Social Mobility 101 at tms: Turning Awareness into Action
- 18 hours ago
- 5 min read
Social Mobility 101 at tms: Turning Awareness into Action - so what did the session reveal... Last week, we were back with our long-standing partners at tms, delivering a Social Mobility 101 session to a room of around 30 leaders and hiring managers.
Our Social Mobility session is forum to talk to colleagues about what social mobility is and the solutions a business can put in place to make sure people from every background can succeed - including those from lower socioeconomic backgrounds
Delivering the session at tms was significant because after 2 years of work we weren't just talking about theory, we were talking about real-world practical action we’re taking together to help create social mobility in the workplace.
The session, led by Tom Slatter and Aisha Lysejko, is part of a wider, ongoing partnership between The Brokerage and tms to embed social mobility into the fabric of how they hire, develop and retain talent.
A partnership that goes deeper
Since 2024, we’ve worked closely with tms across multiple touchpoints - from leadership engagement and reverse mentoring, to hiring manager training and internships.
This session was a chance to reflect on that work, consider the issue of social mobilty more widely, and think about what tms can do next to continue on their journey.
As Mark Watson, Managing Director at tms Europe, shared:
“Talent is equally distributed. Opportunity is not.”
"This line, that I first heard from our work with The Brokerage a couple of years ago, still fuels the drive for actionable and meaningful change at tms.
"So, we are proud to extend our partnership with The Brokerage through 2026, kicking off with a Social Mobility 101 session led by Tom Slatter and Aisha Lysejko to the next cohort of 30 leaders and hiring managers.
"I champion this personally because, while walking through life with many privileges, I do not feel I had an overly privileged upbringing – yet my career in marketing began due to a personal introduction to an agency leader from a distant family friend.
Applying the learnings from the past two years, and exploring new ways to widen our talent hiring pool and offer greater opportunity for broader mix of talent, especially those high academic achievers from a working-class background, our program this year, looks like this:
Social Mobility 101
Hiring Manager Experiential workshops
Summer Intern programme
Reverse Mentoring
"This work continues to open the eyes of the leaders of our business to the broader pipeline of high value talent we can get by changing our perspective and looking in non-traditional places to hire.
"And to attract the broadest range of talent, we continue to consider how we present ourselves externally to make us the obvious choice for a place to belong and thrive.”
Starting with the right question
We opened the session with this question:
“What was the occupation of your main household earner when you were 14 and how did that shape your career?”
It’s based on the question the Social Mobility Commission suggests businesses should ask when surveying their employees – but with the added prompt to consider how your background may have affected your own career outcomes.
It always leads to an interesting discussion about people’s own experiences of class
From there, we explored what social mobility really means:
It’s about whether someone can achieve better life outcomes than their parents
It’s influenced by income, education, occupation and access to networks
And crucially, it’s not just a societal issue - it’s a business one
Because the reality is stark:
Those from the most privileged backgrounds are 4x more likely to enter professional careers than their less well-off peers.
There’s a £6,000 class pay gap
And progression takes 1.3 years longer on average for those from lower socioeconomic backgrounds
The “unspoken rules” that hold people back
One of the most valuable parts of the session was the discussion it sparked.
As Tom reflected:
"There was a real openness in the room. People shared examples of what inclusion looks like in practice - but also where it quietly breaks down.
"We talked about the unspoken rules of the workplace—how you dress, how you speak, what you reference in conversation—and how these can unintentionally exclude people who haven’t been exposed to those norms.
"The focus quickly shifted to: what does it actually take to make people from all backgrounds feel like they belong here?
"There was a really interesting discussion about company culture and the importance of being intentional about it, taking control of culture rather than just letting it occur."
What businesses can actually do
A key part of Social Mobility 101 is moving beyond the “why” into the “how”.
We explored practical, evidence-based interventions that organisations like tms are already implementing:
Rethinking hiring signals
Moving beyond traditional markers like universities or polished CVs, and recognising potential developed in different contexts
Structured access and exposure
Workplace visits, internships and insight days that open up industries to those without networks
Challenging “who gets sponsored”
Creating transparent mentoring and development opportunities - not informal tap-on-the-shoulder moments
Addressing behavioural norms
Training managers to recognise and reduce bias around communication styles, confidence and “fit”
Using data properly
Looking beyond company-wide averages to understand where progression stalls—and for whom
The overlooked advantage
Some of the most powerful ideas in the session come from our report The Overlooked Advantage.
This piece of work challenges a persistent misconception.
People from working-class backgrounds don’t lack talent - they often bring:
Stronger resilience
Higher motivation
Greater adaptability
Emotional and cultural intelligence
As one employer we’ve worked with put it:
“They are much more aware of why they want the opportunity… not because someone they know works here, but because they’ve really thought about where it can take them.”
This is not a deficit conversation. It’s about recognising value that businesses are currently missing."
Making it happen
Sessions like this only work when they’re part of something bigger.
At tms, they are.
This Social Mobility 101 workshop feeds directly into:
Hiring manager experiential training
A broadened internship pipeline
Reverse mentoring with young leaders
Ongoing reflection on culture and brand
And that’s where real change happens - when insight translates into action.
As Heather Scheftel, who supported the organisation of the session, highlighted:
“It was a great session with really open discussion about the work we’re already doing, and where we can go further. Conversations around things like unspoken workplace norms really landed - and it’s clear there’s a strong appetite across the business to keep building on this.”
Why this matters
At The Brokerage, we’ve spent over 30 years working to ensure that where you start in life doesn’t dictate where you end up.
We’ve supported over 90,000 young people - and we’ve seen firsthand what happens when businesses commit to doing things differently.
Partnerships like this show what’s possible.
Not just awareness. Not just intention.
But structured, sustained change.
If your organisation is ready to move from conversation to action on social mobility, we’d love to work with you.
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