Pinsent Masons ranked as a Top 75 employer for social mobility

The Index assesses UK organisations for their efforts to improve social mobility in the workplace. They are evaluated on criteria including engagement with young people, apprenticeships, recruitment processes and the career paths of individuals from lower income background within the organisation.

Pinsent Masons has been recognised for the launch of its Kirk Murdoch scholarship in conjunction with Law Society of Scotland, which named the first recipient of the scholarship earlier this summer, and for its PRIME work experience programme for school students in areas where social mobility issues are most prevalent.

Deborah McCormack, Head of Early Talent at Pinsent Masons said:

"To be a truly inclusive business, we have a responsibility to understand and embrace all aspects of diversity, including socio-economic. By doing so we build a multi-faceted, innovative and dynamic workforce, representative of our communities and clients. The benefits of diverse talent are widely recognised - better decision-making, appropriate risk assessment and increased profitability are the holy grail of business. By adopting an inclusive approach to recruiting and enabling talent, we underpin the future success of our own business and that of our clients.

"The life circumstances in which some pupils and students find themselves can significantly impact academic achievement. By adopting a contextual approach to recruitment, we are fairly considering applications from all candidates, regardless of their socio-economic background. Providing a level playing field for candidates does not equate to lowering the attainment bar. It simply allows fuller consideration of candidates with a greater understanding of the individual. That has to be the right thing to do."

David Johnston OBE, chief executive of the Social Mobility Foundation, said:

"The quality of submissions this year meant we have increased the size of our Top list from 50 to 75 and it shows the very wide range of organisations trying to make progress on social mobility. Whilst no employer would say they have cracked their social mobility challenge, all of the employers in the Top list - along with those that didn't quite make it - should be congratulated for the efforts they're making to ensure their organisation is open to talent from all class backgrounds."

The Rt Hon Alan Milburn, chair of the Social Mobility Foundation, added:

"Social mobility is becoming a cause for more and more of our country's top employers. When politics is weak, society needs to be strong - so it is welcome a growing number of employers are stepping up to the plate. They recognise the need to open their doors to a wider pool of talent both to address growing public concerns about unfairness and to reap the business benefits from having more diverse workforces. The onus is now on all of our country's top employers to do the same."

125 employers from 18 sectors, who collectively employ over 1.1 million people in the UK, entered the 2019 Index. The submissions were marked using a strict mark scheme and the list of scores benchmarked both within the sector and across different employment sectors.