Case study


Laing O'Rourke
Our work

BE THE APPRENTICES

THE SOCIAL MOBILITY CHALLENGE

How we helped Laing O'Rourke to improve social mobility

Social mobility continues to be a real problem in the UK.  In fact, Britain is more unequal today than it was in the 1970s.  In this climate, it is down to employers to help to bring new opportunities to people from low-income families, through active outreach, removing barriers in recruitment and providing the support and pathways for development.  We worked with Laing O’Rourke to make some important steps in the way they marketed and recruited for their apprenticeship programme.

REACHING OUR AUDIENCE

We did our research, and this proved more valuable than we could imagine.  We found out that the way to reach our audience was often with the help of community partners – especially housing associations, but also sports and community clubs, schools, job clubs, and government programmes. We had to be careful about our messaging; and most of all, focus on personal engagement.

The campaign was hugely successful, through a combination of schools outreach, community involvement and online media.  For example, we advertised on the sports pages of The Daily Mirror, reaching parents of our target audience.