A recent survey of 2000 people has revealed that half of working class people still believed they encountered a “class ceiling” when trying to progress up the career ladder.
The survey was commissioned by conservative MP Justine Greening and conducted across a range of industries and regions. the Putney MP said:
“There is still a class ceiling and it’s clear from our grassroots research that people see it and experience it every day.”
Some of the key findings of the research include:
- 50% believe those without strong regional accents found it easier to progress in their workplace.
- 25% said having a regional accent had held them back at work; this figure rose to almost half in London.
- Only a third of people said their boss was from a working class background.
- working class representation in leadership roles are as low as 17%.
Justine Greening seems like an interesting character: A conservative MP, previously the Minister for Education and the only person to have ever held the position from a comprehensive school background.
Greening has set up the Social Mobility Pledge to encourage employers to adopt open recruitment policies such as name-blind or “contextual” recruitment, and offering apprenticeships to people from disadvantaged backgrounds.
She believes that “Levelling up Britain in this way means talent is what determines how far you go, not simply where you started.
Related Video:
Sources used to write this post/ find out more…
- The Social Mobility Pledge
- Guardian Article– irritating article about the ‘study’ which fails to provide links to the study.
