The tech and creative sectors have increased their entries to The Social Mobility Foundation’s annual Employer Index by 60% and 43% respectively.
The rise signals a turnaround in two industries that have poor records on socioeconomic diversity.
Employers including the BBC, Auto Trader, dentsu, Phonographic Performance Limited and Citypress from the tech and creative sectors finished in the top 75 positions.
While engagement with social mobility through the Index has improved, this picture is not wholly positive. Fewer than one in ten (9%) tech workers come from a working-class background and the figure is just over one in four (26%) for the creative sector. The figure for the entire UK workforce is 39%.
There was a further setback for social mobility in the tech industry this year. The Tech Talent Charter – a UK non-profit working with 850 tech employers to drive diversity and inclusion and collect data in the sector – closed in summer 2024, citing a lack of commitment from the industry.
The Social Mobility Foundation is calling on the Government to roll out mandatory data collection on socioeconomic background for large employers so they can better understand their workforces and can use this knowledge to drive change.
Charity chief Sarah Atkinson said: “We’ve got a productivity problem in this country. We need to make the most of all the UK’s talents – it’s the key to unlocking growth. But too many people from working-class backgrounds are being shut out of our workplaces and held back from reaching their potential.
“Large employers are now expected to track gender pay gaps and they will need to do the same for ethnicity and disability very soon.
“There’s no good reason why they can’t report on class differences within their organisations. The Social Mobility Commission has shown how to measure this data. Our Employer Index shows it’s the norm for dozens of great companies to do this. It’s business as usual.
“This new Labour Government is committed to enacting the socioeconomic duty in the Equality Act, meaning that public sector bodies have to reduce inequalities resulting from socioeconomic background. The next step is to extend that to the private sector.”
Research by Accenture shows businesses that prioritise social mobility perform 1.4 times better than their competitors, thanks to wider talent pools and more innovative cultures.
The Social Mobility Foundation’s Employer Index did not feature any games studios – and it is widely recognised that the UK games industry must do more to attract and welcome individuals from lower socio-economic backgrounds. The most recent Ukie Census revealed that some 62 per cent of respondents reported that they lived in a household where the main income earner worked in a managerial or professional job. This is a significantly larger proportion than in the general population, where the benchmark is 37%
For more information on the Social Mobility Foundation, and to take a look at engaging with the Employer Index, click here.
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