Social Mobility Toolkit for the Professions - Equality and Human ...

Monitoring social mobility
We recommend that employers and professional bodies/regulators
collect data for all four questions outlined on the next page every
three years as a minimum.
This template questionnaire will allow them to gain insights into an
individual’s upbringing and secondary education, as well as their
entry and route into the profession.
We have provided data collection and data analysis advice to
accompany this questionnaire.
We also recommend further responsibilities for professional bodies/
regulators, such as supporting professional employers with further
guidance and undertaking further research about complex issues
such as progression.
The questions in the template questionnaire were selected
with the help of social mobility experts and academics on the
one hand, and professional employers and professional bodies/
regulators – those who will be collecting data – on the other.
These proxies were chosen – despite their limitations – because
they are robust enough to yield reliable insights into an individual’s
background, and practical enough to be collected and analysed
easily by employers.
Data collection advice
organisations collecting data should consider the following
points before they begin collecting data from staff.
adapting the questionnaire for your organisation:
� While question and answer wording for the questionnaire
on page 27 should be kept as close to the original template
as possible to allow data comparison between firms and
professions, organisations are encouraged to add other
answer choices to Question 3 to reflect the various stages
of qualification available to their professionals.
20 Social Mobility toolkit For the proFeSSionS
� organisations are likely to get better response rates if
questionnaire forms and responses are anonymous. this
will also reduce the data protection burden. in that case,
contextual data questions should preface the template
questionnaire in order to analyse data by age bracket,
seniority of job position and any other characteristic with
which a firm would like to cross-analyse the survey data.
Getting professionals’ buy-in:
� Given the sensitive nature of questions relating to people’s
background and upbringing, it is absolutely crucial that
potential respondents understand: that data collection
is voluntary; why they are being asked these questions;
for what purposes the collected data will be used; and
in what format, where and to whom it will be released.
organisations should highlight that the exercise is not a form
of “surveillance”.
� organisations should be prepared to explain whether and
how the results of this data collection will inform policy or
processes. if an organisation does not have a clear policy
on these issues, it should explain that it is conducting
monitoring in order to increase information about and
awareness of, these issues, with a view to informing policy.
� Getting buy-in and support from senior level staff is
crucial. they should remind potential respondents of the
importance of the survey.
� Smaller employer organisations (20 staff or less) that do not
have a distinct hr function may feel uncomfortable asking
long-serving employees sensitive questions. While explaining
the aim of the exercise may overcome some reticence, it
may be more appropriate for smaller organisations to collect
this data from individuals upon entry into the organisation.
� Very large organisations, especially public sector bodies
working to meet the requirements of the equality act
2010, may also find it difficult to put in place the monitoring
functions outlined in this toolkit. they should, however, strive
to collect data at junctures and in ways that suit them, and
follow best practice guidelines (page 27).