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Impact Report 2022-23

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Annual <strong>Impact</strong><br />

<strong>Report</strong> <strong>2022</strong>-<strong>23</strong>


Our Purpose<br />

“To effect positive<br />

change in the world.”<br />

Our Vision<br />

“We will be a beacon of<br />

responsibility in our sector;<br />

a trusted partner for<br />

organisations seeking to<br />

make a positive impact on<br />

the world around them.”<br />

Our Mission<br />

“Placing diverse and effective<br />

change-makers into purposeled<br />

organisations and<br />

responsible businesses.”


Section 1<br />

Introduction<br />

The Story So Far<br />

Highlights from the Past Year<br />

Our Year in Numbers<br />

Recertification<br />

Our <strong>2022</strong> Clients and the SDGs<br />

Search Highlights from <strong>2022</strong><br />

Last Year’s Goals<br />

4-17<br />

4<br />

6<br />

8<br />

10<br />

11<br />

12<br />

14<br />

16<br />

Section 2 18-<strong>23</strong><br />

Contents<br />

People<br />

Planet<br />

Profit<br />

18<br />

20<br />

22<br />

Section 3 24-25<br />

Looking Ahead 24<br />

Section 4 26-35<br />

Our Social <strong>Impact</strong><br />

Our Structure, Governance,<br />

and Ownership<br />

Our Values<br />

Our Strategy<br />

Our Partners<br />

26<br />

28<br />

30<br />

32<br />

34


Annual <strong>Impact</strong> <strong>Report</strong> <strong>2022</strong>/20<strong>23</strong><br />

It feels like we have<br />

finally achieved our<br />

dream of becoming a<br />

business that ‘follows<br />

the sun’ and that can<br />

effectively serve clients<br />

anywhere in the world.<br />

4


Introduction<br />

I am delighted to present Society’s <strong>Impact</strong> <strong>Report</strong> for <strong>2022</strong>-<strong>23</strong>. We have<br />

been producing annual documents like this for a decade now, as we<br />

seek to keep our various stakeholders updated about Society’s work and<br />

activities. I consider our <strong>Impact</strong> <strong>Report</strong>s an important way of celebrating<br />

our successes, admitting our shortcomings, and clarifying our priorities for<br />

the year ahead.<br />

<strong>2022</strong> was our first full year as a truly global business, with subsidiaries<br />

incorporated in both the United States and New Zealand. This means that<br />

from sunrise in Auckland on a Monday morning, through to sunset in New<br />

York on a Friday evening, we are now continually active. It feels like we have<br />

finally achieved our dream of becoming a business that ‘follows the sun’<br />

and that can effectively serve clients anywhere in the world. The fact that<br />

we have made this gear-shift whilst also seeing both our Net Promoter<br />

Score and our B <strong>Impact</strong> Score reach all-time highs reflects brilliantly on our<br />

team. I simply cannot praise their dedication and hard work highly enough.<br />

For the past few months, we have additionally been going through a brand<br />

refresh exercise. I am looking forward to launching some of the results of<br />

that in the weeks ahead. Although we aren’t planning anything drastic, like<br />

a change of name or identity, this process has provided a welcome chance<br />

to update our Purpose, Mission and Vision statements, and to tighten up our<br />

communications and our client documentation. You will soon see us starting<br />

to use a few new visual devices in our materials too. These all hint at the<br />

way in which we see our work – the idea that putting exceptional and<br />

diverse change-makers into influential roles initiates a chain reaction, or a<br />

ripple/domino effect, that can help to make the world a better place.<br />

Section 1<br />

Once again, this report will put a tight focus on the three areas of People,<br />

Planet and Profit that form our definition of success as a ‘triple-bottom-line’<br />

business. I hope that you are encouraged by what you read, but would also<br />

welcome any feedback or suggestions for further improvements that we<br />

can embrace.<br />

Simon Lucas<br />

Chief Executive<br />

5


Annual <strong>Impact</strong> <strong>Report</strong> <strong>2022</strong>/20<strong>23</strong><br />

The Story<br />

So Far<br />

2009<br />

2011<br />

Society Ltd<br />

established in the UK<br />

Society becomes<br />

a founding signatory<br />

of the Voluntary<br />

Code of Conduct for<br />

Executive Search Firms<br />

2009<br />

2010<br />

2014<br />

Society hires its first<br />

full-time colleagues<br />

Society establishes The<br />

Society Foundation<br />

6


Section 1<br />

2015<br />

Society becomes an<br />

accredited Living<br />

Wage employer<br />

2019<br />

Society becomes<br />

a certified B<br />

Corporation, declares<br />

a Climate Emergency,<br />

and commits to Net<br />

Zero by 2030<br />

2021<br />

Society launches<br />

an office in Auckland,<br />

New Zealand<br />

<strong>2022</strong><br />

2016<br />

2020<br />

<strong>2022</strong><br />

Society launches an<br />

office in New York, USA<br />

Society survives the<br />

COVID-19 pandemic<br />

without a single<br />

redundancy<br />

Society recertifies<br />

as a B Corporation<br />

with a significantly<br />

increased score<br />

7


Annual <strong>Impact</strong> <strong>Report</strong> <strong>2022</strong>/20<strong>23</strong><br />

Highlights from<br />

the Past Year<br />

JAN<br />

MAR<br />

B Corp Month<br />

MAY<br />

Society sponsors<br />

the annual UHR<br />

Conference and leads<br />

a seminar on DEI<br />

Society APAC<br />

Ltd incorporated<br />

in New Zealand<br />

Our London<br />

team moves<br />

into a new office run by<br />

X+Why, a fellow B Corp<br />

In attendance<br />

at the B For<br />

Good Leaders Summit<br />

in Rome<br />

JAN <strong>2022</strong><br />

FEB<br />

Details of The Society<br />

Foundation’s 2021<br />

grants announced<br />

APR<br />

Launch of a new data<br />

entry solution with our<br />

partner Adetiq<br />

JUN<br />

Our CEO appears<br />

on the Purposefully<br />

Podcast<br />

Our first placement<br />

through the 10,000<br />

Black Interns scheme<br />

8


Section 1<br />

AUG<br />

OCT<br />

DEC<br />

The Trustees of The<br />

Society Foundation<br />

met to agree on<br />

their <strong>2022</strong> grants<br />

Society gains two<br />

coveted places on the<br />

framework agreement<br />

for UK public sector<br />

appointments<br />

Society recertifies as a<br />

B Corporation<br />

Whole Company Away<br />

Day in London<br />

JAN 20<strong>23</strong><br />

SEP<br />

Society runs a fullpage<br />

advertisement<br />

in the THE<br />

NOV<br />

In attendance at the<br />

inaugural EduConnections<br />

Retreat in London with<br />

global leaders from<br />

the schools sector<br />

JAN<br />

Delayed Christmas<br />

Party in London<br />

due to train strikes<br />

before Christmas!<br />

Simultaneous<br />

volunteering events<br />

in Auckland, London,<br />

and New York<br />

The whole company<br />

competes in<br />

Steptember, raising<br />

$1,248.94 and taking<br />

4.6 million steps<br />

‘1000x Better’ event<br />

at the Natural History<br />

Museum to celebrate<br />

1,000 UK B Corps<br />

Society APAC<br />

gains Living Wage<br />

accreditation in<br />

New Zealand<br />

95


Annual <strong>Impact</strong> <strong>Report</strong> <strong>2022</strong>/20<strong>23</strong><br />

Our Year in Numbers<br />

59.4<br />

121<br />

Assignments<br />

70<br />

Net Promoter<br />

Score<br />

Clients<br />

56%<br />

Female<br />

appointments<br />

31%<br />

BAME/BIPOC<br />

appointments<br />

9<br />

Sectors<br />

12<br />

different countries<br />

on 5 continents<br />

22 8<br />

colleagues<br />

different<br />

nationalities<br />

£588<br />

of charitable<br />

gifts given on<br />

behalf of placed<br />

candidates<br />

3<br />

offices<br />

£38,036<br />

donated to The<br />

Society Foundation<br />

306<br />

hours of colleague<br />

time volunteered to<br />

community organisations<br />

10


Recertification<br />

Society successfully recertified as a B Corporation in October.<br />

Section 1<br />

B Corporations are a global movement of companies reinventing business as force for good.<br />

They are independently audited every three years in line with rigorous standards of social and<br />

environmental performance, accountability, and transparency through the rigorous B <strong>Impact</strong><br />

Assessment.<br />

Society originally achieved certification in 2019 with an overall score of 86.9. We set ourselves a<br />

target score of 95+ for recertification. In the end, we managed to increase our score by over <strong>23</strong>%.<br />

Our New B <strong>Impact</strong> Score<br />

107.5<br />

Threshold for B Corp Certification<br />

80<br />

Median Score for<br />

Ordinary Businesses<br />

50.9<br />

Governance<br />

17.4<br />

Environment<br />

2.4<br />

107.5<br />

Workers<br />

30.9<br />

Customers<br />

<strong>23</strong>.2<br />

Community<br />

33.2<br />

Of the 28 executive search firms who have become B Corporations, this makes Society the third<br />

highest scoring in the world.<br />

Society’s Chief Executive, Simon Lucas, commented:<br />

“I want to pay tribute to the entire team at Society for this achievement, particularly for the work<br />

they have done on our drive towards Net Zero, and on sharpening our support for underserviced<br />

and purpose-driven enterprises, and for in-need populations… But we know that being a<br />

responsible business is a continual journey, not a one-off destination. As such, I am determined<br />

that we will keep improving and keep collaborating closely with all our stakeholders, in order to<br />

continue raising the bar.”<br />

11


Annual <strong>Impact</strong> <strong>Report</strong> <strong>2022</strong>/20<strong>23</strong><br />

Our <strong>2022</strong> Clients and the SDGs<br />

Here are a small selection of the clients we were fortunate to work with during <strong>2022</strong>,<br />

along with how they relate to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs):<br />

12


Section 1<br />

13


Annual <strong>Impact</strong> <strong>Report</strong> <strong>2022</strong>/20<strong>23</strong><br />

Search Highlights from <strong>2022</strong><br />

Here is a small selection of the successful appointments Society advised on during <strong>2022</strong>:<br />

Surita Sandosham joins<br />

Heifer International as<br />

President and Chief<br />

Executive Officer<br />

Read more →<br />

Iain Anderson joins<br />

Stonewall as Chair of<br />

the Trustees<br />

Read more →<br />

Claire Reindorp joins the<br />

Young Women’s Trust as<br />

Chief Executive Officer<br />

Read more →<br />

Natsayi Sithole joins<br />

Renaisi as Deputy Chief<br />

Executive Officer<br />

Read more →<br />

Patrick Hurworth joins<br />

UWC South East Asia<br />

(UWCSEA) as Head of<br />

Dover Campus<br />

Read more →<br />

Dr Alice Payne joins RMIT<br />

University as Dean of the<br />

School of Fashion and<br />

Textiles<br />

Read more →<br />

Alpana Malde joins<br />

Accelerate CIC as<br />

Commercial Director<br />

Read more →<br />

Andrea Newman joins<br />

Mandarin Oriental Hotel<br />

Group as Vice President of<br />

Brand<br />

Read more →<br />

14


Steve Murigi<br />

Oxford, UK<br />

Christopher Gerry<br />

Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan<br />

Shiley Choy<br />

Hong Kong, China<br />

Section 1<br />

Ally James<br />

New York, USA<br />

Surita Sandosham<br />

Little Rock, USA<br />

Stefan Schlachter<br />

Munich, Germany<br />

Quentin Derrick<br />

Hanoi, Vietnam<br />

Muhammad Wazirzada<br />

Sydney, Australia<br />

Karen Doyle Grossman<br />

San Francisco, USA<br />

Nathalie Ducray<br />

Paris, France<br />

Sanjeev Shukla<br />

Abu Dhabi, UAE<br />

Ana Paula Buzo<br />

Mexico City, Mexico<br />

Katherine Johnson<br />

Melbourne, Australia<br />

Chris Green<br />

Maroodi Jeex, Somaliland<br />

The challenges facing humanity are<br />

global in nature, and that is why we<br />

choose to solve leadership challenges<br />

for clients all over the world. We were<br />

delighted to advise on all of these<br />

appointments and more over the<br />

course of the year:<br />

Raphael Lanfant<br />

Singapore<br />

15


Annual <strong>Impact</strong> <strong>Report</strong> <strong>2022</strong>/20<strong>23</strong><br />

Last Year’s Goals<br />

“Setting clear emissions reduction<br />

targets for the business that will<br />

move us swiftly and decisively<br />

towards Net Zero”<br />

Further details of our progress in this area can be<br />

found on Page 20<br />

“Rolling out a new wellbeingfocused<br />

employee benefits platform<br />

called ‘Juno’ as an upgrade to our<br />

current Personal and Professional<br />

Development Allowances”<br />

This was sadly short-lived. The introduction of<br />

additional charges by Juno made this platform<br />

unviable, so we have reverted to<br />

our former PPDA scheme from<br />

January 20<strong>23</strong>.<br />

“Identifying a new Mental Health First<br />

Aider within the business and a new<br />

Health and Wellbeing Champion too”<br />

Clare Davies is now fully trained and accredited<br />

as our Mental Health First Aider. We are in the<br />

process of getting a second colleague trained too<br />

– this time in New York, in order to provide better<br />

coverage for those outside the UK.<br />

We have not yet appointed a new<br />

Health and Wellbeing Champion,<br />

but we hope to do so shortly.<br />

“Revitalising and potentially<br />

reimagining our colleague volunteering<br />

activity, aiming for a return to 100%<br />

uptake by the end of <strong>2022</strong>”<br />

We have appointed a new Volunteering<br />

Coordinator, who has relaunched our volunteering<br />

programme, providing a menu of available ‘plug<br />

and play’ opportunities to each office. Every<br />

colleague in the firm participated in some form<br />

of volunteering during <strong>2022</strong>,<br />

although we have not yet returned<br />

to every colleague using their full<br />

entitlement.<br />

“Nudging colleagues towards<br />

behaviours that will be more<br />

responsible and sustainable,<br />

including through better pensions<br />

investing and the choice of greener<br />

home energy suppliers”<br />

We have provided colleagues with information<br />

throughout the year to help them make more<br />

responsible and sustainable choices. This<br />

has included material from<br />

campaigns such as Make My<br />

Money Matter. We also hosted a<br />

whole-company ‘Hive Mind’ event<br />

to share sustainability life hacks.<br />

“Creating a clear and regular<br />

system for capturing, analysing and<br />

sharing statistics from our Diversity<br />

Monitoring Website, and identifying<br />

specific areas for improvement”<br />

Data from our diversity monitoring website is now<br />

shared with all colleagues on a quarterly basis,<br />

with each team in the company<br />

encouraged to identify one<br />

statistic to celebrate and one<br />

statistic to take action on.<br />

16


“Auditing our practice in line with<br />

the Inclusive Recruitment Toolkit<br />

and making recommendations for<br />

any changes that we should adopt<br />

to our standard process”<br />

We have begun to evolve our standard<br />

recruitment practice in several ways, most<br />

notably through an expanded use of Open<br />

Hours, where potential candidates are able<br />

to dial into a Zoom call before the application<br />

deadline in order to meet client<br />

representatives and pose<br />

questions directly to the hiring<br />

manager.<br />

“Raising our voice by getting<br />

colleagues participating in or<br />

convening groups to discuss key DEI<br />

topics”<br />

We have collaborated with the Getting On Board<br />

campaign to change the face of trusteeship,<br />

created an internal Allies Group to bring greater<br />

focus to our initiatives and<br />

advocacy around LGBTQ+<br />

equality, and made our Inclusive<br />

Recruitment Toolkit free to<br />

access.<br />

Section 1<br />

“Revisiting our approach to writing<br />

candidate commentaries with a<br />

sharper awareness of implicit bias”<br />

We conducted research on the use of language<br />

in our commentaries, published the results in<br />

partnership with UHR, and then made changes<br />

to our standard approach accordingly.<br />

“Increasing the proportion of<br />

colleagues undertaking some skillsbased<br />

training on cross-job functions<br />

beyond their regular responsibilities<br />

(eg. public speaking training,<br />

management training for nonmanagers,<br />

etc...)”<br />

We introduced a weekly ‘Society Business<br />

School’, accessible to all colleagues. This has now<br />

delivered over 14 hours of additional skills-based<br />

and cross-company training<br />

covering everything from change<br />

management and effective<br />

delegation, through to coaching<br />

techniques and handling stress.<br />

“Working with others on cooperative initiatives relating to the social and<br />

environmental standards in our industry, perhaps through contributing to<br />

academic research, participating in panel presentations or other public forums,<br />

or providing public resources for other businesses or stakeholders around<br />

improving social or environmental performance”<br />

After consulting with various partners and other B Corps, we made a series of additions to our Client<br />

Framework. This is the policy that helps us to avoid client relationships that would be incompatible with our<br />

core values. Our changes including adding five more sectors to the list of areas in which we are<br />

unwilling to work and expanding the list of reasons of why we may decline to work with specific<br />

organisations to reflect our continued alertness to the Climate Emergency, our deep concern<br />

at the treatment of women and LGBTQ+ people, and our growing awareness of the rights of<br />

indigenous communities following our recent incorporation in New Zealand.<br />

17


Annual <strong>Impact</strong> <strong>Report</strong> <strong>2022</strong>/20<strong>23</strong><br />

People<br />

Our team is now…<br />

On January 4th 20<strong>23</strong>, 50% of the colleagues<br />

working at Society had been hired within the<br />

last 12 months.<br />

This level of turnover would present a challenge to any organisation.<br />

Onboarding and assimilating such a high proportion of new people risks<br />

inadvertent changes to your collective culture and values, or a dilution<br />

of quality standards. But we are delighted to report that the change has<br />

been managed smoothly and successfully, with our new team members<br />

providing a noticeable injection of fresh energy, enthusiasm, and<br />

commerciality.<br />

In Q1 <strong>2022</strong>, we made our biggest ever change to employee T&Cs –<br />

reducing contracted working hours whilst upholding salary levels, and<br />

increasing the level of flexibility afforded for colleagues to decide when<br />

and where they do their work. We have since followed that up with<br />

several more investments in our people:<br />

24%<br />

BAME/BIPOC<br />

65%<br />

Female<br />

• the introduction of a formal<br />

closure period between<br />

Christmas and New Years;<br />

• a new Electric Vehicles Policy to<br />

assist colleagues in transitioning<br />

to a more sustainable mode of<br />

transport;<br />

• moving our UK pension<br />

scheme to a salary sacrifice<br />

arrangement;<br />

• launching an employer medical<br />

insurance scheme in the USA;<br />

• revising our Eye Tests Policy to<br />

reflect a new collaboration with<br />

Specsavers;<br />

• the reintroduction of our<br />

Personal and Professional<br />

Development Allowances<br />

scheme which gives every<br />

Society colleague £250 to use<br />

as they want for any kind of<br />

course, purchase, activity, or<br />

subscription that interests them;<br />

• a new Menopause Policy to<br />

codify the support and flexibility<br />

we provide to menopausal and<br />

perimenopausal colleagues.<br />

24%<br />

LGBTQ+<br />

35%<br />

Part-time<br />

18<br />

53%<br />

Parents


Our colleagues also continued to volunteer their time and<br />

expertise to a range of organisations across London, New<br />

York, and Auckland. We believe that volunteering is an<br />

excellent way of recharging our batteries and contributing<br />

to team building, but it also allows us to forge meaningful<br />

and long-lasting partnerships with our communities. Society<br />

has colleagues who are Trustees of schools and charities<br />

and we are always encouraging and supportive of such<br />

long-term voluntary commitments, as it’s a great way to<br />

develop inclusive and innovative leaders within the firm.<br />

In September we undertook our first whole-company<br />

volunteering event since the start of the pandemic. Our<br />

New Zealand colleagues spent the day at Auckland City<br />

Mission. Our London colleagues transformed the garden<br />

of Westbourne Park’s Memory and Dementia Resource<br />

Centre. And our New York colleagues handed out food for<br />

Campaign Against Hunger.<br />

Section 2<br />

100%<br />

In our colleague survey at the end of Q4,<br />

100% of our staff agreed with the statements<br />

• “I feel proud of working for Society”<br />

• “I have an opportunity to contribute<br />

to decisions that affect me”<br />

• “When decisions are made, I<br />

understand how and why”<br />

• “My job is interesting and<br />

challenging”<br />

• “I know what I need to do to be<br />

successful in my role”<br />

• “I understand how my role contributes<br />

to the business achieving its goals”<br />

• “My manager wants me to succeed”<br />

• “There’s a friendly, fun, healthy<br />

atmosphere”<br />

• “I feel valued and respected”<br />

• “My colleagues are generally<br />

supportive, positive, and helpful”<br />

• “I am generally supportive, positive<br />

and helpful to my colleagues”<br />

• “Society has high standards and<br />

holds colleagues accountably for the<br />

quality of their performance”<br />

• “I receive regular and constructive<br />

feedback”<br />

19


Annual <strong>Impact</strong> <strong>Report</strong> <strong>2022</strong>/20<strong>23</strong><br />

Planet<br />

Society has joined B Corporations from around the<br />

world in declaring a climate emergency. We are<br />

challenging ourselves to reach Net Zero by 2030 at<br />

the absolute latest, which is still 20 years ahead of the<br />

targets set by the Paris Agreement. We are committed<br />

to collective and immediate action to halt and reverse<br />

the current climate trajectory and to build an inclusive,<br />

equitable, and regenerative economic system.<br />

During <strong>2022</strong>, we worked with a new partner called<br />

Supercritical to update the calculations of our global<br />

emissions. We were keen to take a more expansive view<br />

of our footprint, and knew that the return of business<br />

travel would drive up emissions throughout our supply<br />

chain. Supercritical merged the activity data we were<br />

able to enter in their system with the most up-to-date<br />

emission factors in order to create a detailed picture of<br />

our current carbon footprint. The results were sobering:<br />

44 Total tonnes CO2<br />

emitted in <strong>2022</strong><br />

That’s the equivalent of powering<br />

14 homes for a whole year<br />

20 4


Emissions breakdown<br />

Food & drink<br />

3.3%<br />

Marketing<br />

& advertising<br />

3.1%<br />

Office utilities<br />

2.1%<br />

Gifts, swag and other<br />

1%<br />

Cloud & data centres<br />

3.8%<br />

Business travel<br />

35.7%<br />

Employee commuting<br />

4%<br />

Section 2<br />

Office fixtures, supplies<br />

and maintenance<br />

4.8%<br />

Software<br />

5.5%<br />

Hardware<br />

6.5%<br />

Consultants<br />

9.3%<br />

Employee remote working<br />

19.4%<br />

Armed with this information, we are now reformulating our<br />

reduction plan. For those emissions we cannot eliminate, we<br />

have agreed only to use verified offsets, emphasising carbon<br />

removal projects.<br />

21<br />

xx


Annual <strong>Impact</strong> <strong>Report</strong> <strong>2022</strong>/20<strong>23</strong><br />

Profit<br />

Commercially, we experienced <strong>2022</strong> as a year of two halves. Q1 and Q2<br />

saw a high level of colleague turnover – our own little version of ‘The<br />

Great Resignation’ that was experienced by so many organisations<br />

around the world as the pandemic came to an end. In our case, several<br />

individuals who had stuck with the business during COVID-19 decided<br />

that the time was right to move on. This left us with a number of core<br />

roles to refill and depressed our business development efforts accordingly<br />

for a period of time. We were nevertheless able to pay record bonuses to<br />

colleagues during March, in order to acknowledge their hard work during<br />

2021.<br />

By the mid-year point, we had successfully refreshed our pipeline and<br />

addressed most of our personnel gaps. Our income therefore returned to<br />

a healthy and sustained level. By the end of December, we had turned<br />

<strong>2022</strong> into our highest revenue year on record, albeit narrowly:<br />

Annual Revenues: 2019-<strong>2022</strong><br />

2019 2020 2021 <strong>2022</strong><br />

The personnel churn during <strong>2022</strong> provided us with an opportunity to make some structural<br />

changes, which should now help to power the future growth and expansion of the business.<br />

This includes the creation of a Head of Consulting role to provide leadership of our core<br />

EMEA P&L. We have additionally created a data entry solution that has dramatically<br />

increased the bandwidth of our research team, and a new Project Support Administrator<br />

role to enhance our effectiveness on Full Search assignments. In recent months, we have<br />

also increased the amount of financial transparency and delegated budgetary authority<br />

provided to our Heads of Practice and our two Regional Managing Directors.<br />

22 4


Section 2<br />

The Society Foundation is an independent charity we helped to set up. We fund it<br />

with an annual donation equal to at least 10% of our profits. It then gives grants to<br />

organisations that help potentially vulnerable people back into paid employment. The<br />

beneficiaries it seeks to prioritise include the recently homeless or vulnerably housed,<br />

ex-offenders, and 16-24 year-olds not in employment, education, or training. In <strong>2022</strong>,<br />

The Society Foundation received:<br />

£20,208<br />

from Society Ltd<br />

$21,380 £215.50<br />

From Society US Inc<br />

from our Diversity<br />

Monitoring Website<br />

The Foundation has used this money to hand out seven grants to deserving<br />

organisations.<br />

<strong>23</strong>


Annual <strong>Impact</strong> <strong>Report</strong> <strong>2022</strong>/20<strong>23</strong><br />

Looking Ahead<br />

Here are some of the projects we are looking forward to tackling in the remainder of 20<strong>23</strong>:<br />

Completing our Brand Refresh Project,<br />

including improved client reports and<br />

the relaunch of our website in a way that<br />

increases its accessibility.<br />

Creating a credible roadmap for<br />

significant reductions in our emissions, in<br />

line with Science-Based Targets.<br />

Identifying a high-quality offsetting<br />

partner to cover whatever emissions we<br />

cannot eliminate.<br />

Rewriting our Volunteering Policy.<br />

Finally replacing our Mental<br />

Health First Aider.<br />

Creating a mechanism for<br />

capturing more detailed<br />

diversity monitoring data<br />

around our appointments<br />

with a view to identifying<br />

weaknesses around particular<br />

groups or intersectional<br />

identities.<br />

Coordinating further training for<br />

colleagues on our Inclusive Recruitment<br />

Toolkit.<br />

Consulting with individuals<br />

from historically underrepresented<br />

groups, such<br />

as the neurodiverse, in order<br />

to identify innovations that<br />

could make our processes<br />

more inclusive.<br />

24


Reviewing the role of<br />

Employee Resources<br />

Groups within Society<br />

in consultation with the<br />

whole team.<br />

Completing the integration of<br />

our Delphi training resource<br />

with SharePoint.<br />

Section 3<br />

Doubling our training video content.<br />

25


Annual <strong>Impact</strong> <strong>Report</strong> <strong>2022</strong>/20<strong>23</strong><br />

Our Social <strong>Impact</strong><br />

We think of our social impact holistically, encompassing how we affect our clients, our candidates,<br />

our colleagues, our suppliers, our wider community, and the recruitment industry at large.<br />

We see our key social impacts as:<br />

The quality of the<br />

appointments we help<br />

our clients to make<br />

and the impact those<br />

individuals subsequently<br />

have in-post.<br />

The integrity with which we help<br />

candidates to define and to attain their<br />

career objectives.<br />

The way in which we look after,<br />

and develop our colleagues.<br />

The extent to which our<br />

business consumes resources,<br />

and the size of our carbon<br />

footprint.<br />

The impact and<br />

longevity of our work<br />

in the community.<br />

The leadership we<br />

show within the wider<br />

recruitment industry on<br />

issues of responsibility,<br />

ethics, sustainability,<br />

diversity, equity, and<br />

inclusion.<br />

26


Section 4<br />

We’ve sought to make tangible improvements in each of these areas<br />

over the past year, as this report hopefully illustrates. As ever though, we<br />

believe that the most significant way in which we contribute positively<br />

towards society is through the appointments we help our clients to make.<br />

The impact that those individuals have in-post has undoubtedly been our<br />

single most crucial driver since the company’s conception.<br />

27


Annual <strong>Impact</strong> <strong>Report</strong> <strong>2022</strong>/20<strong>23</strong><br />

Our Structure,<br />

Governance, and<br />

Ownership<br />

Society is a private limited company, registered in England and Wales.<br />

We have two wholly-owned subsidiaries: ‘Society US Inc’, based in New<br />

York, and ‘Society APAC Ltd’, based in Auckland. All three companies are<br />

ultimately overseen by a Board consisting of our Chief Executive and two<br />

Non-Executives. We also have an Advisory Board, who provide strategic<br />

input without fiduciary responsibilities.<br />

The current shareholdings within Society are:<br />

35% Simon Lucas 30%<br />

Daniel Perrett<br />

30% Simon Laver 5%<br />

Emma Hart<br />

As a B Corporation, our Articles of Association contains a pre-amble on<br />

‘Responsibility’ that states:<br />

“The objects of the Company are to promote the success of the Company<br />

for the benefit of its members as a whole and, through its business<br />

and operations, to have a material positive impact on society and the<br />

environment, taken as a whole.”<br />

28 4


The new text goes on to define a series of ‘Stakeholder Interests’, that the Board must<br />

seek to balance as effectively as it can, without assuming any one area should take<br />

precedence over the others. These include:<br />

• the likely long-term consequences of any decision;<br />

• the interests of our employees;<br />

• our need to foster relationships with suppliers, customers and others;<br />

• the impact of our operations on the community and the environment;<br />

• our desire to maintain a reputation for high standards of business conduct.<br />

Section 4<br />

29


Annual <strong>Impact</strong> <strong>Report</strong> <strong>2022</strong>/20<strong>23</strong><br />

Our Values<br />

We believe that organisations can have a positive social impact, and that careers should have<br />

purpose and meaning. Our goal is to change the world for the better – one appointment at a time.<br />

We’ve given a lot of thought to how we want to do business. It boils down to five core values:<br />

Partnership<br />

We work in genuine partnership with our clients, remaining<br />

communicative and transparent throughout the appointment<br />

process. We’re also a close-knit team, not just a collection of<br />

individuals. We collaborate and share expertise across sector<br />

boundaries.<br />

Authenticity<br />

We’re not ‘salesy’. We ensure that our clients meet the<br />

colleagues who will actually lead our work for them. We hire<br />

people who are genuine and personable. We value being<br />

trustworthy and approachable.<br />

Integrity<br />

We treat people as people, not as a means to an end. We’re<br />

fair and straightforward in our dealings with clients and<br />

candidates. We never ‘blag’. If we don’t know something then<br />

we’ll admit it. We also seek to practise what we preach.<br />

Creativity<br />

Excellent search involves effective storytelling. We listen to<br />

nuance, put bespoke research into every project, and think<br />

outside the box when sourcing great people. We’re also<br />

continually on the lookout for innovative ways to use technology.<br />

Diligence<br />

We’re all about the details. We take in-depth briefings. We<br />

follow up leads and leave no stone unturned when searching.<br />

We hold ourselves to the highest quality standards. You can<br />

count on us to be thorough.<br />

30


Section 4<br />

31


Annual <strong>Impact</strong> <strong>Report</strong> <strong>2022</strong>/20<strong>23</strong><br />

Our Strategy<br />

Our strategy is oriented around the five characteristics that we<br />

believe Society must embody in order to be successful:<br />

Responsible<br />

We must fully occupy the purpose-driven/responsible business<br />

space in our sector. We must take our own impact seriously,<br />

ensuring we remain values-led and make a tangible positive<br />

contribution to the world. This will ensure our work is meaningful<br />

and give us a powerful USP.<br />

Connected<br />

We must continually cultivate and refresh our knowledge,<br />

networks and relationships. We must build our brand and our<br />

credibility to ensure that we are visible to leaders and to people<br />

in positions of influence. This will make us a desirable partner for<br />

the clients we want to work with.<br />

Global<br />

We must internationalise our client portfolio, our colleague<br />

base, and our physical presence. This will increase the reach<br />

of our positive impact, reduce our reliance on any one<br />

geography/economy, create career opportunities for our<br />

colleagues, and provide scope for exciting innovations.<br />

Diversified<br />

We must diversify into new sectors and functional areas,<br />

expanding our expertise and capability. We must widen our<br />

track record whilst also developing clear functional or thematic<br />

areas of strength. This will protect us from over-reliance on any<br />

one colleague or sector.<br />

Excellent<br />

We must ensure that we have first-class systems, processes,<br />

and quality benchmarks, executed consistently, and<br />

underpinned by high levels of productivity and accountability.<br />

We must collect and utilise data to improve our performance.<br />

This will give us a vital competitive edge.<br />

32


Section 4<br />

33


Annual <strong>Impact</strong> <strong>Report</strong> <strong>2022</strong>/20<strong>23</strong><br />

Our Partners<br />

Wherever possible, we like to work with organisations that share our values.<br />

Here are some of our current partners.<br />

Fellow B Corporations<br />

Our global tech partner Our UK landlord Our APAC bank<br />

Our climate action partner Our UK law firm Our branding agency<br />

34 4


Other Partners<br />

Our <strong>Impact</strong> <strong>Report</strong> designers Our client design firm How we do birthday cards<br />

Our APAC/US accountants Our UK accountants Our US landlord<br />

Our global data entry partner Our charitable giving partner Our UK financial advisors<br />

We also have supplier relationships with a wide range of tech platforms (Ikiru People,<br />

Breathe, Calendly, Loom, and LinkedIn), publications and job boards, freelancer researchers,<br />

psychometric testing providers, and ‘Rec2Rec’ firms.<br />

Section 4<br />

35


Contact<br />

If you’re interested in learning more about Society, we’d love<br />

to hear from you. Please contact us on hello@society-search.<br />

com or via one of our offices:<br />

Society EMEA<br />

x+why<br />

14 Fulwood Place<br />

London<br />

WC1V 6HZ<br />

United Kingdom<br />

+44 (0)207 935 4052<br />

Society North America<br />

1460 Broadway<br />

Floor 16<br />

New York<br />

NY 10036<br />

United States<br />

+1 (646) 974 9098<br />

Society APAC<br />

PO Box 147526<br />

Ponsonby<br />

Auckland<br />

1144<br />

New Zealand<br />

+64 21 419 727

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