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
©BP
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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