Read: Innovator Gateley continues to lead the way as it publishes social impact report
Legal and professional services group, Gateley, has launched its Levelling Up Impact Report which assesses the company’s current impact on social mobility and recommends areas where it could extend that impact in the future.
Stephen Gateley & Sons first established a law business in Birmingham in the nineteenth century which has grown over four generations into one which services the commercial needs of businesses across the UK, with offices in 15 UK cities. In 2015 it became the first UK commercial law firm to depart from the traditional model of a partnership when it listed as a public company on the London Stock Exchange, using that opportunity to include its employees in equity sharing.
The Impact Report was developed in partnership with the Purpose Coalition and benchmarks Gateley’s work against a set of 14 innovative Levelling Up Goals. Launched in 2021, they provide a framework which organisations can use to identify gaps in access to opportunity, covering key life stages from early years to adulthood as well as the main areas where there may be barriers that prevent people from achieving their potential, such as good health and wellbeing or infrastructure. They also provide the means to monitor progress and share best practice.
The report reviews Gateley’s key strengths which are focused on the following Goals:
Goal 2: Successful School Years
Goal 3: Positive Destinations Post 16+
Goal 5: Open Recruitment
Goal 7: Widening access to savings and credit
Goal 8: Good Health and Wellbeing
Goal 11: Infrastructure for opportunity
Goal 12: Building homes and sustainable communities
Goal 13: Harness the energy transition
Goal 14: Achieving Equality through Diversity and Inclusion
Highlights include Gateley’s outreach work during the last 18 months to raise awareness and provide opportunities in the legal sector, notably its relationship with Greater Birmingham Professional Services Academy and its Legal Apprenticeships Programme, targeting those with little knowledge of the sector and underrepresented groups; its share offer to staff and its efforts to improve their health and wellbeing through programmes like Thrive, acknowledging the importance of the financial and emotional support of its staff; its work to improve diversity and inclusion, through its Women in Leadership and mentoring programmes and its particular support for returners; and its collaboration with a wide range of clients, including in infrastructure and housebuilding, to support them to make positive impacts in the communities where they operate.
The report also includes recommendations which challenge Gateley to go even further in making a difference on levelling up. These leverage its current best practice and target its efforts towards reducing specific opportunity gaps in communities, particularly amongst underrepresented groups. It also recommends tracking the socio-economic background of its employees and potential recruits to increase diversity even further in the organisation.
Rt Hon Justine Greening, Chair of the Purpose Coalition, added: “This report is further evidence of Gateley’s commitment to change for the better. Its track record as an innovator in business is reflected in its work to improve social mobility. As the very first business to publish its strategy on delivering social impact using the Goals architecture in its Responsible Business report, it is leading the way in taking decisive and ambitious steps to close the opportunity gap.
“Gateley is actively seeking to open up opportunities to a more diverse pool of talent which reflects the communities it serves. It recognises that wider diversity also makes good business sense.”
