At SEUK, we believe that social enterprise is the Future of Business. We also know that it’s the people working in the sector who make the transformative impact of social enterprises possible.
This is why we’re looking to implement a major new programme of work which will focus on the issues of workforce and talent; issues which represent key concerns for many social enterprises.
The Future of Work will be a broad programme of activity to help equip our members with the tools to articulate and share their stories; attract and retain the best talent; and develop outstanding future leaders. We’ll be focussing on three key areas:
1. Attraction – we want to make sure that the best people know about the unique career opportunities available in social enterprise, and that they feel inspired to seek them out.
We already have a social enterprise Sector Jobs Board on our website which is second only to Guardian Jobs in terms of its search visibility, and intend on develop the functionality of this. We also plan to conduct ongoing campaigns that target the best talent to work in the social enterprise sector, working with universities, businesses and the public sector.
2. Retention – we want to make staff that work for social enterprises feel part of the social enterprise movement as this will make them more engaged and productive
The Future of Work programme will kick off with #MyJobMatters on 10th June, a new digital campaign we have created to shine a spotlight on the people working at the heart of the sector: social enterprise staff members. We will also be launching an induction video the same day, featuring our Patrons Michael Sheen and Chris Addison to educate new staff about the social enterprise sector, and what it means to be part of it.
We already run ‘The Champions Programme‘ with our members HCT Group, where employees are taught about the wider social enterprise movement through visiting a wide range of social enterprises. Our ambition is to run this programme for our wider membership base in order to immerse staff in the sector and make them real advocates for the movement.
3. Leadership – we will be working with current and future leaders of social enterprises and their boards, supporting them in becoming the best they can be
We ran a Leadership sprint on 8th July, a 24 hour programme taking participants through the world of innovation and disruption with a focus on helping you lead better in disruptive times. We’d like to increase the volume of this activity moving forward.
This strategy represents a new commitment from SEUK, to bring workforce matters to the front and centre of what we do. If there are areas of this work you’d like to see us develop, or you’d like to partner with us on any of the above areas then do get in touch.