Compass announce a new strategy to address inequalities and improve diversity
Catering News is sponsored by Two Services
Compass Group UK & Ireland has announced a new strategy to address the inequalities that create barriers to progress. The ‘Mission to a Million’ commitment will see Compass provide support to one million people, from both within and outside the organisation, by 2030 to enhance their opportunities and change their lives through job creation, education, training, community and charitable engagement.
Opportunities include:
- Providing work through skill development, entry-level schemes and promotions.
- Outreach to schools and communities to provide access to work placements and opportunities.
- Working with communities and social enterprises through the introduction of volunteer days.
- Promoting healthy eating habits for the next generation.
Compass Group’s flagship Compass Group Academy, which is set to open next year, will provide further opportunities for skills development.
Compass has also set new targets to improve diversity across the company.
The commitments include ambitious gender, ethnicity (with specific targets on Black representation) and the industry’s first socio-economic representation targets. These targets are set for the executive and leadership team, middle management, junior management and frontline workers.
The firm is targeting a 50:50 gender split by 2025, while 14% of its employees will be from an ethnic minority background, 5% of whom will be Black by 2027. Two fifths of its employees will come from a lower socio-economic background by 2030. The firm has also committed to increasing support, education and placements for people with disabilities.
In addition, Compass has set an annual target for promotions within the company to gradually improve diversity across middle and senior management. It will track progression rates for employees of different genders and ethnicities to have a clear understanding of the strategy’s impact.
It comes as part of a drive for Compass to offer jobs, skills and training to less advantaged communities to ensure the company is to be representative of the UK working population at all levels.
To hold itself accountable to these commitments, Compass has pledged to report annually on progress towards its social mobility targets. Additionally, it has published Our Social Promise and its Social Promise Roadmap, which details the steps it will take leading up to 2030.
‘Our Social Promise’ forms part of Compass’ wider social value strategy, alongside its Net Zero and health and wellbeing commitments.
Sarah Atkinson, Chief Executive, Social Mobility Foundation said of the initiative: “It is excellent to see Compass Group launch their social mobility strategy and outline their plans to create opportunities for so many people right across the UK. I particularly welcome the commitment to setting targets for socio-economic representation at different levels in the business – demonstrating a focus not just on who gets in, but also who gets on. I hope the lead that Compass Group is taking acts as a catalyst for others.”