Our values in action
In May, we refreshed our values to ensure they reflect who we are as a Firm. During 2023, we also held “Values in Action” workshops for everyone in the organisation to unpack how we live and breathe our values.
Our four values are Collaborative, Committed, Authentic, Forward Looking, and their essence statements and behaviours underpin the Firm’s performance management system and ensure that we respect and value everybody at our organisation, other key stakeholders and our clients.
In order to drive change from the top, each of our Partners has been assigned a DEI objective to achieve in 2023/24, and the Firm places equal importance on diversity, equity and inclusion as an assessed mandatory objective.
“It has to be Partner-led,” says Karen Stages. “We set and measure key behaviours through our objectives and performance management system. If Partners do this, it permeates through the organisation. It’s a bold step for us, but we believe it’s an opportunity for our leaders to set an example, which we hope others will follow and will change the profession as a whole.”
Karen Stages
Chief People Officer
In addition to a mandatory objective on DEI, we also asked our Partners to sign a pledge, demonstrating their personal commitment to our aims to make our workforce more diverse and inclusive.
Listening to what our people value has led us to make significant changes and improvements to our policies and ways of working over the past year. Working agilely and flexibly, we help our people to balance their personal commitments and maintain their wellbeing while still balancing the needs of our clients.
We have refreshed and enhanced provisions within our family-friendly policies and provided flexibility to our people, recognising that all families and circumstances are different. We have also introduced a whole suite of reproductive health policies, demonstrating our commitment to supporting our people when they need it most. And we know that even if they don’t access these benefits, working for a Firm that shares these values is important to everyone.
Our Reverse Mentoring Programme has been positioned to help our Firm foster an inclusive culture by creating opportunities for people to share different perspectives, lived experiences and knowledge. Reverse Mentoring enables mentees to gain insights that can inform their inclusive leadership, develop empathy and understanding to influence active allyship positively, and learn from others’ technical knowledge.
To ensure best practices inform our strategy, we have collaborated with experts and found new ways to improve diversity and inclusion in the wider profession. We made much progress during 2023, increasing our Stonewall Workplace Equality Index ranking by 21 places since 2021 to 32nd position in the Employers List. We also achieved a Gold Award and Highly Commended Network Award, thanks to the active work of our LGBTQ+ network.
We are signatories of Valuable 500 and members of the Disability Business Forum and we signed up to the Mindful Business Charter in 2020. We have Mental Health First Aiders and Champions across the Firm and have shared mental health stories as part of our internal This is Me campaign.
Social mobility is a key strand in our DEI strategy. In 2023, we were recognised as a Top 75 Employer for Social Mobility in the Social Mobility Employers Index, climbing 15 rankings from 2022 to 37th place. This is the second consecutive year we have improved our ranking, underlining our commitment to increasing social mobility and addressing the barriers people face in accessing the profession and achieving their full potential.
We support the #10,000 Black Interns Programme, which offers paid work experience to young black people in the UK. We signed up for the programme in 2022 and hosted our first student cohort of three interns at our London office for six weeks in the summer. At the end of the internship, one of the candidates was offered a paralegal role and training contract with the Firm.
To ensure best practices inform our strategy, we have collaborated with experts and found new ways to improve diversity and inclusion in the wider profession. We made much progress during 2023, increasing our Stonewall Workplace Equality Index ranking by 21 places since 2021 to 32nd position in the Employers List. We also achieved a Gold Award and Highly Commended Network Award, thanks to the active work of our LGBTQ+ network.
We are signatories of Valuable 500 and members of the Disability Business Forum and we signed up to the Mindful Business Charter in 2020. We have Mental Health First Aiders and Champions across the Firm and have shared mental health stories as part of our internal This is Me campaign.
Social mobility is a key strand in our DEI strategy. In 2023, we were recognised as a Top 75 Employer for Social Mobility in the Social Mobility Employers Index, climbing 15 rankings from 2022 to 37th place. This is the second consecutive year we have improved our ranking, underlining our commitment to increasing social mobility and addressing the barriers people face in accessing the profession and achieving their full potential.
We support the #10,000 Black Interns Programme, which offers paid work experience to young black people in the UK. We signed up for the programme in 2022 and hosted our first student cohort of three interns at our London office for six weeks in the summer. At the end of the internship, one of the candidates was offered a paralegal role and training contract with the Firm.
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