Read: Reed in Partnership launches social mobility impact report
Reed in Partnership, one of the first employment support service providers in the UK, today launched a Levelling Up Impact Report which assesses how it is currently boosting opportunity across the country and recommends further steps to extend its impact.
Reed in Partnership was launched in 1998. It is part of the Reed Group, the UK’s largest family-owned recruitment company, which also contains Reed.co.uk, the UK’s leading job board attracting more than 150 million visits every year. It now delivers employment services across the UK and has diversified its business across a range of sectors, growing from about 600 staff to almost 3000 over the last three years. Its mission is to positively transform people and their communities, supporting individuals, their families and the places they live to prosper, often under challenging circumstances.
The Levelling Up Impact Report has been developed with the Purpose Coalition and benchmarks Reed in Partnership’s work against an innovative set of 14 Levelling Up Goals. Launched in 2021, the Goals provide a framework to help organisations identify gaps in access to opportunity, covering key life stages from early years to adulthood as well as the main areas where barriers can exist that prevent people from achieving their potential, for example good health and wellbeing and digital connectivity. They also provide a way of measuring impact and sharing best practice.
The report highlights the key strengths that Reed in Partnership demonstrates in delivering equality of opportunity in the UK, focusing particularly on the following:
Goal 3 Positive Destinations Post 16+
Goal 4 Right Advice and Experiences
Goal 5 Open Recruitment
Goal 6 Fair Career Progression
Goal 8 Good Health and Wellbeing
Goal 10 Closing the Digital Divide
Some of the great examples of Reed in Partnership’s best practice include its partnerships with the LEAN service, National Citizen Service and Young Careers Initiative to help young people build the skills and experiences they need; its recruitment service that bridges the gap between what businesses want and participants’ applications, including a Plan of Action framework to ensure they have the right advice and experience; strategic and targeted CF activity hubs for ex-offenders, opening recruitment pathways for those who need more support; a wellbeing programme that is not just accessible to staff but to participants and the wider communities the business serves and is embedded in every programme it runs; the assurance of digital connectivity, including the purchase of devices and internet packages for those who require them.
The report also includes recommendations for future action to strengthen Reed in Partnership’s contribution to improving social mobility. It can leverage its position as a key business to lead the way on enterprise-led social value generation, including the strategic use of data to specifically target those individuals and communities who need the most support and the measurement and tracking of the socioeconomic diversity of its workforce to better understand the barriers to career progression.
Rhodri Thomas, Managing Director at Reed in Partnership said: “The Purpose Coalition’s levelling up goals are a really effective way of measuring the impact we are making as an organisation and how we can go further.
“Reading the report fills me with huge pride at the work our teams do across the country every day. This work will be even more important against the backdrop of the cost of living issues, and the report’s recommendations provide a really good challenge for us as a business moving forward.
“We would like to thank Justine and the team and look forward to continuing to contribute to this vitally important agenda for the country.”
Chair of the Purpose Coalition, Rt Hon Justine Greening, added: “Following the pandemic and now with a mounting cost of living crisis, it has never been more important for businesses to play their part in delivering opportunity into the heart of the communities they serve. Using their local knowledge and their partnerships with organisations who have the expertise to understand the kind of support people need, they are well placed to make a real difference.
“Reed in Partnership can play a leading role in boosting opportunity - that is its core business and, with offices across the country, it has a huge geographic reach. It recognises that talent can be found anywhere, regardless of place or background, and offers targeted support for those groups who face particular barriers to getting a job and getting on. It also understands what employers need from their potential employees. As a business, it provides the crucial link between both parties, developing the skills and matching people with opportunities that will lead to well-paid jobs and rewarding careers in a high tech, green economy. That is illustrated by the way in which it gives its own staff the chance to learn, grow and advance their own careers, with a flexibility that suits them.
“It’s clear that we will all need to work together to overcome the challenges the country is facing. The new Prime Minister, Liz Truss, has already called for ‘more investment and great jobs in every town and city across the country’. Whether that agenda continues to be referred to as levelling up remains to be seen but there is no doubt that that approach is fundamental to growing the economy and boosting productivity with a more skilled workforce. Those ambitions are vital if we are to ensure equality of opportunity for all, and I look forward to working with Reed in Partnership in the future to achieve that.”
