To tie in with the theme of National Inclusion Week for 2022: ‘Time To Act – The Power Of Now’ The Brokerage is using this as an opportunity to launch a suite of new and unique diversity and inclusion/learning and development services to shift mindsets and create meaningful change within organisations.
September 2022
For 25 years The Brokerage has been working with working class young people, many of whom are also from racially minoritised backgrounds, to provide opportunities and open doors to the corporate world. We know these young people are talented, ambitious and hard-working and possess many of the skills that have been identified by employers as crucial for future business success.
We recently commissioned a report, The Overlooked Advantage, to unpack the attributes that our Candidates possess and six key strengths stood out: readiness to learn, emotional and cultural intelligence, desire for excellence, creativity and resilience. However, despite these skills all being highly desired by employers, any examination of business diversity data highlights that something is holding them and young people from similar underrepresented backgrounds, back from matching the success of their more economically privileged and White peers in professional industries.
This is where our Changemaker Services come in – helping businesses to shift their perspective and consider how they can address the internal practices and cultures that are inadvertently disadvantaging both themselves and working class and ethnically minoritised young people. The services, which have been developed and tested with several corporates over the past two years, cover a range of diversity and inclusion issues related to social mobility and early careers and there are products that will suit organisations at different stages of their diversity and inclusion journey.
The full details of these services include:
- Social Mobility 101 Workshop – an introduction to social mobility, suitable for organisations and colleagues wishing to understand more about the impact of socio-economic background and class and how it relates to the wider diversity and inclusion agenda.
- Experiential Workshop – The purpose of this workshop is to provide a deep understanding of some of the challenges and barriers that our young people, and others from underrepresented communities, face when navigating corporate careers, using insights from Brokerage Candidates past and present.
- Inclusive Leadership Course – This senior leadership programme aims to better equip C-suite leaders and their teams to lead change on the diversity and inclusion agenda in their organisations and thus become Changemakers in their sectors and industries. The course incorporates a unique guided reverse mentoring element that gives you access to honest insights from The Brokerage’s Young Leaders and provides a disruptive learning experience that will support senior leaders in further honing their leadership styles and provide practical solutions that can be taken back into your business.
- HR Youth Focus Group – We know that the group best placed to help businesses understand what young people from diverse backgrounds want and need to access and thrive in your organisations are the young people themselves. The Brokerage’s Changemaker Young Leaders are a diverse group of young people aged 16-25, who, facilitated by us, can offer their invaluable perspective on a range of organisational practices and policies.
Announcing the launch of The Brokerage’s Changemaker Services, Katerina Rudiger, Chief Executive said:
“The theme of National Inclusion Week this year, ‘Time To Act – The Power Of Now’, provides the momentum for corporates to make changes that will drive inclusive practice in their organisations.
“When it comes to social mobility, for too long the emphasis has been on what underrepresented young people need to do to ‘fit in’ with the corporate environment. And while there continues to be a role for organisations like ours to help provide insight, networking and high-quality professional opportunities for young people from working class backgrounds, if corporates are really serious about taking action to create inclusive workplaces then they need to also shift the focus onto themselves.
“Furthermore, what sets us apart from other diversity and inclusion or learning and development consultants in this space is that our work is driven by our experience and insights from our alumni and young people – with our Young Leaders even being integral to two of the services offered; our Inclusive Leadership Course and our HR Youth Focus Group. Through these and our other services, we can help businesses overcome the institutional barriers that are holding them back by ensuring that the perspective of talented working class and ethnically minoritised young people (the very young people organisations want to attract and retain) is understood and considered as part of any effort towards inclusivity.
“We have worked with a number of our partners over the last two years to refine and test the services which we are launching today and we’re excited to be able to offer them to more businesses looking to improve their corporate practices. I’m looking forward to seeing the changes and long-term impact we will achieve together, as Changemakers striving for a more equitable and inclusive world.”
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