Leading business and financial adviser Grant Thornton UK LLP has been named Organisation of the Year at this year’s UK Social Mobility Awards, in recognition of its continued commitment to improving social mobility in the workplace.
The UK Social Mobility Awards recognise and encourage action that will promote and increase social mobility within Britain’s companies and institutions, and celebrate best practice and innovation.
Since 2013 Grant Thornton has proactively pursued a market leading approach to tackling social mobility. It was the first professional services firm to drop academic barriers to entry and made a number of changes to the way in which it assesses and recruits entry level talent. It recently redesigned its trainee application form to remove any weightings around extra-curricular activities and work experience and has implemented a strong coaching culture throughout the recruitment process. The firm is also a founding signatory of Access Accountancy, a movement which aims to broaden access to the profession.
Clive Fathers, Partner and Business Lead for Social Mobility, Grant Thornton UK LLP, commented: “At Grant Thornton, social mobility is a core element within our broader inclusivity agenda and we are both proud and delighted that the firm’s progress and long-standing commitment to this issue has been recognised with this award.
“Our focus has always been on ensuring the firm is more representative of all levels of society and providing young people with opportunities that previously might not have been available to them. This award recognises the incredible efforts of the many people within our firm who, since we started our social mobility journey in 2013, have helped shape where we are today. We are seeing this pay off daily, through the diversity of talent we are bringing in and the opportunities we are creating for our people.
“Social mobility and inequality is one of the defining policy issues of our time, and the implications and opportunities for business are significant. The case for change is not simply one of fairness but also of competitive advantage, as having a wider more diverse pool of talent leads to improved organisational performance, a better outcome for clients and a more productive economy.”
Tunde Banjoko OBE, Founder of The UK Social Mobility Awards, added: “The UK Social Mobility Awards are about corporate Britain coming together to advance social mobility because it’s the right thing to do. Millions of young people never get a chance to succeed simply because of the family they are brought up in or the school they went to, and the businesses and organisations involved in this initiative want to change that. I’d like to congratulate Grant Thornton for winning the ‘Organisation of the Year’ category, they are doing outstanding work in this area and I am pleased that this was recognised by the judges.”
Earlier this year Grant Thornton was also awarded a Queen’s Award for Promoting Opportunity through Social Mobility and ranked second in the 2018 Social Mobility Employer Index.
