SOCIAL MOBILITY AT BP A CASE STUDY ON BREAKING DOWN BARRIERS With BP & The Purpose Coalition JULY 2022 ©BP
CONTENTS FOREWORD
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Rt. Hon. Justine Greening - Chair; Purpose Coalition and founder of the Purpose Goals (Levelling Up Goals)
FOREWORD
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Kerry Dryburgh - EVP, People & Culture
JOURNEY TO THE LEVELLING UP GOALS
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THE IMPORTANCE OF SOCIAL MOBILITY
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What is it? Why does it matter?
BP’S JOURNEY: HARNESSING THE ENERGY TRANSITION About BP The importance of Social Mobility to BP’s strategy Levelling Up Goal 13 – to Harness the Energy Transition
BP’S SOCIAL MOBILITY AND LEVELLING UP CONTRIBUTIONS
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Renew Inspire Skill Employ
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BREAKING DOWN BARRIERS: BP’S SOCIAL MOBILITY FRAMEWORK FOR ACTION
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ADVANCING SOCIAL MOBILITY: WHAT IT WILL TAKE
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CONCLUDING REMARKS
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FOREWORD
RT. HON. JUSTINE GREENING Chair; Purpose Coalition and founder of the Purpose Goals (Levelling Up Goals)
IN A COUNTRY WHERE EQUALITY OF OPPORTUNITY HAS TRADITIONALLY BEEN HARD TO FIND FOR MANY, THE TWIN CHALLENGES OF THE PANDEMIC AND THE FINANCIAL CRISIS PRESENT A PARTICULARLY DEMANDING ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL SCENARIO.
Increasingly, it is businesses which are leading the way, providing innovative and creative solutions for their colleagues and customers and delivering opportunity into the communities they serve. The best are challenging themselves to go even further, taking on a wider role in society and making a real difference in levelling the playing field on opportunity in the most difficult of times. BP is one of those businesses. It is part of the growing consensus, not just across business but across politics, education and the public sector, that immediate, effective and measurable action needs to be taken to create a better and fairer society. The Purpose Coalition has worked closely with BP on this report which assesses how the company is currently helping to improve social mobility across the country and how that work might be extended in the future. Its work has been assessed against the 14 Levelling Up Goals developed by the Purpose Coalition, covering the key stages of a person’s life as well as the main barriers to opportunity. Crucially, they enable
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FOREWORD
Rt. Hon. Justine Greening
organisations to measure their progress and share their best practice with others. The sense of an ambition to do better and a willingness to collaborate is a key feature of BP’s work. Breaking the cycles of deprivation especially in social mobility cold spots, reducing inequality, and driving personal and economic growth go hand in hand with the wider desire to tackle climate change and achieve a zero-carbon world. People and planet are two sides of the same coin, and the Purpose Coalition is proud to have Kerry Dryburgh, BP’s Executive Vice President for People & Culture and Chief People Officer, playing a key role as a Levelling Up Commissioner for Goal 13, Harnessing the Energy Transition. Alongside BP’s work on reimagining what energy means for society, it is also working hard to reimagine opportunity as part of that transition. It has a strong heritage of improving social mobility and of creating significant economic value, opportunities and jobs, directly as well as indirectly through its supply chain. Its outreach work in schools inspiring the next generation, its commitment
to providing work experience for those with no connection or privilege to ease their way and its offer of a wide range of apprenticeships pays dividends, for individuals, communities and the wider economy. Crucially it provides a pipeline of talent that will supply the skills and expertise our greener, digital economy will need. BP sets an example on levelling up which other businesses can follow. It also strives for an inclusive approach where everyone, regardless of background, is valued and allowed to be themselves. It’s not just the right thing to do, it makes good business sense, with the most diverse organisations performing better and more profitably as well as having a happier more engaged workforce.
I am proud to be working with BP’s senior leadership developing our work on ensuring that opportunity is accessible to everyone and to shape the levelling up agenda and challenging businesses to go further and faster in their efforts to deliver real change.
NO ONE SHOULD BE HELD BACK IN LIFE BECAUSE OF WHERE THEY HAVE COME FROM. YET WHERE AND HOW YOU START IN LIFE ALL TOO OFTEN DETERMINES WHERE YOU FINISH.
FOREWORD KERRY DRYBURGH EVP People & Culture – BP
My career had an unconventional start; I left school at 16 after sitting my O-Levels (now called GCSEs) and pursued an apprenticeship at an insurance company, which allowed me to work and study at the same time. I was motivated, made some good choices and, most importantly, I was helped by people who could see my potential. For many years I felt selfconscious that I had not immediately gone to university. Now I believe it’s made me who I am today, and I’m keen to share what I’ve learned and encourage others to look beyond traditional career routes. Inequities continue to persist in the workplace. Individuals from less advantaged backgrounds are less likely to achieve a senior position in the workplace, compared to peers who come from more privileged backgrounds. And those from working class backgrounds are 60% less likely to get a professional job.1 It also pays to be privileged. An individual from a privileged background will earn, on average, 16% more than a working class peer doing the same job.2, 3 There is no shortage of facts that lay bare the issue of poor social mobility in our country. That’s why organisations like This Is Purpose and the Purpose Coalition, founder of Levelling Up Goals in the UK, are working to improve the situation. BP is proud to play a part. Within BP, we believe that everyone should be included, and are empowered to succeed, no matter what their start in life. We’re committed to that goal not only because it is morally right but because diverse, free-thinking, creative and motivated teams perform better and bring commercial value to a business.
This is especially true in the context of the energy transition. We are reimagining energy for people and our planet. For the energy transition to be successful, it must be equitable and fair for all. So, we are looking to reimagine opportunities as well.
SKILL
Specifically, we intend to break down the barriers that can prevent access to opportunity by boosting talent across four areas – renew, inspire, skill and employ. We are setting ambitious apprenticeship and work experience goals to support alternative career paths as well as using data we have never had access to before, to enable transparency and hold ourselves accountable through social mobility workforce ambitions – another first at BP.
We plan to more than double the number of apprenticeships we offer globally by 2030 (up to 2,000 apprentices), with an increasing range of opportunities across the breadth of our business.
Here are the actions we will take:
TALENT RENEW In 2022/23 we plan to pilot an approach to engaging suppliers in specific social mobility projects, for example, the Aberdeen Hydrogen Hub and on our projects in Teesside, to inform our longer-term direction. We will explore how we support suppliers in enabling social mobility, for example, in scaling up their own apprenticeship programmess, or encouraging community and education outreach. INSPIRE We plan to deepen our engagement in social mobility cold spots through our education partnerships, including a specific strategy for Aberdeen and Teesside.
By 2024, we plan to provide up to 500 work experience placements globally each year, with outreach focused on students who meet social mobility criteria. EMPLOY
TRANSPARENCY We are committed to gathering data on the socioeconomic background of our employees by expanding voluntary selfidentification, launching in 2022.
ACCOUNTABILITY We plan to define a workforce representation baseline in 2023 (through self-identification) and to adopt a subsequent 2030 ambition to increase the representation of employees from lower socioeconomic backgrounds in the UK. Companies like ours have a role to play, but we cannot do this alone, and we do not have all the answers. Partnerships with other businesses, third sector organisations and collaboration across the private and public sectors are vital to changing our society. Together, we can help the next generation be more prosperous, sustainable, and successful than the last.
FOREWORD
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1. Social Mobility Commission, State of the nation 2021: Social mobility and the pandemic. 2. UK data service, The class ceiling: Social mobility and why it pays to be privileged. 3. Privileged in terms of access to money, to contacts who promote their upward mobility, and to the cultural know-how necessary to get ahead in schools and companies. Social class origins are measured based on family income during early years, parents’ level of education, and parents’ occupations.
Kerry Dryburgh
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JOURNEY TO THE LEVELLING UP GOALS IN 2015, AS SECRETARY OF STATE FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT, JUSTINE GREENING LED THE UK DELEGATION TO THE UNITED NATIONS (UN). ALONGSIDE 184 INTERNATIONAL PARTNERS, SHE HELPED TO ESTABLISH THE UN’S SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS (SDGS). In 2017, the General Assembly adopted a UN resolution which identified specific targets for each goal, along with indicators which could be used to measure progress towards each target. These 17 interlinked, global goals were designed to be ‘a blueprint to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all’. They marked a shift from the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) which had been established at the Millennium Summit of the UN in 2000. In contrast to the MDGs, the SDGs were nationally owned, country-led and targeted wealthy, developed nations as well as developing countries. They emphasised the interdependent environment, social and economic aspects of development by centralising the role of sustainability. As Secretary of State, Justine recognised how useful a common set of accessible but ambitious objectives could be in galvanising action to achieve change. Over the last two years, the pandemic has exacerbated many of the problems relating to social inequality in the UK. The recovery is an opportunity to address these issues and level up but that requires updated and specific goals in order to outline, inspire and measure progress. The Purpose Coalition, a group of policy-
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JOURNEY TO THE LEVELLING UP GOALS
makers, businesses, universities and other organisations, aims to improve social mobility in the UK and responded to this challenge with the launch of its own set of Purpose Goals, known as the Levelling Up Goals in the UK, in February 2021. These new Goals build on the foundations laid by the UN’s SDGs by outlining 14 clear goals, drawing on expertise provided by academia and business which has been applied to the unique challenges facing the UK in levelling up. They focus on key life stages and on the main issues that need to be resolved to create a level playing field for all in this country. The Levelling Up Goals are intended to be the architecture through which the urgent ambition to level up the UK can actually be achieved. The impact of the work carried out to do this can, and should, be measurable. The Purpose Coalition, in partnership with its members and the Office for National Statistics (ONS), is developing sub-goals for each of the 14 goals, with quantifiable targets and measurements against which progress can be charted. This will create a more transparent and measurable framework with which to monitor and subsequently address the problems of social mobility and inequality that have been entrenched in this
country for many years. The Levelling Up Goals are designed to assess the outcomes of an organisation’s CSR strategies and measures. Many are doing outstanding work and making important contributions to society but are still measuring this via inputs – a measure that focuses on financial costs rather than the real impact to human lives. Crucially, these Goals are a shared framework. The wider Purpose Coalition believes that, with a common understanding and objectives, there can be action that drives change on the ground. Individual organisations, including universities, businesses, policymakers, communities and NGOs, can work together, with the shared Goals as a uniting and motivating foundation for progress. As the problems which cause social inequality in the UK are interlinked, the response should also be collaborative. The Purpose Coalition has encouraged businesses and universities to share their own best practice with other organisations so they are not only demonstrating their own commitment but creating a shift towards purpose-led organisations. The Goals are key to facilitating an extension of this cooperative exchange of information which can be used to deliver equality of opportunity.
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Strong Foundations in Early Years
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Successful School Years
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Positive Destinations Post-16
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Right Advice and Experiences
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Open Recruitment
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Fair Career Progression
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Widening Access to Savings and Credit
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Good Health and Well-Being
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Extending Enterprise
the 10 Closing Digital Divide
11 Infrastructure For Opportunity
Homes 12 Building & Sustainable Communities
the Equality, 13 Harness 14 Achieve Energy Transition Through Diversity & Inclusion
THE IMPORTANCE OF SOCIAL MOBILITY
WHAT IS IT? “Social mobility is the link between a person’s occupation or income and their parents’ occupation or income. Where there is a strong link, there is a lower level of social mobility. Where there is a weak link, there is a higher level of social mobility. This means that people born into low-income families, regardless of their talent, or hard work, do not have the same access to opportunities as those born into more privileged circumstances.” AS DEFINED BY THE SOCIAL MOBILITY COMMISSION Social mobility is about ensuring someone’s background is not a limitation. It is about levelling the playing field so that everyone has a chance to go as far as their hard work, dedication and talent can take them. “Social mobility is not just about helping someone through their early career. It’s also about breaking cycles of deprivation that can have a major impact on the course of someone’s life.”
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WHY DOES IT MATTER? Income inequality has increased over the past three decades in most advanced and some emerging economies, and when inequality grows, social mobility slows.4, 5 According to the UN, “inequality is growing for more than 70 per cent of the global population, exacerbating the risks of divisions in society and hampering economic and social development.” 6 Any society with high social mobility is a fairer society – and typically more prosperous, productive, and healthier. “It matters what people have to offer. It matters what thoughts they have. It matters what ideas they have, or how they can approach something differently. It doesn’t matter where you grew up, where you studied, how wealthy your parents were or were not. They may be important things to hold onto as individuals and sustain as memories, but they should never influence career progression.” DUSHYANT SHARMA, TRANSFORMATION LEAD NORTH SEA AT BP
GRAEME MARI-ALLAN, SENIOR WELL INTERVENTIONS ENGINEER AT BP
Graeme grew up in a low-income family in the east end of Glasgow, which was greatly affected by the closure of the city’s industries in the 1980s. He was the only pupil in his year at secondary school to go to university.
Dushyant joined BP in 2009 and has held leadership positions in the areas of Digital, Performance and Process Improvement, across central teams and the North Sea region. He is passionate about people development and believes in diversity, equity and inclusion being an important part of business.
THE IMPORTANCE OF SOCIAL MOBILITY
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4. United Nations, 2020, Rising inequality affecting more than two-thirds of the globe, but it’s not inevitable. 5.World Economic Forum, Global Social Mobility Index 2020: why economies benefit from fixing inequality. 6. United Nations, 2020, Rising inequality affecting more than two-thirds of the globe, but it’s not inevitable.
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ABOUT BP BP HAS BEEN BASED IN THE UK FOR OVER 100 YEARS. As one of the largest oil and gas producers in the UK, BP intends to continue investing in North Sea oil and gas, while driving down operational emissions. BP is also in action on a range of lower carbon energy investments in the UK, which are expected to bring jobs and develop new skills and capabilities.
BP’S JOURNEY:
HARNESSING THE ENERGY TRANSITION
In 2020, BP set out a new purpose – to reimagine energy for people and the planet – and an ambition to be a net zero company by 2050 or sooner, as well as helping the world reach net zero. Ten aims support this net zero ambition, with a further five to help improve people’s lives and five to care for the planet.7
Building on this purpose, BP set out a strategy that is enabling it to transform from an international oil company focused on producing resources to an integrated energy company focused on delivering solutions for customers.
THE IMPORTANCE OF SOCIAL MOBILITY TO BP’S STRATEGY But for the energy transition to succeed it must deliver decent work, quality jobs and support the livelihoods of local communities. It must also advance greater equity – providing fair treatment according to everyone’s different needs and situations. It is BP’s strategy, combined with a commitment to a just transition and greater equity, that collectively supports the ambitions of the Levelling Up Goals.
LEVELLING UP GOAL 13 – TO HARNESS THE ENERGY TRANSITION With this, Kerry Dryburgh BP’s EVP for People & Culture has specifically been championing Goal 13 of the Levelling Up Goals, which focuses on harnessing the energy transition in a way that is fair and creates career opportunities across the UK. The energy transition will become an ever more important part of the debate on levelling up. Green economic investment is already creating new specialisms, careers and opportunities within the UK and beyond, which will support BP’s focus on an equitable transition for people and communities everywhere.
aging stakeholders Eng
“People are our foundation – attracting and retaining people with different life experiences enriches us all and is the best way we can successfully transition to a thriving low carbon economy.”
Our values and foundations
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BP’S JOURNEY: HARNESSING THE ENERGY TRANSITION
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7. BP’s aims are detailed at bp.com/aims
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THE LEVELLING UP GOALS
BREAKING DOWN BARRIERS
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Strong Foundations in Early Years
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Successful School Years
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Positive Destinations Post-16
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Right Advice and Experiences
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Open Recruitment
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Fair Career Progression
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Widening Access to Savings and Credit
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Good Health and Well-Being
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Extending Enterprise
the 10 Closing Digital Divide
BP’S CONTRIBUTIONS TO DATE
RENEW
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BP’S SOCIAL MOBILITY & LEVELLING UP CONTRIBUTIONS
SUPPORT COMMUNITY REGENERATION AND RENEWAL PROCESSES
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INSPIRE THROUGH EDUCATION AND OUTREACH WITH THE NEXT GENERATION OF TALENT
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SKILL BUILDING SKILLS FOR THE FUTURE AND FOR THE ENERGY TRANSITION
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11 Infrastructure For Opportunity
BP’S CONTRIBUTIONS TO SOCIAL MOBILITY EXTEND BEYOND ITS WORK TO PROGRESS THE ENERGY TRANSITION. It has a long and proud history of creating significant economic value, opportunities, and jobs – both directly and through a ripple effect in its supply chains. BP’s investment in and efforts on social mobility in traditional cold spots8 -- such as Teesside -- will help renew communities, inspire the next generation, and support the workforce in developing the right skills, as well as providing fair access to job opportunities and decent work. These contributions span four areas – Renew, Inspire, Skill and Employ – which form our social mobility framework for action, and align to nine of the Levelling Up Goals.
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BP’S SOCIAL MOBILITY AND LEVELLING UP CONTRIBUTIONS
8. Social mobility cold spots are areas with fewer opportunities in education and employment. The Social Mobility Index on www.gov.uk has further details.
EMPLOY PROVIDING FAIR ACCESS TO JOB OPPORTUNITIES AND DECENT WORK
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Homes 12 Building & Sustainable Communities
the Equality, 13 Harness 14 Achieve Energy Transition Through Diversity & Inclusion
RENEW
BP HAS A RICH HISTORY OF ENGAGING COMMUNITIES. THIS WORK IS A SOURCE OF PRIDE FOR BP’S PEOPLE AND A CORE PART OF ITS PURPOSE. THROUGH THE TRANSITION TO AN INTEGRATED ENERGY COMPANY, BP WILL CONTINUE TO SUPPORT COMMUNITY RENEWAL.
SUPPORTING ENTERPRISE IN THE COMMUNITY BP’s impact on communities extends beyond its direct workforce. In recent years BP has spent £7.1 billion with UK companies, supporting over 90,000 jobs in total – that’s one in every 364 jobs in the UK.9 BP has invested in specific initiatives to support entrepreneurship and supply chain development in the UK – including co-funding the TechX Clean Energy Accelerator run by the Net Zero Technology Centre in the North Sea. As BP grows its business, it is also driving an ambitious local content agenda (sourcing locally where it can).
In Teesside, BP has engaged with the supplier community during the early stages of these projects. As part of NZT Power, BP involved pre-selected FEED (front end engineering design) contractors who are actively invested in skills development in the supply chain. ADVANCING A COMMUNITY-CENTRIC JUST TRANSITION BP is deepening its understanding of social mobility and a just transition to inform its wider work in this space. Together with the Council for Inclusive Capitalism, BP has co-led the Just Transition Workstream. This involved bringing CEOs from energy-intensive companies, investment firms,
Net Zero Teesside Power (NZT Power) is expected to be the world’s first commercial scale gas-fired power station with carbon capture and the hub of a decarbonised group of industries on Teesside who will share the CO2 transportation and storage infrastructure being developed by the Northern Endurance Partnership to serve the East Coast Cluster.
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academic institutions, and civil society organisations together to discuss how to help workers, communities and customers share the benefits of the energy transition. This resulted in the Just Energy Transition Framework for company action and a learning hub to share good practices. In the UK, BP has co-funded research with Business in The Community (BITC) and other partners to gain a shared understanding of the challenges and opportunities associated with a just transition. These findings are shaping BP’s thinking on community co-creation and participation. For example, BP has activities embedded into its plans in Teesside to support community renewal and have already conducted extensive engagement in the region to inform other plans.
BP’S SOCIAL MOBILITY AND LEVELLING UP CONTRIBUTIONS
9. BP UK Economic Impact Report 2019
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“When I was growing up, I never had career role models, especially not those that were female, but I started working at 13 and studied hard at school. My grades allowed me to go to university and fortunately I had no tuition fees (as a Scot studying in Scotland) and secured scholarships on academic merit. I have always believed that a person’s life chances should not be limited because of where they have begun. We have a part to play in breaking down barriers and building a culture where everyone can thrive, so I’m passionate about our responsibility as BP to support young people in their education and with careers guidance.”
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INSPIRE
For more than 50 years, BP has been a proud global supporter of education and STEM – building the pipeline of skills that its industry needs, creating local capability, providing fair access to education, and supporting quality teaching.
JILL ANDERSON, EDUCATION & EMPLOYABILITY SPECIALIST AT BP
This work is evolving to meet the skills needs of the energy transition. SUPPORTING EDUCATION IN THE UK BP’s work continues to encourage and energize the next generation, helping them gain a better understanding of how important the STEM subjects are for the energy industry and for their futures. Much of its work is rooted in funding research into the link between social mobility and science capital. This research informs a broad programme of educationrelated activities, which include: • The BP Educational Service, which provides free materials, developed with teachers, to bring classroom topics to life. In 2021, one million UK students benefited from BPES resources, which are used by 28% of primary schools and 64% of secondary schools across the UK.10 • Funding for STEM Learning’s Project ENTHUSE, a collaboration between government, charities and businesses to promote STEM education and support inspired teaching through continuing professional development (CPD). With support from BP and others, STEM Learning reaches 1.7 million students a year, increasing student engagement, aspiration and attainment. This includes the delivery of 34,000 days of CPD in 2020/21, to improve teaching and tackle shortages.
Born in Aberdeen, Jill was the first in her family to attend university, after getting top grades at her local school. It was a tough environment in which to succeed, with bad behaviour, bullying, violence and disruption not uncommon at school. Jill established and co-chairs BP’s global Social Mobility Network which works to improve the representation, inclusion, retention and advancement of employees from socially mobile backgrounds.
INSPIRING GLOBAL STEM CHANGEMAKERS
• BP employees volunteer and mentor students across the UK – the ‘Schools Link’ volunteering programme helps inspire young people with STEM and business subjects through engagement.
Ensuring the energy transition is successful depends on young people having the right skills and job opportunities. BP has funded AFS Intercultural Programmes since 2012 to deliver global competency-based education, building adaptive and transformative skillsets that set children up for success.
During the pandemic, BP pivoted to support young people remotely. By partnering with charities including Career Ready, Speakers for Schools, Inspiring the Future and the Social Mobility Foundation, and switching to online, BP reached more young people than ever before. For example, around 4,000 students joined BP careers talks via Speakers for Schools, and 300 students took part in live, interactive four-day virtual work insight placements where BP volunteers shared their knowledge of geoscience, engineering, low carbon, agility, digital, communication, the circular economy and procurement.
BP’s support started with funding study abroad placements for secondary school students, and in 2018 scaled up to become the BP Global STEM Academies, providing places to 300 students on study abroad programmes. BP is now taking that partnership further by funding 5,000 places in the AFS Global STEM Changemakers programme. This will provide full-scholarship intercultural exchange places over five years, empowering students to become positive contributors and influencers in their communities.
BP’S SOCIAL MOBILITY AND LEVELLING UP CONTRIBUTIONS
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10. Based on 15,703 teachers on average using the resources with 2.4 different classes with 27.2 students per class.
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SKILL
LEADING THE LOW CARBON SKILLS ECOSYSTEM
Investing in skills is a core part of BP’s DNA – both growing its workforce and investing in skills in communities. This is more critical than ever before as BP transforms and digitises the skills needed for the delivery of its strategy.
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BP’s new strategy, and ambition to support social mobility, will require significant new skills.
“My family always encouraged me with my studies and to pursue a career where I could make a positive impact. I have always been motivated to give something back because I feel incredibly blessed to have benefited from several social mobility schemes such as free school meals, a discounted bus pass and even support throughout college and getting into university. As a vocation, engineering changed the trajectory of my life and I’m very grateful to BP for presenting me with an avenue to pivot my career and support my colleagues and progress social mobility.” HISHAM HAMID, EDUCATION & EMPLOYABILITY ADVISOR AT BP
Hisham started his journey with BP as a summer intern and eventually became a Well Completions Engineer. Due to his passion for improving social mobility, diversity, equity, and inclusion, Hisham made the decision to reskill and pivot his career. Hisham is now an Education and Employability Advisor and co-leads BP’s Social Mobility Network, which has grown to over 400 members worldwide.
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To that end, BP has been a key participant in the Green Jobs Taskforce. It brings together government agencies, private employers and industry to inform where skills gaps exist, how collective action can overcome them, and create recommendations around programmes, policies, and initiatives that will ensure the UK has a future-proofed, skilled workforce. BP is now part of the Green Jobs Delivery Group.
BP’s longstanding partnership with OPITO (the global not-for-profit skills body for the energy industry) continues to be mutually beneficial. OPITO’s Oil and Gas Technician Apprenticeship Programme (OGTAP) provides new technicians to join BP’s North Sea business. Most technician apprentices go on to take full-time roles. BP’s Hydrogen Joint Venture with Aberdeen City Council is also increasing in scale and playing a strategic leadership role to build the skills ecosystem around hydrogen in the UK. The JV plans to drive thought leadership around skills demand and help inform and work with training providers to ensure the skills people learn meet the needs of hydrogen businesses. “When I was younger, Teesside had a thriving engineering industry and many job opportunities but, sadly, due to a large decline in local industry, this is no longer the case. Despite this, there is new optimism around local hydrogen and carbon capture projects that BP and others are working on. My apprenticeship gave me the opportunity to secure a rewarding career within the energy industry. My personal passions towards advocacy are in the hopes that I can act as a role model to others like me. Sometimes it’s difficult to measure the positive changes of these actions – but what you can see are the individuals who broke the mould and went first, holding the doors open for others.” AMADOU CAMARA – INSTRUMENT TECHNICIAN, NORTH SEA AT BP
Amadou is in his third year of full employment as a BP instrument technician, working offshore in the North Sea. An apprentice from OPITO’s 2015 cohort, he was born and raised in Middlesbrough, Teesside, is of mixed racial heritage and was raised in an area of lower socioeconomic status. Amadou is an advocate for the opportunities that apprenticeships can present for individuals from the region. BUILDING CLEAN ENERGY SKILLS IN TEESSIDE To support the development of low carbon skills, BP is providing £50,000 in funding for the development of the new Clean Energy Education Hub at Redcar and Cleveland College. The hub will specialise in clean energy and renewable industry training and career pathways for school leavers, apprentices, and adult learners. It will respond to employers’ needs through employer-led programmes, with the college drawing on BP’s expertise and network to bolster opportunities for those entering or re-joining the workforce.
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“It is superb to see businesses like BP leading the way in helping to make sure that people have the skills they need for the green careers of the future.” RT. HON NADHIM ZAHAWI MP
BP’S SOCIAL MOBILITY AND LEVELLING UP CONTRIBUTIONS
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EMPLOY
BP PRIDES ITSELF ON PROVIDING HIGH-QUALITY EMPLOYMENT, FAIR WAGES, AND FOSTERING EQUITY WITHIN ITS GLOBAL WORKFORCE. EARLY CAREER TALENT, BEYOND THE USUAL PLACES For many years, BP has kickstarted people’s careers and offered a range of pathways that attract people from diverse backgrounds. In addition to STEM outreach BP delivers under its ‘Inspire’ pillar, it partners with the Social Mobility Foundation and Career Ready to provide work placements for students from disadvantaged backgrounds. BP has a strong heritage of providing apprenticeship opportunities – with 880+ apprentices active in BP around the world today. In the UK, this includes technician apprentices in the North Sea, officebased school leaver apprenticeships, and career apprenticeships that provide opportunities for BP employees to upskill, reskill, and continue lifelong learning. BP’s work in early careers and beyond is underpinned by a recognition that a productive day’s work deserves a fair day’s pay. It is the first major energy, mobility and convenience employer to be accredited as a Living Wage Employer by the Living Wage Foundation in the UK. BP aspire to provide all their employees worldwide with fair wages and are partnering with the Fair Wage Network to develop their fair wage objective.
business management degree. Having the opportunity to learn on the job whilst also studying has been such a great experience so far as I can incorporate what I do at work into my studies. I believe people should be given equal opportunities regardless of their background and should be based on their ability to do a role. When I think of myself and the opportunities I have been given, it’s something I will always be grateful to BP for.” AMAL KHAN – PEOPLE & CULTURE (P&C) DEGREE APPRENTICE Amal first joined BP at the young age of 15 at one of BP’s retail sites for work experience. He then came back as an apprentice to gain experience and an insight into all of what BP truly had to offer and has now progressed to becoming a people & culture degree apprentice.
OPEN AND INCLUSIVE RECRUITMENT BP is committed to inclusive recruitment, aligned with its Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DE&I) ambition. As part of this, BP signed up to Business in the Community’s Inclusive Recruitment: Opening Doors campaign, which aims to make two million jobs more inclusive by 2025. In 2022, BP launched “Hiring Inclusively” – a flagship initiative that is set to diversify BP’s candidate slates and interview panels, including putting data in the hands of hiring managers to understand the diverse makeup of the wider market and whether BP is maximising opportunities to attract diverse talent. BP has successfully started to hire people from Ukraine who have been displaced by the conflict into retail jobs in Poland and is exploring opportunities to scale refugee hiring.
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“As a degree apprentice, 80% of my time is spent working at BP and 20% is spent one day at university studying for my
BP’S SOCIAL MOBILITY AND LEVELLING UP CONTRIBUTIONS
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BREAKING DOWN BARRIERS:
BP’S SOCIAL MOBILITY FRAMEWORK FOR ACTION
BP’S WORK TO BOOST SOCIAL MOBILITY IS ULTIMATELY EMBEDDED INTO ITS OVERALL APPROACH TO DIVERSITY, EQUITY & INCLUSION (DE&I). WITH THIS, IT IS EXPANDING ITS FRAMEWORK FOR ACTION – INITIALLY SET OUT TO ADVANCE RACE AND GENDER REPRESENTATION – TO ALSO COVER SOCIAL MOBILITY. The framework aligns the talent lifecycle and wider business decision-making to advance social mobility. These contributions span four areas – Renew, Inspire, Skill and Employ – and align to nine of the Levelling Up Goals.
BREAKING DOWN BARRIERS TO ADVANCE ITS SOCIAL MOBILITY EFFORTS, BP IS FOCUSED ON SEVERAL AREAS AND AMBITIONS:
BP’S SOCIAL MOBILITY FRAMEWORK FOR ACTION
RENEW SUPPORT COMMUNITY REGENERATION AND RENEWAL PROCESSES
INSPIRE
SKILL
THROUGH EDUCATION AND OUTREACH WITH THE NEXT GENERATION OF TALENT
BUILDING SKILLS FOR THE FUTURE AND FOR THE ENERGY TRANSITION
EMPLOY PROVIDING FAIR ACCESS TO JOB OPPORTUNITIES AND DECENT WORK
SUPPLY CHAIN
EDUCATION
WORK EXPERIENCE
APPRENTICESHIPS
In 2022/23 we plan to pilot an approach to engaging suppliers in specific social mobility projects, for example the Aberdeen Hydrogen Hub and on our projects in Teesside, to inform our longerterm direction.
We will plan to deepen our engagement in social mobility cold spots through our education partnerships, including a specific strategy for Aberdeen and Teesside.
By 2024, we plan to provide up to 500 work experience placements globally each year, with outreach focused on students who meet social mobility criteria.
We plan to more than double the number of apprenticeships we offer globally by 2030 (up to 2,000 apprentices), with an increasing range of opportunities across the breadth of our business.
TRANSPARENCY - WORKFORCE TRACKING • We are committed to gathering data on the socioeconomic background of our employees by expanding voluntary self-identification, launching in 2022. ACCOUNTABILITY - WORKFORCE REPRESENTATION • We plan to define a workforce representation baseline in 2023 (through self-identification) and to adopt a subsequent 2030 ambition to increase the representation of employees from lower socioeconomic backgrounds in the UK.
Together, we can help the next generation be more prosperous, sustainable, and successful than the last.
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“Growing up on a council estate, my parents were delighted when I got offered a job in a bank. But after receiving good exam results, I told my family I wanted to go to university. They were shocked. When I said I wanted to study engineering, they thought that was foolish. But eventually my dad said, ‘at least I’ll have somebody to fix my car for free in future. You should go for it’.” LEIGH-ANN RUSSELL, EVP INNOVATION & ENGINEERING AND EXECUTIVE SPONSOR OF THE SOCIAL MOBILITY BRG Leigh-Ann grew up on a council estate in Aberdeen and was one of the first in her family to go to university. She worked for Schlumberger before joining BP in 2006 as a completions engineer, going on to lead engineering, operations, process safety, and strategy and performance for BP drilling operations. Since then, she has been SVP for procurement, before being appointed to the BP leadership team earlier this year as EVP for innovation & engineering. She is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering. Leigh-Ann Russell is also the sponsor of BP’s Social Mobility Business Resource Group, which was established this year.
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BREAKING DOWN BARRIERS: BP’S SOCIAL MOBILITY FRAMEWORK FOR ACTION
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ADVANCING SOCIAL MOBILITY: WHAT IT WILL TAKE
BP BELIEVES THAT BREAKING DOWN THE BARRIERS TO SOCIAL MOBILITY ACROSS SOCIETY WILL TAKE AMBITIOUS GOALS AND REAL ACTION. Partnerships and discussion across the public and private sectors are vital to creating a more equitable society and delivering on these goals. BP recognises that it does not have all the answers. It welcomes collaboration, discussion, and input from stakeholders and other organisations that are also working hard to accelerate social mobility in the UK. The publication of the Levelling Up white paper and the actions of the Purpose Coalition are helping increase the discussion and momentum around social mobility.
NEXT STEPS BP will focus on the delivery of their social mobility framework goals through continued supply chain and educational partnerships. Specifically planning to deliver:
• Up to 500 work experience placements globally per annum by 2024. • More than double the number of global apprenticeship opportunities by 2030 (up to 2000 apprentices). • Data gathering on the socioeconomic background of their employees by voluntary self-identification, enabling them to establish a 2030 employee representation ambition in the UK. BP will monitor its progress against the ambitions shared in this report. They form the foundation for greater progress in social mobility and equity that will continue to create opportunities in the UK and beyond. These ambitions have the potential to change lives for generations to come.
ADVANCING SOCIAL MOBILITY: WHAT IT WILL TAKE
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CONCLUDING REMARKS RT. HON. JUSTINE GREENING Chair; Purpose Coalition and founder of the Purpose Goals (Levelling Up Goals)
BP IS ONE OF THE STRONGEST EXAMPLES OF A COMPANY THAT IS HAVING A SIGNIFICANT IMPACT ON SOCIAL MOBILITY AND LEVELLING UP THE UK. AS PART OF ITS PURPOSE TO REIMAGINE ENERGY IT IS REIMAGINING OPPORTUNITY FOR WIDER SOCIETY. It delivers on levelling up through its support for education at every level across the UK. Its work inspires young people, encouraging and energising the next generation, helping them to gain a better understanding of the importance of STEM subjects for the energy industry and for their futures. It recognises that the right skills are key to enabling the energy transition to happen, for example through its funding of AFS Global STEM Changemakers programme, which funds 5,000 full scholarships places, over 5 years, for young people to experience immersive learning experiences through STEM, global competence, and sustainability-focused intercultural exchange programmes. It also delivers positive impact internally by ensuring that it attracts and retains early career talent into the company from more diverse backgrounds and from less conventional routes. The company is now looking to take its efforts on levelling up and social mobility even further as part of its extensive plans for change. With the introduction
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of its Social Mobility Framework for Action, it aims to scale up its social mobility efforts. This includes inspiring through education, upskilling through work experience, offering employment through apprenticeships and piloting an approach to engaging the supply chain on social mobility in Aberdeen and Teesside. It should continue to set itself goals in each of these areas, particularly in social mobility cold spots. Crucially, it has also committed to collecting the socioeconomic background of its employees and is aiming to increase representation of those from the lowest socioeconomic backgrounds. By measuring, establishing clear goals and timelines and assessing its progress, it is setting an example that other businesses can follow. Although this process can be challenging, it is an essential part of moving forward on the levelling up agenda. A continued commitment to it from BP will ensure that its work will have a lasting and significant legacy on those communities it serves.
CONCLUDING REMARKS
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