Fixing the ladder: How all businesses benefit from better social mobility

AMS Talent Lab are proud to be finalists in the UK Social Mobility Awards (SOMOs) 2024 in the Recruitment Programme of the Year category. Read more about why Social Mobility matters to us now more than ever below. 

Social Mobility, or Social Justice, refers to the link between a person’s occupation or income and the occupation or income of their parents. Where there is a strong link, there is a lower level of Social Mobility. Where there is a weak link, there is a higher level of Social Mobility.

For AMS and our partners, this means creating a level playing field of opportunity and career mobility for all, regardless of the socio-economic background of someone’s family, where they went to school, if they qualified for a school meal programme or if their parents gained a college or university degree – along with any other intersections that come with protected characteristics such as ethnicity, disability or age. To drive positive change, an organisation needs to  understand their current socio-economic make-up, the routes into employment or career progression, and where the barriers might be.  

Businesses play a critical role in breaking down these barriers  in order to create opportunities more evenly across society – not just because it’s the right thing to do, but because it makes commercial sense. With global skills shortages, organisations are needing to explore diverse and often under-represented talent pools to plug skills gaps, and the shift towards skills-based hiring will open opportunities to those who have often been excluded.  

Evidently, however, there is a lot of work to do. 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. At the same time, social Mobility is rising up the political and economic agenda, and this is reflected in the evolving language being used to describe it – Social Mobility is commonly understood as creating ‘Social Value’ or ‘Social Justice’ outside the UK, and an increasingly preferred term for ‘lower socio-economic background’ is ‘under-resourced’. 

In this first edition of our Social Mobility Series, we explore two key enablers on our Social Mobility journey: our partnership with Bridge of Hope, and AMS Talent Lab. Stay tuned for future editions as we share learnings in progressing through our Social Mobility journey. 

Our partnership with Bridge of Hope 

AMS is proud to partner with Bridge of Hope Careers as part of our AMS Diversity & Inclusion Alliance, a collaboration hub of DEIB focused partners, committed to supporting our clients with diversity challenges, improving diversity of their total workforce and bringing market leading DEI expertise to inform talent strategies.

Bridge of Hope is a social enterprise which is part of the nGAGE family of talent businesses.  The focus is joining marginalised and disadvantaged job seekers with inclusive hiring employers.  There are over 1m vacant jobs at the moment, and more than 5 times that of underrepresented potential staff.  That’s our mission – making all recruitment, INCLUSIVE Recruitment.

Through Bridge of Hope’s hiring Masterclass series, the Bridge of Hope Careers portal, and advisory and consulting work to assist employers in developing the right strategy and tactics, the mission starts to take life!  Already, 70 businesses have become partners of Bridge of Hope, and they are now working with more than 75,000 new, fresh candidates seeking jobs.

From candidates with marginalised backgrounds ranging from mums-returning-to-work, to ex-military, and over-50s to those on the neurodiverse spectrum, the work is on to bring sbout social mobility through employment! If you’d like to explore how you can access talent from marginalised backgrounds to plug skills gaps, reach out to diversityandinclusion@weareams.com. 

Spotlight: AMS Talent Lab 

Talent Lab understands the impact of Social Mobility in society, offering opportunity on an equal footing and eliminating the barriers for entry into the workplace. Every element of Talent Lab is designed to enable talented individuals to succeed. Whether this be through our attraction methods, our carefully curated assessment process, our world class training, or the ongoing support through our Talent Lab Care team.  

We partner with Social Mobility experts, such as Bridge of Hope, enabling us to evolve our proposition, tweak what we do, while gathering data and feedback to further curate and enhance our service. We are fortunate, our clients understand the importance and value of what we do, and the results it brings. Our ethical skilling practices, our ethos, and our exceptionally talented Talent Lab Associates showcase every day the impact that we are having, however we fully recognise that there is always more to do. Growing your talent through this route comes with nuances that require thought, a different approach to what we traditionally call ‘support’ and the need to build a sense of belonging across our community has never been more apparent. This is where Talent Lab excels and sets the standard, it highlights how we differentiate ourselves from others in this competitive field. 

Through various channels, encompassing numerous Social Mobility initiatives, such as the Skills for Life Bootcamps, we offer the motivated, but sometimes overlooked, untapped talent in the market. We nurture, support and create opportunity. On the flip side, our clients can grow their future talent in hard-to-find skillsets, with a diverse, and highly motivated resource. Our clients are forward thinking, brave in their approach to building their future talent, and proud to be making a change in the Social Mobility landscape within their respective workplace. 

Together we make a difference and with the ongoing support and partnership developed with Bridge of Hope, we are confident that this is just the beginning of a step change in the way we can all play a part in positively influencing the lives of many across the UK who have the aptitude and motivation to reach their full potential.

Are you looking to partner with a truly ethical skilling partner to fill your skills gaps and increase productivity rates? Please reach out to us at sales@wearetalentlab.com.