Laura Hinton video transcript

Our main priority throughout the pandemic has been our people. During the worry and uncertainty, we’ve sought to provide reassurance, care and clarity. In return, our people have given us their trust, agility and support - maintaining their focus on our clients, keeping connected and looking out for each other. 

This has helped us not only to protect jobs, but to make an unprecedented investment in our people this year, while planning for a post-pandemic future. 

Alongside our annual reward round, we gave our people an extra day off and an extra week’s pay to recognise their efforts during an extraordinary year. They also welcomed the light relief offered by our action-packed virtual ‘SpringFest’, with thousands of us taking part in a range of celebrity-led, fun-filled activities.

We’ve continued to shine a spotlight on the importance of wellbeing - with live streams featuring health professionals, new ways of accessing mental health support, a year’s subscription to Headspace, and a 24/7 virtual GP introduced as a standard benefit. We’ve provided additional wellbeing support for our ethnic minority colleagues impacted by racism over the last year - one of five specific actions we’re taking to accelerate the pace of change on racial inequality, alongside our existing Diversity and Inclusion action plan.

We launched a new Deal for our people, centred around empowered flexibility - giving everyone even more control over where and when they work, as we gradually adapt to working together in a new, blended way - from home, client sites and our offices.

As a large employer, we recognise the important role we need to play in the economic recovery and creating opportunities for the workforce of the future. We’ve worked with our local communities and schools to deliver learning resources and programmes throughout the pandemic, and our investments in technology, such as our new Virtual Park campus, have enabled us to continue with our recruitment activities. Our commitment to job security extended to those who were yet to join us, with over 3,000 people starting at the firm in the last financial year, albeit virtually to begin with!

We also guaranteed our offers to School and College Leaver Programme applicants, recognising the huge disruption on education over the last year - particularly for students from lower socio-economic backgrounds. This decision was aligned with the work we’re doing to broaden access into the firm beyond the traditional graduate route. And retaining the top spot on the Social Mobility Employer’s Index for the second year running was an especially proud moment for us as we seek to build an even more diverse and inclusive culture within the firm - and outside it.

So, despite the challenges and uncertainty of the pandemic, we’ve also been looking to the future; planning for what post-pandemic life will mean for our people, clients and communities, and taking action now to ensure that together, we can all make the most of the many new opportunities it offers.