26 March

How do we help everyone thrive and progress at work?

This March we hosted our first in person Power of Inclusion event of the year at The Fable by Drake and Morgan. 

We asked City businesses and Corporate Partners how we ensure employees from lower socioeconomic backgrounds are able to thrive and progress at work?

The event, which is part of the Power of Inclusion’s Social Mobility Workshop Series, was led by Power of Inclusion Senior Leadership Forum Chair Dan Robertson.

We explored:

• how mentoring and sponsorship can support social mobility in the workplace
• strategies for creating equitable opportunities for career progression
• how we ensure mentoring and sponsorship opportunities are not reserved for those from the most privileged backgrounds
• the power of mentoring
• how to deliver formal programmes that promote fair advancement 

The morning kicked off with a speech from Steven McCann, Founder, MCG Consulting. Steve spoke about how mentoring can drive social mobility and support employees from lower socioeconomic backgrounds to progress in their careers.

We then heard a ‘Practical Perspective on Setting up a Mentoring Scheme’ from Alkim Mete, Senior Global Data & AI Lead/ UK Social Mobility Co-Chair at Microsoft.

Akim and Steve then joined other City business representatives for our round-table discussions. The lively discussions included team members from The Appeal’s Corporate Partners Bloomberg LP, Standard Chartered Bank, Fidelity International, DLA Piper, Barclays, Payden & Rygel.

Topics included the changes businesses can make such as diversifying recruitment strategies and challenges such as overcoming accent bias.

Finally, guests heard from Professor Miranda Brawn, Founder & President, The Miranda Brawn Diversity Leadership Foundation on Mentoring & Reverse Mentoring for Inclusion. 

She shared practical strategies to implement successful social mobility mentoring and skills development initiatives and the role reverse mentoring can play in levelling the playing field.

Marie Broad, Social Impact Manager at DLA Piper said:

“Great to delve into all things mentoring this morning. Miranda’s words about mentoring being the number one tool for closing the social mobility gap have stuck with me. We talked internal schemes, firm to firm, external outreach, structured, informal - it’s all valuable. As mentors we can listen, be mentee-led, and bring respectful curiosity.”

Register for our next Power of Inclusion event ‘Harnessing Your Data’ on 7^th May at 8am here