Unlocking talent across the UK

Despite signs of the UK labour market gradually returning to normal, businesses are continuing to experience some of the tightest talent markets in history. Skills shortages, changing workforce expectations, an ageing population and early retirement are just some of the factors hampering organisations from recruiting and retaining the talent they need.

On the plus side, this is helping to encourage businesses to cast their net wider for talent, and could help bolster social mobility. As organisations learn from each other on the practical steps we can take to make sure that opportunities are accessible to all, we share some of the insights that we're implementing to broaden our talent pipelines while creating a workforce more reflective of society.

Creating wider access to opportunities

Sarah Atkinson, Chief Executive of the Social Mobility Foundation, joined us recently on a special LinkedIn Live to talk about how organisations can support social mobility. The discussion ranged from removing recruitment barriers to widening pathways into business and the importance of gathering data to track progress. You can listen to it here.

In this short clip, Sarah reveals how data can help you understand where pain points might lie.

We’ve used this approach ourselves to gather data from our people, and published our socio-economic pay and bonus gaps for the first time in 2021. We’re now looking to use this data to set FY30 targets, to be published later this year alongside our action plan to address these gaps. The data will also inform the update to our social inclusion strategy.

Engaging with communities

Businesses can play an important role in demystifying the world of work for young people, opening their eyes to all the opportunities they have available, but may not be aware of. This can be through work experience programmes, office insight days, or mentoring programmes.?

Primary school teacher, Ruth Hopkins, whose students recently took part in our new Primary Insight Day pilot, shares why workplace encounters like these are so important for young people.

Our people play a key role in delivering our community programme, volunteering their time and expertise to deliver skills-based training to young people. See a snapshot below of the impact of this approach in FY23.

Why a diverse workforce is key for business success

Our Chairman and Senior Partner, Kevin Ellis CBE spoke to Tunde B. OBE, host of the Social Mobility Podcast, highlighting both the economic and societal benefits of social mobility. Listen to the episode here.

Focusing on skills and potential?

We recognise talent and potential are determined by more than academic grades, with students from disadvantaged backgrounds often less likely to have optimal environments for their education. One of the biggest changes we made recently was the removal of our 2:1 criteria for undergraduate and graduate roles. Doing this means we're broadening the scope of thought within our teams and bringing in different perspectives which invariably leads to better answers for our clients.

We also offer alternative entry routes into PwC for those who choose not to follow the traditional university pathway, for example through our School and College Leaver programmes and our Tech Degree Apprenticeship programme.?

Hear from some of our apprentices as they share their experiences of what it’s like to work and study on our Flying Start programme:

Resources to guide you

If you’re an employer looking to measure socio-economic diversity within your organisation, the Social Mobility Commission’s employer’s toolkit has guidance on the key questions to ask your workforce. The SMF’s Social Mobility Employer Index - an annual benchmarking and assessment tool for employers - is also a useful tool for informing your own organisational social mobility strategy.

And if you’re a student looking for tips on preparing for an assessment day or job interview, or insights on the type of skills employers are looking for, take a look at our Employability Hub which contains a range of virtual tools, including interactive e-learns to support you.

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