aviva
Aviva operates a discrimination-free recruitment process and is proud to support the government’s initiative to make entry into the insurance industry fairer. We are actively working with schools and colleges throughout the UK and run a post A-level programme. We will be widening our graduate scheme and broadening our approach to internships, particularly for actuaries, during 2011.
Aviva is one of just 4 employers supporting schools to use the new student ‘Directions’ portal designed in partnership with the Financial Service Partnership. The portal, launched in October 2010, provides information to help students understand the different roles and careers that can be explored at Aviva.
Aviva employs more than 17,000 people in the UK and is in the top 10% of socially responsible companies in the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index.
BAE Systems
As part of its UK skills strategy, BAE Systems is committed to working in partnership with education across the UK to widen access to, and increase interest in, careers in Science, Technology, Engineering & Maths (STEM). This commitment includes a school Ambassador programme with over 300 active Ambassadors spending typically 3 days a year in schools promoting STEM careers, and a schools roadshow, delivered in partnership with the Royal Air Force and designed to challenge stereotypes about careers in engineering which will this year engage 30,000 young people.
BAE also offer work experience placements for around 500 young people each year and one year Industrial Placements for undergraduates.
Baker & McKenzie
Baker & McKenzie takes an active approach to the promotion of social mobility and has long standing partnerships with groups that focus on supporting people from under-represented backgrounds and preparing them for university and the top professions. The Firm has established an employee forum, BakerOpportunity, which has the specific agenda of looking at how the Firm promotes social mobility.
As one of the original consortium of 8 law firms working with Pure Potential, Baker & McKenzie supports the organisation by hosting a number of events across the UK to assist students applying to university and to develop their potential. Through the Social Mobility Foundation it hosts annual Induction Days, helping students understand how to gain the most from work placements they have secured, and offers e-mentor opportunities.
Bank of America Merrill Lynch
Developing solutions for social challenges is key to Bank of America Merrill Lynch. By working with schools, teachers and partners we are able to help train and encourage the next generation of employees and leaders.
Our award-winning Financial Education and Employability Programme provides a 3-year structured programme of work-related learning activities for young people to develop financial literacy, communication, leadership and employability skills. To date, 4,500 students have benefitted from the programme and we are currently making the programme’s educational resources freely available online.
Bank of America Merrill Lynch’s recruitment practices are fair, open and meritocratic, regardless of social or ethnic background. The company works with several partners to run internships, business insight days and employability workshops to students at schools, colleges and universities.
Barclays
At Barclays we are committed to attracting, developing and retaining talented young people from diverse backgrounds. We have a number of initiatives including internships and full-time graduate programmes which enabled us to offer over 1,000 places in the UK during 2011. In our Retail and Business Bank we have been offering a sponsored degree programme since 2006 and will be continuing to expand our apprenticeship programmes during 2012.
We also work with a range of specialist partners to broaden our reach including the Social Mobility Foundation, Business in the Community and the Financial Skills Partnership. In 2011 we launched a partnership with the National Skills Academy for Financial Services – working with over 90,000 students to build their financial skills and prepare them for the world of work.
Bar Council
The Bar Council and the Inns of Court support a number of schemes, including the Bar National Mock Trials Competition, in conjunction with the Citizenship Foundation, which gives state school pupils a chance to gain practical experience of the legal system and an annual placement scheme with the Social Mobility Foundation.
BP
BP has been supporting the development of young people in the UK for over 40 years. As well as creating teaching resources for schools and supporting continuing professional development training for teachers, they provide a wide range of work experience and paid internship places for talented young people.
Over 750 employees support pupils at around 200 UK schools through careers talks in schools, mentoring and coaching schemes, hosting visits to BP sites, and delivering a range of activities to introduce young people to the world of work. In addition, they work with a wide range of partner organisations to provide opportunities to young people across the UK.
BT
BT has a long history of supporting young people into the workplace through its apprentice and graduate programmes. We also recognise that earlier interventions are essential to capture the imagination and energy of young people, giving them practical experience of work during their formative years.
This comes not only through the delivery of our Work Inspiration programme, which has provided events for over 7,000 young people, but also through the positive influence this partnership approach has on decision makers in education and government.
BT has worked actively with the Skills Council to create a curriculum that develops not only technical skills, but attitudinal and social capability.
BT’s many volunteering programmes enable our people to support pupils and teachers in understanding how practical applications of technology can solve business problems.
Cancer Research UK
Cancer Research UK organises work experience placements in a science environment for pupils aged 16 and over in their research labs, as well as 20 paid, 12 week summer studentships for science undergraduates per year at their London Research Institute. Their work in running open days, bringing school children into their labs to do experiments and exhibiting at the Aim Higher Careers Fair also encourages school-leavers of all backgrounds to take up a career in science.
Cancer Research UK also hosts ~150 internships a year in their offices, mostly taken up by recent graduates as well as some undergraduates. Through the scheme interns are offered reasonable expenses, CV training, access to internal jobs and networking opportunities. Their chain of shops also supports young people to experience the workplace and build skills and confidence through initiatives such as New Deal, Community Task Force, Backing Young Britain, school work experience and the Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme. Cancer Research UK’s commitment to these initiatives results in about 15% of their shop volunteers being under the age of 25.
Capita
At Capita have a well-established community investment programme which centres around tackling social exclusion of all kinds.
We have a number of educational initiatives which support the development of young people. These include giving careers talks, offering work experience placements and providing mentors to help raise their aspirations and help them achieve their potential.
Through our apprenticeship scheme we also give people from the local communities in which we work the opportunity to gain vocational qualifications, whilst at the same time getting on the job experience.
We are also committed to breaking down the barriers to work and partner with a number of organisations, including the Social Mobility Foundation to provide internships to talented students from underprivileged backgrounds and broaden access to opportunities.
Channel 4
Channel 4 supports a range of schemes intended to break down the barriers to entry in the media industry. Through 4Talent it runs the award-winning Kick Start programme, offering around 100 short work experience placements and regular ‘inspiration days’, aimed at giving young people a taste of the career options available in the media.
Kick Start has engaged with more than 2,000 young people over the last 2 years – 50% of whom came from diverse backgrounds. The scheme has proved highly effective, with 43% of participants gaining further work experience and 17% of over 18s securing paid employment in the industry.
Channel 4 also offers several longer-term paid apprenticeship and internship placements, workshops and master classes with industry professionals, as well as dedicated on-screen slots for first-time writers and directors.
Chartered Insurance Institute
The Chartered Insurance Institute is the world’s largest professional body for insurance and financial services with over 100,000 members in 150 countries. We are committed to promoting the opportunities and careers that exist within our profession to the widest and most diverse range of people.
Our Discover Risk initiative introduces young people in schools, colleges and universities to the world of risk. We recently published an internships best practice guide where we called upon employers to sign the CII’s Internship Pledge – committing them to providing high quality placements.
The CII is a member of Professions for Good, and contributed to the development of the Social Mobility Toolkit. In addition we are members of Equally Professional, a group of professional bodies committed to promoting equality and diversity in and through their memberships.
The Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR)
The Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR) is the UK professional body for PR practitioners. With 9,500 members involved in all aspects of PR, it is the largest body of its type in Europe.
Through its Diversity Strategy, the CIPR aims to develop an inclusive culture and raise awareness of diversity within the profession. A number of issues holding back the recruitment and retention of talent from a diverse range of backgrounds have been identified, including awareness of PR as a career, barriers to entry, recruitment, re-employment/return to work, and the ‘glass ceiling’.
To help ensure that internships and work placements are conducted to a high standard, CIPR members are actively encouraged to sign the Social Mobility Business Compact. This is available through the CIPR Internship and Work Placement Toolkit.
Citi
Citi’s UK community strategy focuses on improving education and livelihood opportunities for young people from disadvantaged backgrounds through programmes which broaden access to higher education and develop employability skills.
We offer work experience and paid internships through partnerships with Career Academies UK and FutureVersity, as well as bespoke arrangements with local schools. Through Citi Foundation, we fund programmes with partners such as African & Caribbean Diversity, IntoUniversity, Junior Achievement and Oxford University’s UNIQ programme, to raise aspirations and help young people build careers. With Speakers Trust, we offer the ‘Financially Speaking’ programme teaching vital public speaking skills to school students, building their confidence and financial knowledge.
Citi also enjoys a special partnership with Langdon Park School in East London. Our employees support all these programmes through their generous volunteering efforts.
City of London Corporation
The City of London Corporation supports many initiatives in its neighbouring boroughs, among the most deprived in England, helping people into employment/training, raising aspirations and brokering volunteering opportunities for its staff and those of City businesses to support employability.
In the year to March 2012, working with around 200 City businesses, we: facilitated 110 paid placements through the City Business Traineeship scheme and supported businesses new to CSR through Heart of the City to host a further 66 work placements; placed around 100 apprentices; introduced over 2,000 young people to City-type jobs through aspiration-raising programmes; engaged around 360 employee volunteers from the City Corporation and City businesses to support employability activities with local organisations.
A clear policy guides our approach to offering work placements, prioritising residents from deprived City fringe boroughs.
Clifford Chance
Ensuring broad access to the profession is the only way we can hope to attract the best and the brightest to work for us, and our efforts are focused on this irrespective of background.
At Clifford Chance, our community outreach activities focus on supporting young people from challenging backgrounds to have the confidence to succeed and realise their potential. We work with schools and colleges across London, offering a wide range of ‘Raising Aspirations’ activities. This includes 7 mentoring programmes, a reading partnership with a primary school now in its 18th year, mock-interview programmes and raising aspirations days showcasing legal and non-legal opportunities across the firm. We are also working on an innovative programme partnering Year 8 students in Newham and will work alongside them until they finish their schooling.
We are founding partners of PRIME, which focuses on providing fair access to meaningful work experience and have developed a unique partnership to deliver part of our PRIME commitment by supporting a BTEC qualification at a local school.
CMS
CMS Cameron McKenna supports literacy, numeracy and mentoring programmes for young people in inner city communities. The variety of these programmes means that children are helped by employees in different ways during Key Stages 2, 3, 4 and 5 of their education.
Their Reading and Numbers scheme involves volunteers spending one lunchtime a week with Year 6 pupils assisting them with their literacy and numeracy skills. Their UCAS Project involves Year 12 students visiting CMS offices for career talks and support and guidance through the UCAS application process.
These programmes take place during business hours, which employees can use to contribute towards an annual target of 50 hours of volunteering activity per year.
Coca-Cola Enterprises
Every year, as part of its commitment to educating young people about business and enterprise, Coca-Cola Enterprises’ 4 interactive education centres (in East Kilbride, Wakefield, Edmonton and Sidcup) offer curriculum-based educational activities. These are designed to support the teaching of subjects including Business Studies, Science, and ICT.
Qualified teachers employed by Coca Cola Enterprises host school visits, bringing the curriculum to life for over 15,000 secondary school students per year from across the social spectrum. Students can also take a guided tour of the manufacturing site and see the production process in action, gaining first-hand insight into the manufacturing and production processes of the UK’s number one grocery brand. In 2010, over 41,600 students completed an educational programme with us. 100% of teachers said they would recommend the visit.
Coca-Cola Great Britain
Coca-Cola Great Britain has partnered with national youth sports charity StreetGames to help give more opportunities for young people from disadvantaged backgrounds.
StreetGames aids sustainable community sports development through training, coaching and volunteering opportunities. As a result of this new investment, StreetGames and Coca-Cola will provide better sporting experiences to 110,000 young people in disadvantaged communities across the UK between 2010-2012.
Coca-Cola Great Britain’s investment will also help create the first ever StreetGames Sport for Change Training Academy, equipping 100 tutors to deliver 11 specific new StreetGames training courses to around 6,000 coaches.
The Co-operative
The Co-operative Group is committed to supporting schools and opening up new opportunities for young people to achieve their ambitions.
The Group sponsors 2 academies in Manchester and Stoke-on-Trent, with a third due to open in Leeds this Autumn. They also work with over 100 Co-operative Trust schools, many in areas of high deprivation. Through their work with these schools they aim to raise aspirations by introducing young people to a wide range of jobs and projects.
For example, they have developed an innovative work placement programme for students in Manchester. In 2010 they worked with 40 students over 2 weeks to provide them with a holistic work experience in their head office. Students were matched with mentors and received training in presentation skills, undertook confidence building exercises and visited the construction of their new head office.
Credit Suisse
Canary Wharf-based Credit Suisse has a long-standing commitment to the East London community. The bank has launched a number of initiatives aimed at raising aspiration amongst youngsters in the local area, including Steps to Success, which targets a small number of young people from the most deprived areas of London, offering them scholarships, 2 fully paid 4-week internships and access to their Investment Banking graduate trainee program.
In 2011, over 40% of UK-based employees donated 31,000 hours to more than 150 organisations in the local community, many of which target education for deprived youth. Credit Suisse’s employee-elected UK Charity of the Year 2012 is Centrepoint, which will raise funds to help homeless young people overcome literacy and numeracy challenges to help achieve goals including employment, accommodation and health improvements.
Deloitte
At Deloitte, employees are our most important asset in enabling us to deliver consistently outstanding service to our clients and we believe in developing the talents of our people so they can realise their full potential. We bring the same approach to our community work across Skills and Education, supporting young people through education and into employment, through volunteering schemes, pro-bono support and innovative education initiatives.
Our flagship Skills and Education programme is the Deloitte Employability Initiative - a long term £2m investment to help young people develop the skills, attitudes and behaviours they need to secure and sustain quality employment. We also have extensive mentoring, literacy and numeracy programmes in many partner schools across the UK, and are currently developing a fair access strategy to help diversify our firm and positively impact social mobility.
Deutsche Bank
Deutsche Bank invests millions of pounds supporting education, social investments and arts and music projects in the UK every year.
We support many social mobility programmes, helping thousands of deprived young people. For example, our ‘Into University’ partnership has helped around 900 students from deprived backgrounds every year since 2007. This year, it is also helping 8 students with conditional offers from Cambridge University but no family history of higher education. Deutsche Bank professionals who studied at Cambridge mentor them until their first term at university so they make a successful transition.
We also work with charities to provide employability advice for hundreds of NEETs each year. We also run workshops for disadvantaged young people on City careers, partnering them up with bankers to talk about their path into employment.
Enterprise Rent-A-Car
Add an annual turnover of more than $14 billion to a rental and leasing fleet of over 1 million vehicles worldwide and you get Enterprise Rent-A-Car, allowing graduate management trainees to learn everything they need to know about running their own business in just 2 years.
Our commitment to diversity extends to each customer, business partner and employee at every level. We also work closely with universities to increase students’ employability; improving the calibre of talent entering the market place year on year. Taken together, we were honoured to be the Best Diversity and Innovation winners in student-driven Targetjobs and Race for Opportunity awards. It reflects our efforts to be open to all and to give students the help they need to make a great start to their careers.
Ernst & Young
Ernst & Young is committed to helping young people prepare for work. They do this through distinctive programmes which help young people from disadvantaged backgrounds achieve their potential. For example, Ernst & Young’s multi award winning School Partnership Programme supports young people through creating long term partnerships with state schools in challenging areas and delivering programmes to the same cohort of students over a sustained period.
Another distinctive programme is Ernst & Young’s Smart Futures. Smart Futures is designed to accelerate social mobility through unlocking the career potential of bright Year 12 students from less privileged backgrounds (application criteria includes free school meal eligibility). 81% of students engaged in Smart Futures 2012 stated the experience had made a positive difference to how they view professional services as a career option.
Eversheds
Eversheds believes a career in law should be open to everyone. Eversheds Unlocked has been running since 2008 and is a unique programme aimed at underprivileged students with no family history of higher education and a genuine interest in law. It gives students a taste of what a legal career is about and how to prepare for university and beyond. Also covering personal goal-setting, it encourages students to aim high and achieve their full potential.
To ensure openness and transparency, students come through Pathways to Law, from schools who the firm has a relationship with, and as direct applicants. Around 100 students participate annually across 5 UK locations.
Eversheds is one of 23 law firms to have launched PRIME, a profession-wide undertaking to give fair access to quality work experience.
Fujitsu
Fujitsu – the global IT company – has a network of regional ‘Impact on Society’ teams throughout the UK. These allow their employees to invest in local communities and take advantage of their knowledge of their respective societies.
Fujitsu’s focus on supporting education means that much of the budget and resource goes toward supporting schools and other youth projects. Fujitsu also runs a fully-funded apprenticeship scheme for students aged 16-18 which provides them with high-skilled ICT training as well as formal qualifications accredited by City and Guilds. Fujitsu provides a salary to all apprentices and also covers necessary travel costs. The vast majority choose to stay on and are offered a permanent position on completion of the scheme.
G4S
Since 2009, Tewkesbury based G4S Technology has supported a 2 year Engineering Diploma run by LaunchPad, a local vocational training centre offering a range of full and part-time courses for 14 to 16 year olds, as well as adults. The Centre is a partnership between Gloucestershire College and local schools.
Central to the course is a technical project run over the full year. The project requires students to manage a design or manufacturing problem by considering solutions, developing ideas, selecting and presenting a solution.
G4S’s support has provided the problem brief and worked alongside students through the various stages. G4S Technology also provided training in Communication Skills, Project Management and Presentation Skills. This initiative ensures that G4S employees are directly involved with helping local young people.
Grant Thornton
Grant Thornton is committed to supporting young people in order to raise the career aspirations of those typically under-represented within the professional services. We have a number of programmes which support the growth of young peoples’ skills, including work-experience placements, internships, mentoring schemes and full-time graduate programmes, enabling us to engage with over 500 young people every year.
To aid us in our work in schools and the community we work with a range of community partners, including Business in the Community, Poplar HARCA Housing Association and the Peter Jones Enterprise Academy. Grant Thornton is also seeking to measure its Social Mobility impact in order that our recruitment processes improve year on year, attracting talent from across the UK.
GSK
The Scientists in Sport programme was jointly developed by GSK, King’s College London and UK Anti-Doping. It helps 11 to 14 year olds understand the role science will play in the London 2012 Games and excites them about science careers. Children visit a university for a day, participating in activities such as lectures on how science is used in sport and how drug testing works. We’re also running a challenge for schools, where teams design a portable anti-doping kit to test for new substances.
Furthermore, employees volunteer their time as Science and Engineering ambassadors to enthuse students about career opportunities in these disciplines.
GSK also offers annually in the UK approximately 300 industrial placements, 100 summer placements, apprenticeship opportunities and work experience for students in Year 10 and above.
Greggs
Greggs has 20,000 employees and a strong heritage of career progression with many employees moving from the shop floor to management positions.
The Greggs Foundation is committed to making a difference to the lives of disadvantaged people in the heart of Greggs’ local communities. As well as providing grants and supporting charities, Greggs delivers career opportunities and skills development for young people through its Graduate, Undergraduate, Apprenticeship and Work Experience programmes, working with organisations such as Job Centre Plus and the Business Action on Homeless.
A number of employees also help over 7,000 primary school pupils with Breakfast Clubs and the Right to Read programme.
They are also working closely with 2 women’s prisons to provide ex-offenders with vital work skills and are offering sustainable employment opportunities upon release.
Herbert Smith
Herbert Smith’s ‘Networked’ is an award winning scholarship scheme that targets high performing A-level students from less privileged backgrounds and supports them for a period of 5 years. Our scholars are provided with mentors, personal development training, paid work experience and a bursary towards the costs of their degree. Networked is designed to build the confidence and skills that our Networked scholars can take with them, whatever career path they choose, and to create a network of successful role models for the next generation.
Herbert Smith is also a founder member of PRIME – a commitment by the legal profession to provide access to high quality work experience to students who may not otherwise have the opportunity - and has an active volunteering programme with students from a number of local schools.
Hilton
Hilton Worldwide (hereafter Hilton) strives to improve social mobility through supporting local communities and schools; providing training and jobs for young people; and ensuring its recruitment process is fair and transparent.
Hilton is actively involved in the government’s Get Britain Working Campaign, providing 100 placements in 2011. In addition, Hilton has established a Chef Apprenticeship Academy, which has provided around 60 placements this year to aspiring young chefs; and through its ‘Galvin’s Chance’ programme offers underprivileged young people the opportunity to develop a career in one of Hilton’s London-based hotels.
Each of the 100 plus Hilton hotels in the UK are encouraged to develop links with local schools and colleges and Hilton offers work placements to students in partnership with Springboard UK.
Hogan Lovells
Hogan Lovells offers around 380 work experience opportunities providing insights into a career in law each year for people from under-privileged backgrounds through a variety of different programmes.
Their bespoke Ladder to Law programme has been designed specifically to respond to the 2009 report by the Panel of Fair Access to the Professions chaired by Alan Milburn. In partnership with an education charity which aims to create a pathway to the City for London’s young residents, the firm currently works with 7 London schools to offer a range of work opportunities from Years 10 - Year 12, and aims to expand the number of schools it works with each year.
They also run a mentoring programme for a secondary school in the immediate vicinity of the firm, and currently mentors 30 students in Years 10 and 11.
HSBC
HSBC supports a number of education initiatives. They have been working, as a founding member, with the Financial Skills Partnership to establish a structured work experience programme for students across the financial services industry.
If students wish, HSBC will maintain contact with them after they complete their work experience. If they go to university, they can apply to join HSBC’s internship/graduate schemes. If not, they can apply to join and progress onto an apprenticeship programme. HSBC was the first bank in the UK to offer advanced apprenticeships.
In addition, they are developing a university access programme to help talented young people from less wealthy backgrounds gain access to university, with a view to launching this in some of our major cities, from September 2012.
ICAEW
ICAEW is a professional membership organisation, supporting over 136,000 Chartered Accountants around the world. Through their technical knowledge, skills and expertise, they provide insight and leadership to the global accountancy and finance profession.
ICAEW is committed to supporting social mobility as it encourages the diversification of talent and innovation within the accountancy profession. Unlike many professions, accountancy does not require a university degree for entry into a career in professional and business services.
Since 2006 ICAEW has remained actively engaged in supporting initiatives to widen access to a professional career in accountancy; this includes school leaver initiatives, internship and work experience programmes, active membership within the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills Gateways to the Professions Collaborative Forum and a range of career mentoring schemes.
Irwin Mitchell
Every child has the right to read, but not every child has the support if they struggle. To address this, a number of Irwin Mitchell offices participate in reading programmes in local primary schools which help children to develop their literacy and communication skills. Over the last few years our volunteers have supported hundreds of children across numerous schools through these schemes.
These programmes give our employees the chance to encourage children from less privileged backgrounds; giving them positive role models and encouraging their aspirations in the world of work.
Our volunteers contribute to significant improvements in the children’s ability during the year and aim to leave these young people with the tools to make a positive contribution to society.
Jaguar Land Rover
Jaguar Land Rover invests heavily in education with 5 Educational Business Partnership Centres providing learning facilities and resources for schoolchildren. Over 20,000 students and 3,000 teachers use the centres annually, in the West Midlands and North West where we design and manufacture our vehicles.
Our centres enable primary and secondary children, from all backgrounds, to learn about engineering and automotive manufacturing through activities linked to the national curriculum. It provides a chance to learn outside the classroom visiting research facilities and plants, where JLR employees talk about their areas of expertise.
In addition, in classrooms across the UK, our leading competitions, Primary/GT Design Challenge, 4x4 Technology Challenge and Maths in Motion, give children an exciting opportunity to develop STEM skills on projects reflecting the type of challenge engineers encounter on a daily basis.
J.P. Morgan
J.P. Morgan’s Schools Programme, targeting 6th Form students, and Launching Leaders, targeting African-Caribbean students, have given over 500 high performing pupils exposure to a range of career opportunities at J.P. Morgan, as well as careers advice and employability skills. J.P. Morgan Treasury & Security Services has been partnering with Career Academies UK to provide internships to over 50 young people in London, Bournemouth and Edinburgh.
In addition, J.P. Morgan’s philanthropic investments in Lambeth address the key drivers of poverty and social mobility in the local context, such as worklessness and educational attainment. This approach has been recognised as having the potential to “transform communities” in the government’s Child Poverty Strategy. J.P. Morgan has also been supporting leading organisations, such as IntoUniversity, UCL and Achievement for All, to improve the distribution of opportunities for the most socially disadvantaged and provide better services for schools in disadvantaged communities.
Through firm-led initiatives such as School Mentoring Programme and Lawyers in School, approximately 1,300 J.P. Morgan employees have played an active role in mentoring and equipping around 1,500 young people from disadvantaged backgrounds with the skills, networks and experience required for careers within the professions.
King & Wood Mallesons SJ Berwin
Attracting the best, regardless of background, and contributing to the community are essential parts of King & Wood Mallesons SJ Berwin. We work on engaging with young people and local groups, and providing our staff with volunteering opportunities; we help people achieve their full potential.
Our community partnerships include primary school reading, enhancing the leadership potential of boys of African and Afro-Caribbean descent, through the Southside Young Leaders Academy and providing mentoring and careers advice to secondary school students.
We also have a long-term relationship with Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre’s education programme, and work closely with Westminster Business Council to mentor small enterprise owners. As a member of PRIME (the legal profession’s commitment to fair access to meaningful work experience), we offer a dedicated annual work experience scheme for less advantaged A-level students to gain valuable insight into the working of a global law firm.
KPMG
KPMG has developed an integrated education programme which builds on their long commitment to schools, colleges and students and develops a talent-pipeline for the business. The School Leaver Programme has taken on 80 students in 2011 and will increase to 140 in 2012. A ‘STARS’ 11-month work experience scheme targeted at school-leavers from local boroughs (Tower Hamlets & Hackney) will run for its third year from October 2012. In addition, an apprenticeship scheme is being developed to recruit school leavers in London in 2012.
To improve access to the profession, KPMG has launched its ‘100 Schools Programme’ which aims to provide long-term relationships with schools and colleges focusing on those serving disadvantaged communities across the UK. This represents a commitment of 10,000 hours from KPMG.
The Legal Services Board
The Legal Services Board are pleased to support the efforts of the government to work alongside business and professional bodies to drive social mobility. We are doing important work to contribute: we feel the new transparency duties on law firms and chambers that we have introduced will play an important part on helping us to measure how quickly we are seeing change, as well as empowering clients to make choices based on the diversity of the provider.
The inclusion of socio-economic background amongst the data sets, alongside the characteristics protected in the Equality Act, is a specific legal services sector initiative – the results of which we look forward to sharing.
Linklaters
The Linklaters Learn for Work programme inspires over 2,400 local young people each year from over 40 schools in the London Borough of Hackney. The programme includes a debating challenge across the borough at primary level, as well as citizenship and leadership training at secondary level.
An important dimension of the firm’s support is through offering work experience. Participants spend time understanding the working of a corporate law firm, the realities of working life and – through visits to other organisations – a wider appreciation of careers in the City. Linklaters is also a founding member of PRIME.
Linklaters monitors the socio-economic background of both individuals applying to the firm and of existing staff. This information is used to support our commitment to fair access to the legal profession and is publically available.
L’Oréal
L’Oréal supports education at every stage, from school to advanced academic research. Every year the company offers over 100 entry-level opportunities and 40 roles for graduates in the UK.
L’Oréal takes its leading role in the beauty industry seriously. Every year it provides more than 3,000 hours of training, free of charge, to hairdressers and beauty consultants of every level and runs hairdressing academies across the UK. The company sponsored ‘WorldSkills London 2011.’
Committed to science, L’Oréal established the L’Oréal Young Scientist Centre. Since 2009 it has provided inspiration to over 7,500 children. The company runs the ‘For Women in Science’ programme with UNESCO, awarding scientists with funding.
L’Oréal also supports the Prince’s Trust ‘Celebrate Success Awards’, recognising young people who have undertaken substantial personal achievements in their lives.
M&S
M&S has always been proud of its commitment to local communities and supporting people from all walks of life.
Our ‘Marks & Start’ programme helps people facing significant barriers getting into work. This has provided over 5,000 work placements, including over 1,000 to disadvantaged young people through our partnership with The Prince’s Trust.
We encourage close collaboration between M&S stores and their local schools: stores take over 2,500 school work experience placements each year; M&S is a founder member of the Retail Ambassador Programme, which sends employees into schools to lead discussions about a career in retail; and many employees use their annual paid volunteering day to help in schools.
We also offer structured internships for students from the Fashion Retail Academy, of which 90% are then offered jobs.
McDonald’s
Whether people join McDonald’s for 2 weeks’ work experience or a fulltime job, our aim is to help them build their confidence, gain transferable skills and fulfil their potential. We want to attract and retain the most talented people and we recognise that our people are looking for more than just a job.
Our 87,500 employees get the opportunity to climb our tried and tested career ladder, which has taken many of them from Crew Member to senior roles. We support them to gain qualifications, on the job, alongside their on-going training and our ‘career path’ ranges from a structured work experience programme through to a Foundation Degree in Managing Business Operations.
To date, we have supported our employees to gain more than 32,000 qualifications, including apprenticeships and basic literacy and numeracy qualifications.
McGinley Group
As a multidisciplinary employment business, McGinley Group is committed to the creation and identification of opportunities for individuals from across the social spectrum.
McGinley Group works with Job Centre Plus on its ‘Get Britain Working’ programme, providing opportunities for unemployed young people to gain access to skills from voluntary work experience and placements, thereby empowering the individual to gain sustainable employment from the knowledge they secure from their placement.
Additionally, the Group is engaged with HM Prison Service to provide ex-offenders with skills that will enable them to break the cycle of offending. By offering them support into sustainable employment upon release, it instils confidence in the candidate that employment is a very real option for them and that a return to crime need no longer be the default choice.
Mears
As Britain’s leading provider of domiciliary care and housing maintenance services Mears are welcomed into 500,000 homes. They recognise the opportunity this provides and actively encourage their 13,000 staff to support young people and other groups from the most disadvantaged communities.
As 90% of their staff live in the community where they work, projects are tailored to local needs. They have formed partnerships with schools, colleges and universities across the UK. By offering mentoring, work experience, skills development and apprenticeship schemes they provide support to young people who are furthest from the work force.
Media Trust
The Media Trust is working with media and communications organisations to open access and increase diversity in the industry. Their youth mentoring programme recruits from key organisations in the media including the BBC, News International and BAFTA. Last year more than 600 disadvantaged young people were supported, many of whom went on to further education, employment and training.
Microsoft
The Microsoft Internship Programme takes 100 students a year between their 2nd and 3rd years at university, is selected by open access and is well paid. They have also just launched a work experience scheme with 100 places per year for unemployed local youngsters.
MITIE
MITIE has always believed that doing the right thing creates financial value for the company. Sustainability is embedded across the business, with a strong link existing between business success and the management of non-financial issues.
In 2005, MITIE launched the ‘Real Apprentice’ scheme, designed to meet a business need for local, sustainable recruitment and the communities’ need for sustainable employment. The Real Apprentice has since become a best practice blueprint for employers wishing to contribute to the regeneration of their local communities. Since its launch, 197 people have taken part, with 143 real apprentices completing the programme and 117 of those being offered permanent jobs. In 2011, the scheme won 2 awards at the Business In The Community European Employee Volunteering Awards in the innovation and large company categories.
Morrisons
Morrisons won the Grocer’s ‘Employer of the Year’ award in 2010 and 2011, recognising their commitment to skills development through apprenticeships, and their work with the homeless. Since January 2010, Morrisons has provided more than 18,000 apprenticeship places for 16 to 24 year olds through The Morrisons Academy.
Overall, the Academy will have delivered 100,000 colleagues with QCF Level 2 Retail Skills by the end of 2011. The craft apprenticeship scheme offers on-the-job traditional craft training such as butchery, bakery and fishmongery. Younger recruits can develop long-term careers and offer customers specialist advice.
In partnership with award winning social enterprise CREATE, Morrisons launched an initiative to train and provide jobs for disadvantaged people giving them the skills and opportunities to develop a career in retail.
National Grid
Over the next 9 years National Grid is looking to recruit in the region of 2,500 engineers across the UK including experienced engineers, through to apprentices across the UK. They recognise that they need to be able to draw from the widest possible pool and have a number of initiatives, experiences and award-winning entry level talent development programmes.
In addition to their training schemes and direct recruitment, in the last year they engaged with approximately 3,000 school children through open days, clubs and work experience, and each year recruit over 60 students into various internship and sponsorship programmes.
National Grid also supports and works in partnership with a number of organisations including: Technician Council, City Year, Royal Academy of Engineering, Ellen MacArthur Foundation and the Smallpiece Trust.
Nationwide
Nationwide currently delivers career opportunities for students through its work experience, Graduate, and Internships programmes. They work with a number of organisations, universities, schools, parents and agencies to assist students to understand and gain experience of the workplace.
As well as combining exceptional training with early responsibility and plenty of support, they also support university students via a 12-month industrial placement, and 8 to 12 week summer internships, providing in-depth experience of core business areas. Last year their comprehensive work experience programme hosted over 100 work experience placements in their corporate sites and branches.
To further support young people’s understanding of work they have developed a suite of resources online on employability and the skills necessary for work.
Nestlé
The Nestlé Academy brings together Nestlé’s Graduate and Apprentice Programmes, Direct Entry Schemes, and ‘on the job’ vocational training and qualifications. It offers flexible entry points to attract people at different stages in their career and provides varied career development routes.
In 2012 Nestlé will double its graduate intake, number of apprentices, and summer and full year internships. Apprenticeship and Graduate Programmes will broaden to offer opportunities across a range of different functions.
NVQs and degree level qualifications will be open to employees and the apprenticeship programme will offer progression to foundation or honours degree programmes, providing a different route to higher education.
Nestlé works with local schools to offer work experience in line with curriculum requirements, while employees volunteer as business mentors for students under the Young Enterprise scheme.
NHS Employer
The NHS Employers (NHSE) organisation is the voice of employers in the NHS. NHSE keeps the NHS up-to-date on the latest workforce thinking and expert opinion, provides practical advice and information, and generates opportunities to share knowledge and best practice.
NHSE champions the importance of widening participation, something which health service employers have actively engaged to deliver. Local NHS organisations have fully embraced the apprenticeship agenda with over 9,000 apprentices starting this year – a third of whom were under 25.
By improving partnership working between NHS organisations and Jobcentre Plus locally, NHSE aims to support more employers to recruit from within their local communities. NHSE also supports NHS organisations in increasing the proportion of adults with mental health problems and learning disabilities in employment.
Norton Rose
In 2010 to 2011 Norton Rose LLP developed a pilot Insight Programme for less privileged students from Mossbourne City Academy in Tower Hamlets. The programme involved presentations, skills training, case studies, work experience and a mentor programme. Due to the success of the pilot, the programme has been extended and will be rolled out annually, initially for up to 35 students.
Norton Rose is also a founder member of PRIME – a legal, profession-wide initiative to improve fair access to the profession by providing quality work experience for young people from less advantaged backgrounds. Further social mobility projects Norton Rose is involved with include: The Sutton Trust’s Pathways to Law, Pure Potential, the Social Mobility Foundation, Legal Chances and Bright Network.
npower
At the start of 2012, npower will be launching the second year of its employability skills competition ‘What’s your goal?’. With football the national game – and the UK’s biggest employer in sport – the aim is to get teenagers thinking about their careers and use their love of football to get them excited about the huge variety of jobs out there.
Last year’s competition had mentors including Kevin Keegan and Neil Warnock, and appeared as a 3-part TV programme on Sky. This season, the programme is bigger and better with all 72 Football League clubs committing to giving up to 5 young people work experience in their clubs during the Easter holidays. Each club will also deliver lessons in local secondary schools encouraging students aged 14 to 16 to think about their skills and personal qualities and how to apply for a job. Npower have a wide range of exciting roles available – and not one of them is a player.
O2
O2, in partnership with the National Youth Agency and UK Youth, has launched its Think Big social action programme to support young people in the UK.
Think Big aims to empower young people (aged between 13 and 25) who want to make positive changes to their communities. Through funding, training and development, O2 help turn their ideas into reality – over 800 projects have been delivered this year. Each young person on the scheme benefits from an online mentoring system staffed by O2 volunteers. Think Big helps build a young person’s confidence and life skills and supports their transition into further education or the workplace.
In addition, O2 offers young people involved in Think Big the opportunity to apply for an O2 apprenticeship.
P&G
P&G’s purpose is to touch and improve lives in small yet meaningful ways, now and for generations to come, and we pride ourselves in helping children ‘Live, Learn and Thrive’ throughout the world.
In the UK, we are actively supporting children and schools in the local communities where we live and work, as well as helping educate children in disadvantaged communities throughout the UK through our platinum sponsorship of Teach First.
We have well established internships and apprenticeship programs at many of our facilities that are open to all.
In every aspect of recruitment and employment, we pride ourselves on being an equal opportunities employer, and our application process is aimed to ensure that cultural heritage or location is not a discriminating factor.
PRCA
Since signing up to the Social Mobility Compact, the Public Relations Consultants Association (PRCA), the trade association body for public relations consultancies and in-house communications teams, has developed a structured campaign to make the industry more inclusive.
The PRCA’s independent Access Commission has made recommendations to the PRCA board about removing barriers to the industry. Alongside this the PRCA is running an Intern Campaign, launched by Nick Clegg on the front page of PR Week magazine which has seen over 50 PRCA members commit to pay interns at least the National Minimum Wage. Furthermore the PRCA has become a leading partner in developing a government funded apprenticeship program. These initiatives will remove barriers to accessing the PR industry whilst creating a more inclusive and diverse workforce.
Prudential
Prudential is committed to supporting education through our work with Education Business Partnerships, Career Academies and Business in the Community. We offer mentoring to young people, school visits and curriculum support to teachers through the Education Business Partnerships. We offer internships though Career Academies and we are a National Champion of Business Class, a long-term strategic partnership programme with Business in the Community working with schools over a 3 year period.
Prudential is involved in 3 Business Class partnerships across the UK; leading the Business Class cluster in Reading, pioneering and leading the work in Stirling and most recently joined the cluster of businesses participating in the programme in Westminster.
PwC
PwC is committed to improving aspirations, employability skills and achievement amongst students and school leavers.
In 2011, we provided 439 paid internships, alongside work experience and mentoring to schools, and financial and practical support to Teachfirst.
PwC offer open days for pupils during school holidays, and a programme of briefings for school teachers and career advisors to raise awareness of opportunities in our business.
We recruited almost 100 students onto our schools and college leaver programme in 2011, and 55 trainee places linked to a University Degree Partnership Programme with Newcastle University. In 2012 this expands to Henley Business School.
PwC are leading the development of the first Higher Apprenticeship for professional services, working with employers and leading industry associations providing new routes to professional qualification in the industry.
RBS Group
RBS has a long-standing commitment to schools and local communities through a number of community programmes and partnerships. Their partnership with The Prince’s Trust, which started in 2001, focuses on supporting young people to start up in business.
RBS also provides work placements to young people from The Prince’s Trust, helping them to develop their skills and confidence with the aim of gaining employment. It is estimated that during 2011 and 2012, this partnership will support 11,500 disadvantaged young people on the path to a brighter future.
Another way in which RBS supports youth employment is through their Internship programme. In 2011, around 300 young people were given internships across the business.
Research In Motion (RIM)
Research In Motion (RIM), the company behind the BlackBerry, recently launched a workshop for 11 to 14 year olds called Mobiles Made Simple. This workshop teaches students about the science behind smartphones as well as inspiring students to think about careers in the technology sector and the STEM subjects that can help them get there. The workshop is delivered by RIM employee volunteers and in the first 6 months of launching it has been delivered to over 1,600 students.
The Royal Academy of Engineering
As the UK’s national academy for engineering, the Royal Academy of Engineering brings together the most successful engineers from across all engineering sectors to advance and promote excellence in engineering.
The Academy has a wide range of programmes and policy work which aims to improve life chances of young people. They co-lead the Tomorrow’s Engineers programme, which provides access to careers advice and work-related learning and also support STEMNET in the training of STEM Ambassadors up and down the country. They lead a coalition of partners in a drive to diversify the engineering profession, support the Lambeth Engineering Career Academy and provide both mentoring and internship opportunities in their offices. The Academy has a programme of e-mentoring and mathematics support for engineering students in FE Colleges and also funds industrial placements for engineering undergraduates.
RICS
RICS, a professional body acting in the public interest, sets standards for professionals across land, property and construction. We have 100,000 qualified members in over 100 countries and 75,000 students and trainees. Our commitment to widening access to the profession includes a life-changing apprenticeship scheme with the Chartered Surveyors Training Trust, helping 16 to 24 year-olds from disadvantaged backgrounds; a non-graduate route of entry needing no qualifications to enrol; working with employers on schools outreach; and promoting the Internships Code.
We are a founding member of Professions for Good, a group of leading professions which is producing a Social Mobility Toolkit for employers, professional bodies and regulators; are represented on the Executive Group of the Gateways to the Professions Forum; and support the work of organisations such as the Social Mobility Foundation.
The Royal Opera House
The Royal Opera House runs several initiatives that aim to inspire and enable young people from any background to begin a successful arts career.
Our First Stage work experience programme offers 180 placements every season and our unique Apprenticeship Scheme supports 8 young people a year to learn the specialist technical skills required to work backstage. In 2010 we developed the Culture Quarter Programme which helps unemployed young people into work via 6 month paid work placements in the cultural sector and on the job mentoring. Nearly 3 quarters of the 105 people who have taken part have gone into further employment or training.
The Royal Opera House encourages groups who are typically under-represented in the creative sector to apply and has won awards for our innovative recruitment campaigns.
Sainsbury’s
Sainsbury’s employs 150,000 people and their workforce reflects the diversity of the population (by age, gender, disability, ethnicity, religion and sexual orientation). Employees often move from the shop floor to running stores and other senior positions.
Through Sainsbury’s You Can programme, over 10,000 employees have been given job opportunities, skills and qualifications. More than 60 graduates were recruited through Sainsbury’s graduate programme last year and offer ‘hands on’ craft skills through their Food Colleges, which are accredited by City and Guilds. Sainsbury’s also offer a trainee manager programme and are offering a further 50 opportunities this year.
Through Mencap and Remploy, 530 new employees with disabilities have been recruited over the previous year. Last year over 3,286 people were recruited through Job Centre Plus and another 262 through the London Employer Accord.
Santander
Santander UK is launching the following programmes for 2012: Graduate Programmes, Internships, Flying Start Programme, Apprenticeships, and Work Experience.
Graduates have been recruited for Santander for the last 4 years 42 paid interns joined this summer which resulted in 8 people securing longer term/permanent employment. Santander UK has won awards for its school leaver programme, where 38 people obtained the Chartered Banker qualification.
Santander UK is launching a Flying Start programme and is finalising its Apprenticeship Scheme for people recruited into a variety of different business areas. They are implementing a work experience programme inviting people from a variety of backgrounds to gain a 2 week insight into Santander and have a senior mentor. It is anticipated that the participants of the above schemes will convert to graduate or permanent opportunities.
Schroders
Based in the City of London for over 200 years, Schroders has a long-standing commitment to the local community. We are a corporate sponsor of the Hackney Schools Mentoring Programme, established by the East London Business Alliance and Hackney Learning Partnerships. Our employees mentor 14 and 15 year-old students in the London Borough of Hackney, increasing their self-confidence, allowing them to gain experience of the working environment and broadening their aspirations. Our employees have also volunteered with Inspire! the Education Business Partnership for Hackney.
We also hold an annual work experience day for 15 to 18 year olds, to provide an insight into career opportunities within financial services. Approximately 50 students attend an interactive day of presentations, business games and careers advice delivered by Schroders employees.
Serco
Serco has a focus on skills, employability and investing in local communities. For example, Serco’s local government business developed a programme to challenge young people to find solutions to real business problems, giving them the opportunity to experience the world of work. Serco’s Merseyrail contract has also set up a partnership with a local college, as part of the ‘Business Class’ programme. Serco’s Corporate Responsibility report gives more details about these and other programmes.
Serco encourages employees to engage with the communities in which they work, recognising exceptional efforts at their annual Pulse Awards. Employees are given the opportunity to manage their own development needs and career ambitions in appraisals. Serco has committed to 1,000 work experience placements and 500 apprenticeships, including places for young people participating in the National Citizen Service.
Shell
Shell have 3 UK-wide social investment programmes: Shell LiveWire, Shell Education Service and Shell Springboard which focus on science, technology, innovation and enterprise. Shell Education Service was established more than 50 years ago and delivers fun, interactive, investigative science workshops to 60,000 children in 600 primary schools across the UK every year, 65% of which are delivered to schools near our UK sites.
In addition, Shell offers 30 to 40 paid internships each year lasting from 8 weeks up to 12 months. We welcome applications from students of all backgrounds and disciplines, ensuring that our recruitment process is as transparent as possible.
Our partnership with organisations such as Teach First, Social Mobility Foundation and Lambeth Community Fund is enforced by the support of Shell volunteers who coach and mentor individuals.
Simmons & Simmons
Simmons & Simmons has a history of working with local schools and colleges to support young people from less privileged backgrounds to access the world of work.
In 2012 the firm developed an ambitious programme with Frederick Bremer School in Walthamstow. Frederick Bremer is a mixed, multi-faith school, with significantly above regional average numbers of students eligible for free school meals. The firm also chose to work with Frederick Bremer as it is located in a London borough that is outside the usual catchment area of schools supported by City businesses.
Working with the Twist Partnership, the programme is designed to raise students’ aspirations through a series of ongoing, longer-term initiatives that provide access to the legal profession and wider work opportunities. Each year a group of 12 Year 10 students is selected, with input from both the school and the firm, to be part of the programme. The firm is committed to supporting each cohort of students for a 7 year period during which they return to the firm every year to participate in a range of activities including work experience; skills sessions; project work; presentations; paid internships and group mentoring. Thirty-six students are currently enrolled in the programme, and Cohort 4 will join in April 2015.
Sky
It’s our people that make Sky the UK’s leading entertainment company. That’s why we work hard to be an inclusive employer, and continue to attract the best, diverse young talent. Whether having a great experience at Sky or working directly for the business there are lots of options to choose from and we’ve offered nearly 4,000 opportunities over the past 3 years alone. Opportunities include work experience, paid placements or buddying up with Sky people to develop key employment skills as well as graduate and apprenticeship schemes or other direct career entry opportunities across Sky. Whatever opportunity is the right fit, we want to support young people from all backgrounds to make the best start to their careers.
Slaughter and May
Slaughter and May works closely with local schools to raise aspirations and provide career insights. For example, the firm’s Key Project aims to help disadvantaged students get into top universities. Places for over 80 students are available. Students receive one-to-one tutoring to raise academic achievement, weekly confidence and articulacy workshops and UCAS and careers support.
In addition, together with BLD, they run events as part of the ‘Today’s Children Tomorrow’s Lawyers’ programme for Year 9 and 10 students from 2 inner-London schools.
The firm is a founding member of PRIME, a legal sector initiative to provide fairer access to quality work experience.
They are also involved in a range of initiatives (including Pure Potential and Target Chances) to ensure that they attract and recruit candidates from a diverse range of backgrounds.
Standard Life
Standard Life, a leading provider of long term savings and investments to around 6 million customers with 9,000 employees worldwide, is very committed to providing workplace opportunities for young people.
Standard Life is a strong supporter of The Edinburgh Guarantee, a multi-partner initiative aimed at reducing unemployment among school leavers in the Edinburgh area. During 2012 we will provide up to 20 paid 6-month placements for school leavers to develop their administration, computer and communication skills, as well as building self-confidence. Interns will also be given the opportunity to gain a nationally recognised vocational qualification.
Standard Life has been a consistent provider of high quality opportunities for young people including: work experience for 14 year olds; summer internships for university students; and highly successful graduate recruitment programmes.
Tata Global Beverages
Tata Global Beverages is a good-for-you beverage business and the world’s 2nd largest tea company. With nearly 700 employees in the UK, it is best known for the Tetley brand and the iconic Tetley Tea Folk.
Since 2003 Tata Global Beverages employees have been helping the children at Oldfield Primary School in Greenford with their reading. Many of the children struggle with learning to read or have learning difficulties. Some of the children do not have English as their first language at home so have no-one to encourage or listen to them read. Volunteers attend reading sessions at the school 3 times a week during lunch hour.
Speaking about the contribution the initiative has made to Oldfield Primary, the Deputy Head Teacher said:
Tata Global Beverages volunteer readers have become part of school life and really do make a difference to our children’s reading progress.
Tata Steel
Driven by well-established social and ethical principles, Tata Steel’s commitment is demonstrated in the way they recruit and manage their employees, how they carry out business and how they engage with local communities.
Annually, Tata Steel recruit large numbers of apprentices, functional trainees, graduates and student placements. Anonymous selection methods are used; they do not discriminate by age, race or gender. They also develop strong partnerships with local schools, colleges and universities. Tata Steel’s sponsorship of the GB Olympic Triathlon team for 2012 and their young people’s Triathlon project ‘Kids of Steel’ is focused on social inclusion and health promotion, through sport.
Teach First
Teach First works to break the link between low family income and poor educational attainment by creating, equipping and mobilising a movement of leaders with a life-long commitment to raising the achievement, aspiration and access to opportunity of children from low socio-economic backgrounds.
Teach First’s Higher Education Access Programme for Schools has given graduates of the 2-year Leadership Development Programme, and the charity’s employees, the opportunity to mentor over 750 pupils through their university application process. 72% of last year’s group went on to higher education institutions.
Teach First employees also have the chance to go on Mission Engagement Days where they can experience projects and activities outside of their daily roles, linked to the charity’s ultimate aim of addressing educational disadvantage.
Teleperformance
Teleperformance – the largest global service provider for Relationship Management – runs the ‘Be all you can be’ programme aimed at encouraging young people from areas of high unemployment to (1) aim for a life which is physically active, nutritionally healthy and addiction free and (2) understand possible local career paths. This is in collaboration with local services such as community police and education authorities.
Teleperformance run an apprenticeship scheme in partnership with Intec Business College aimed at leavers between the ages of 16 to 19. As well as employment, this scheme offers pre-employment training to support school leavers in finding employment. Once employed, it allows them to work towards NVQ qualifications up to level 3. In 2011 Teleperformance has progressed almost 250 young people through the NVQ qualifications so far.
Tesco
Everyone is welcome at Tesco and has an opportunity to get on. We recruit on attitude not qualifications and are strong supporters of apprenticeships. In 2011/12 we are offering 3,000 apprenticeships covering retail skills and specialist areas like bakery. Through our Regeneration Partnership stores in deprived areas we have created over 4,000 jobs for the long-term unemployed. We also work with Jobcentre Plus to offer work experience placements to young unemployed people.
We are proud of our diverse workforce and work with Remploy and the Shaw Trust to place people with disabilities into jobs at Tesco. We offer a paid, openly advertised internship programme for students from ethnic minority backgrounds with the Windsor Fellowship charity. This year we are offering 420 places on 20 different graduate programmes.
Thomson Reuters
Thomson Reuters view diversity as a valuable business asset and actively work to bring together employees from diverse backgrounds. We achieve this through a comprehensive, company-wide diversity strategy focused on driving positive change at all levels.
In 2011 in the UK Thomson Reuters offered many opportunities to young people including: sponsoring 3 disadvantaged schools in London to enable them to take part in the ‘Apps for Good’ programme, where young people learn to develop mobile apps; Press Gang, a training course for young people who want to get into journalism; photography projects with Reuters photo-journalists; and personal branding workshops.
We also partner with local community organisations to make sure opportunities are relevant to local young people and accessible to people from disadvantaged or under-represented backgrounds.
UBS
UBS aims to address disadvantage by supporting education and entrepreneurship in our local communities through a strategic combination of funding and the commitment and skills of our employees. Our involvement spans a 25 year period and includes sponsorship of a secondary school in Hackney, East London - The Bridge Academy. Each employee is given 2 days of paid time to volunteer in the community and since 2006, nearly 2,500 employees have volunteered at the school.
Each year we build on various work related initiatives including work experience placements, internships and workshops delivered with community partners such as Inspire, IntoUniversity and The Brokerage Citylink. Through the Brokerage alone we have provided 163 internships for young people of which 19 have translated to full time employment. From 2013, participants will be able to engage in our new apprenticeship programme.
UPP
University Partnerships Programme (UPP) works in long-term partnership with many of the UK’s leading universities to provide academic and residential infrastructure.
UPP recognise the role of higher education as a driver of social mobility and like its partners UPP invests in the communities in which it works. UPP is dedicated to providing training opportunities for young people, regardless of background.
As part of their commitment, UPP works closely with The Prince’s Trust Construction and Business Services Leadership Group, their supply chain and university partners to identify and assist the hardest to reach young people, into employment and training. UPP hosts and funds ‘Get into Facilities Management’ and ‘Get into Construction’ courses, which offer 18 to 25 year olds invaluable experience and a springboard into a career.
Wates
Wates is working in partnership with Business in the Community on the roll out of Business Class, a framework for establishing a long-term partnership with a school.
Wates is involved in 7 partnerships across the UK and their leadership on the Business Class cluster in Coventry has seen fantastic results. Through the 2-year partnership, Wates and their partner school, Ernesford Grange, have worked on programmes and activities which support the students on attendance, aspiration and curriculum. This includes one-to-one mentoring with Year 10 students, where Wates employees mentor students. In the last year Ernesford Grange GCSE results have increased by 5% to 45% 5 A* to C including English and Maths and they have moved up league tables for Coventry, from being at the bottom.
WPP
WPP companies worldwide offer internships, apprenticeships and other extra-curricular activities to bring young creative talent into the industry and help them to develop their skills. Many programs also support our efforts to encourage greater workforce diversity.
In the UK The Futures Company have an apprenticeship scheme with City Gateway, a community inclusion charity based in Tower Hamlets. Similarly, Ogilvy London partnered with the University of East London, a university with a high proportion of ethnic minority students, to encourage applications to their 8 week summer internship program.
JWT, Landor, Ogilvy and RKCR/Y&R all play key roles in working with the Ideas Foundation, an organisation helping young people gain work experience in the creative industries and working to persuade creative agencies to open their doors to non-graduates.
We are not currently accepting applications to the Business Compact.
Updates to this page
Last updated 19 March 2015 + show all updates
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Simmons & Simmons case study added.
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First published.