the icrs annual debate is crs becoming just another elite? annual debate 2016... · i’m delighted...

The ICRS Annual Debate

Is CRS becoming just another elite?

www.icrs.info

15 SEPTEMBER 2016 THE RSA, LONDON

we need to ask ourselves whether we too are at risk of becoming an elite.

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Few Corporate Responsibility & Sustainability (CRS) professionals would ever argue against the need for greater diversity and equality. Not only is it the right thing to do, but decades worth of research has proved how diverse workforces benefit businesses, improving decision making and creativity and driving innovation.

However, while age, gender and racial diversity have all been the subject of close scrutiny in recent years, with legal structures in place to prevent discrimination, social diversity has received considerably less attention.

Despite political efforts, Britain has some of the lowest social mobility rates in the developed world. Lower ability children at age five from high income families are still 35% more likely to be high earners as adults, compared with children from poorer families who show early signs of high ability. 50% of leaders in politics, medicine, media and law were privately educated despite the fact that private education makes up just 7% of the school system.

The CRS profession has achieved much over the past 30 years, earning its place at the board table and achieving recognition as a profession in its own right. Wages are relatively high and CRS professionals are uniquely positioned to make a tangible and substantial difference by influencing and advising the organisations they work for, driving a sense of purpose and contribution. It’s hardly surprising then that job satisfaction is high and over 90% of people would recommend the career.

But the vast majority of people working in CRS (93%) have first degrees or post-graduate degrees, a figure that’s been steadily increasing since the CRS Salary Survey began in 2007. But with the cost of education increasing, are we prioritising education over experience? And in doing so, are we drawing from an increasingly small pool of talent?

As we look to the future of our profession, we now need to consider whether we have the social diversity to really understand and tackle some of our biggest social and environmental challenges. We also need to ask ourselves if we are doing enough to create a level playing field where all those who aspire to make a difference through a career in CRS have the opportunities to do so. In short, we need to ask ourselves whether we too are at risk of becoming an elite.

I’m delighted that we have chosen such an important topic for our first ever annual debate. I’d like to thank everyone who is giving their time and expertise to make it happen and I’m very much looking forward to hearing your thoughts on the topic.

CLAUDINE BLAMEY ICRS Chair

Welcome from ICRS Chair, Claudine Blamey

4 THE ICRS ANNUAL DEBATE - Is CRS becoming just another elite?

Agenda

MATTHEW TAYLOR Chief Executive, RSA (Chair)

Matthew Taylor has been Chief Executive of the RSA since November 2006. During this time the Society has substantially increased its output of research and innovation, has provided new routes to support charitable initiatives of its 28,000 Fellows – including crowd funding - and has developed a global profile as a platform for ideas.

Prior to this appointment, Matthew was Chief Adviser on Political Strategy to the Prime Minister. Previous roles include Labour Party Director of Policy and Deputy General Secretary and Chief Executive of the IPPR, the UK’s leading left of centre think tank.

Matthew is a regular media performer having appeared several times on the Today Programme, The Daily Politics and Newsnight. He has written and presented several Radio Four documentaries and is a panellist on the programme Moral Maze. He writes a regular column for the Local Government Chronicle and the Inside Housing website. He has posted over a thousand times on his RSA blog site and tweets as #RSAMatthew.

■ Matthew Taylor, Chief Executive, RSA (Chair).

■ Dr Lee Elliot Major, Chief Executive, Sutton Trust.

■ Tom Levitt, Founder, Sector4Focus and author of Welcome to GoodCo.

■ Mariano Mamertino, Economist at global job site, Indeed.

■ Beth Knight, Head of Corporate Sustainability, EY Financial Services.

Our Speakers

Breakfast and networking

Welcome by Claudine Blamey, ICRS Chair

The debate

Networking

Finish8:30

9:00 10:45

11:309:15

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DR LEE E L L IOT MAJOR Chief Executive, Sutton Trust

Dr Lee Elliot Major is Chief Executive of the Sutton Trust and a founding trustee of the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF), chairing its evaluation advisory board. He commissioned and is co-author of the Sutton Trust EEF toolkit for schools. He is a governor at William Ellis School. He was previously an education journalist, working for the Guardian and Times Higher Education Supplement.

TOM LEV ITT Founder, Sector4Focus and author of Welcome to GoodCo.

Tom Levitt is a consultant and writer on responsible business and ‘using the tools of business to create social good’. A former Labour MP (1997-2010), he works with private, public and third sector clients to help communities work more effectively. He is the author of ‘Welcome to GoodCo’ and two reports on the business case for SMEs engaging better in the community.

BETH KNIGHT Head of Corporate Sustainability, EY Financial Services

Beth is passionate about supporting companies to align decision-making with the principles of sustainable development. She has ten years of experience as a sustainability practitioner and management consultant.

Beth works with leadership to design and implement sustainability strategy across corporate governance, social and environment impact. In-house programs that she has designed and implemented within EY include work with emerging-market entrepreneurs, supporting women’s empowerment and addressing youth unemployment. Beth also provides consulting expertise in sustainability strategy development and planning, change management, stakeholder engagement and performance management.

MARIANO MAMERT INO Economist at global job site, Indeed

Mariano Mamertino is an Economist at global job site, Indeed. Mariano’s analysis contributes to reports, blogs and research bulletins from the Indeed Hiring Lab, a global research institute committed to advancing the knowledge of job seekers and talent acquisition professionals worldwide. He studies Indeed data on how people are searching for jobs to better understand the state of the global labour market. Data from Indeed provides a real-time view of how employers and job seekers are responding to one another.


Purpose and opportunity roles

Today’s job seekers are looking for far more than just pay and benefits – they’re increasingly looking for a sense of purpose.

Data from global job site Indeed has revealed that job searches including the word “ethical”, have increased by 65% from 2013 to 2016.

Indeed’s latest research has shown that there is an increasingly polarised labour market in which a handful of highly-skilled, highly-paid people reap the benefits at the top, while many more people are obliged to settle for poorly paid low-skill work at the bottom.

Between these two extremes, the jobs in the middle that used to provide a ladder upwards to prosperity and social mobility are growing ever scarcer — with the result that many people today feel that the range of opportunities available to them, their families and their communities is dwindling.

CRS roles fit squarely into Indeed’s categorisation of ‘opportunity roles’ on the grounds of wage growth, salaries, education and risk of automation.

Is the CRS profession guilty of hoarding opportunities?

PURPOSE

JOBSAT ISFACT ION

BENEF I TS

PAY

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The 2016 CRS Salary Survey revealed that 93% of CRS professionals have a first degree and 63% have a master’s or doctorate, suggesting that high levels of academic achievement are a prerequisite to entering the profession

Academic qualifications are seen as one of the most important enablers of social mobility. But, with increases in tuition fees and the prevalence of private tuition for affluent students, are academic qualifications coming at too high a cost for young people from disadvantaged backgrounds?

Data from the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA ) shows that around one in six (17.2%) students from lower social groups started a course at a Russell Group institution last year, compared with nearly one in three (32.1%) of their wealthier peers.

As a profession, are we doing enough to hire talent beyond the confines of academic achievement?

Education and social mobility

STUDENTS START ING A COURSE AT A RUSSELL GROUP INST I TUT ION 2015

1 in 6

93% 63%

1 in 3FROM LOWER SOCIAL GROUP

OF PEOPLE IN THE PROFESSION HAVE UNDERGRADUATE DEGREES

OF PEOPLE IN THE PROFESSION ALSO HAVE SECOND DEGREES

FROM WEALTHIER BACKGROUNDS


CRS jobs are increasingly being posted in London. Indeed’s research shows that from 2013 - 2016, London’s share of CRS roles compared with the whole of the UK increased by 75%. The London-centric nature of the CRS profession is a common characteristic of opportunity roles across a number of other sectors; in fact, one quarter of the UK’s total opportunity careers are based in the capital.

Whilst research shows that London has the right conditions to encourage social mobility, this is not necessarily reflected in the CRS profession. In fact, an increasing number of London based jobs may even compound the barriers to social mobility.

One potential reason is the high-cost of living in London: In 2015, average household spend in London was around 20% higher than the national average. Property prices have a significant impact on the cost of living, with weekly expenditure on housing being 58% above the national average.

Whilst the average CRS salary is not as high as many other professional industries, it is certainly not low enough to make the judgement that it could not support someone who needs to live in London.

However, carrying the debt associated with a first or second degree, followed by a combination of CRS industry salary and the high cost of living in London may create an unappealing career path for those with limited financial support.

As a profession, are we doing enough to attract talent from outside London and the South East?

The geography of opportunity

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Gender inequality?

The 2016 CRS Salary Survey revealed that the gender split for those working in CRS was 51:49 in favour of women.

Much has been achieved over the past decade to address the gender pay gap within the profession and while it is still in evidence, it is closing. Analysis of gender distribution by job title in this year’s survey has also revealed that an increasing number of senior roles are now occupied by women.

However, if a university degree is a prerequisite for entry into the profession, will we be facing a situation in the future where men are under represented?

Research from the Higher Education Policy Institute (HEPI) has shown that women in the UK are now 35% more likely than men to go to university and the gap is widening every year.

If current trends continue, a baby girl born in 2016 will be 75% more likely to go to university than a boy.

Do companies need to review their selection criteria to ensure adequate levels of gender diversity within their succession planning for CRS roles?

51:49


Notes

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Notes

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