Mears has been recognised for its action to improve social mobility in the workplace.

The firm was ranked 36 in the Top 75 employers in the Social Mobility Employer Index 2019.

The Index is the creation of the Social Mobility Foundation and ranks Britain's employers on the actions they are taking to ensure they are open to accessing and progressing talent from all class backgrounds. 

Employers are assessed on everything from the work they do with young people and their apprenticeships, through to their recruitment and selection processes and how people from lower income backgrounds progress up the ladder within their organisations. 

Measures taken by Mears to improve social mobility include:

• Working directly with schools on social value projects with 11,300 pupils


• 45 Management Apprentices

• 70 pre-employment students

• 607 apprentices, plus 48 completers

• Selecting an employee director to sit on our board

• Working to increase the number of women in the sector through our Tradeswomen into Maintenance project

• Our adult education programme enables our colleagues to upskill and also members of the local community who are long-term unemployed.

Alan Long, Mears Executive Director said: "Mears is a business literally rooted in the communities we work. Whether that's by interacting with people as customers or by being large community employers. We take our responsibility to social mobility very seriously and hope that wherever we work we contribute to that society as an employer, as a local partner and as a driver of opportunity. I couldn't be prouder to have been recognised in this way and I'm sure that my colleagues who have learnt a trade and have a whole new world of opportunities open to them would agree."

The Rt Hon Alan Milburn, chair of the Social Mobility Foundation, added: "Social mobility is becoming a cause for more and more of our country's top employers. When politics is weak, society needs to be strong - so it is welcome a growing number of employers are stepping up to the plate. They recognise the need to open their doors to a wider pool of talent both to address growing public concerns about unfairness and to reap the business benefits from having more diverse workforces. The onus is now on all of our country's top employers to do the same."