The Social Mobility Commission has launched its new employer advisory group (EAG), which includes HR leaders from the CIPD, large organisations and the government.
The EAG has been set up to help inform the direction of the commission’s employer-focused work and drive social mobility across all UK workplaces.
Earlier this month, charity the Social Mobility Foundation found that people from working class backgrounds earn on average £6,718 per year less than those from a more privileged background, while separate research from the Sutton Trust found a quarter of employees have experienced accent bias at work.
The Social Mobility Commission’s group will help build awareness and understanding of the challenges that impact social mobility, support the delivery of the commission’s projects, and help the commission develop resources for employers to tackle social mobility challenges.
Social mobility
The group includes representatives from sectors including law, retail, construction, utilities, and professional services.
HR leaders on the panel include Peter Cheese, CIPD chief executive; Isabelle Fernandes, head of early and creative talent, UK and Ireland, at management consultancy Avanade; Declan Vaughan, people director at law firm Browne Jacobson; Sarah Tebutt, director of people and workplace at the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport; Helen Redfern, chief people officer at Kier Group; and Neil Morrison, group HR director at Severn Trent plc.
Other organisations represented in the group include Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust; the Co-op; Boston Consulting Group; the Chartered Management Institute; PwC and Slaughter and May.
Cheese said: “I’m delighted to be representing the CIPD in the Social Mobility Commission’s new employer advisory group. The people profession have a crucial role in ensuring that everyone has the chance to access and progress through work, and delivering the change needed at work. With employers facing increasingly persistent skills shortages this is a pivotal moment to explore how we can drive social mobility in the workplace.
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“As well as enabling individuals to achieve their full potential, there are clear business benefits for employers. Increased diversity goes hand in hand with increased creativity and innovation and has a key part to play in delivering growth and driving improvements in UK productivity.”
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