The Jobs Foundation Pledge
A Movement for Jobs and Opportunity
The Jobs Foundation Pledge is a national movement of employers of every size and sector, working together to tackle the UK’s worklessness crisis and help people facing barriers to work into meaningful employment.
It was created by the Jobs Foundation, founded on the belief that business is a force for good in society, not least through the jobs it creates. The Pledge puts that belief into practice, recognising those already leading the way and giving businesses the tools to act.
Whatever your size or sector, the Pledge is designed to fit your business. Signing up doesn’t mean having everything in place already. It means considering how you reach, recruit, train and develop people, and taking the steps that are right for you.
What signing up means
Signing the Pledge is more than a statement of intent. It gives your business a public commitment to stand behind, a community of employers to learn from, and practical tools to act.
Businesses are always looking for great talent. With around one in four working-age people in the UK not in employment, there is a whole host of it waiting to be discovered. The Pledge helps you look further, opening your business to talented, driven people who are too often overlooked. With the right support, they become valuable, loyal employees who stay and grow with you.
- Make a public commitment.
- Your business stands alongside a movement of employers who are serious about breaking down barriers to work. You commit to supporting people into meaningful work through the ORSA Framework, covering Outreach, Recruitment, Skills and Advancement, which is set out below.
- Join the Pledge Community.
- Pledge employers share challenges, solutions and ways forward with one another. As the community grows, so will the opportunities for peer-to-peer connection and the network of partners you can work with.
- Contribute to Pledge Insights.
- By completing the ORSA Questionnaire, you help build a growing evidence base on what works in tackling worklessness among hard to reach groups. Over time, we will develop benchmarking so that Pledge employers gain real insight into how their practice compares.
- Access the Pledge Resources Hub.
- Created by the Jobs Foundation, the Hub brings together materials, tools and business cases to help you take your own next steps. It includes guides and checklists for leaders, HR teams and managers, practical toolkits on areas such as work experience and school outreach, and case studies of good practice.
- Be recognised at the Pledge Awards.
- The annual Pledge Awards celebrate employers whose work is changing lives and benefiting society, and showcase what UK employers are doing to break down barriers to work.
The ORSA Framework
At the heart of the Pledge is the ORSA Framework, covering the full journey of a person’s employment. It was distilled from the knowledge and experience shared by members of the Jobs Foundation Employer Taskforce over the course of a year, and developed into a framework that helps employers of all sizes and sectors find, support and develop great talent.
Outreach
Outreach means looking for talent beyond the usual channels and building genuine partnerships with schools, colleges, charities and local organisations that connect a business to people it might otherwise miss.
Recruitment
Recruitment is making every stage from advert to offer accessible, so that candidates are judged on their genuine ability to do the job.
Skills
Skills is about giving people tailored, sustained support once they join, so they can perform at their best.
Advancement
Advancement focuses on helping people progress through career pathways and external networks, so that a first job becomes the start of a career.
Good employment practice is good for business too. Reaching beyond the usual channels opens your business to a wider pool of the best possible talent. Supporting people to grow helps you keep them, and over time it can make yours a go-to employer in your community.
Pret are thrilled to join The Jobs Foundation Pledge. As a business with over 30 years’ experience of supporting those at risk of homelessness into employment, we’ve seen first hand the impact of tackling worklessness. We can’t wait to educate, support and champion other employers wanting to join too.
At M&S, we know how important that first step on the career ladder is for young people to build the confidence, skills and experience they need to have a successful career. By signing the Jobs Foundation Pledge, we’re reinforcing our commitment to helping more young people get into work, develop lifelong skills and take that all important first step in their career.
Our approach
Jobs Foundation research
The Jobs Foundation Pledge is distilled from the Jobs Foundation’s research. We publish foundational research reports examining how businesses help people move from welfare into work. We also produce policy papers on specific issues related to employment, training and the conditions necessary for job creation.
The full report
Ladders of Opportunity: How top UK businesses create new routes into work
Profiling the top businesses across the UK that are creating pathways for disadvantaged people into work. The second volume of our foundational research, drawing on interviews with employers across England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Read here →
The full report
Two Million Jobs: How businesses play a crucial role in helping people from welfare into work
After almost a year of work, interviewing hundreds of businesses and community leaders across Great Britain — in Sheffield, Loughborough, Hartlepool and Pembrokeshire — our foundational research showing how business is the most effective route out of poverty.
Read here →
Policy paper
Jobs and Education: Building the Bridge to Opportunity
Examining the vital link between employment and education — and how businesses can help build the bridge to opportunity for people across the UK.
Read here →Join us
If your business shares that ambition, whatever your size or sector, we would love to hear from you. Join us. To find out more about signing the Pledge, get in touch at pledge@thejobsfoundation.com.
Or email pledge@thejobsfoundation.com