Doing something for someone else, in other words paying it forward, can give us enhanced purpose and potentially help improve our own emotional wellbeing. At the final Wellbeing Action Group of 2023, we will consider how this works, discuss ways in which it can be achieved even when were busy and hear from the Early Careers Foundation about their fantastically worthwhile Mentoring Programme.

The Early Careers Foundation (ECF), a social mobility charity, operates a Mentoring Programme for 16 – 18 year olds from low-income backgrounds in the UK, enabling them to move into a fantastic career in an industry that they love.

The ECF wants to create a society where talent, not background, determines a young person’s career success. However,:

• Currently, in the UK, family wealth at birth is the most accurate indicator of future financial success. Not IQ, race or gender.
• By the age of 25 someone who went to a fee-paying school is on average earning 35% more than their state educated peers.
• Children on Free School Meals are, at the age of 27, 23% less likely to be in sustained employment and 3 x as likely to be on out of work benefits.
• A young person from a working-class background, who graduates with a 1st class degree from a Russell Group University is less likely to enter an Elite Career Field than a young person from a privileged background that graduates with a 2:2.
• Only 6% of doctors, 12% of journalists and 12% of chief executives today are from working class origins.
• A low ability child from a high-income family is 35% more likely to be a high earner than a high ability child from a low-income family.

There’s no cost to the agency to become a Corporate Partner, which gives your team the opportunity to volunteer to mentor a brilliant young person from a low-income background and mentors only need to commit to around an hour each month. The benefits for both the Mentor and the agency are numerous and we’ll consider these in more depth at this session.

About the group: Lead by Isabel Odlin, Chief People Person at member agency Hub, the Wellbeing Action Group meet quarterly to remain constantly informed of the latest tools and resources to assist them in their vital work of maintaining the wellbeing of their agency people. They share, discreetly, the issues they face and mentor each other in best practice. They provide vital input our the Alliance programme of support which includes the annual Festival of Happiness.