Partner Article

Progressive Employers Group to be launched in Birmingham

A project which aims to help change the face of employment in Birmingham is to be launched this summer.

Organisations from across the West Midlands are joining forces to launch the Progressive Employers Group.

The group will see investment-minded employers working together to share methods of best practice with the aim of accelerating the transformation of the West Midlands employment scene.

The first meeting of the interest group, instigated by people management and recruitment specialists Katie Bard, is a launch event being held at the iCentrum building on the Innovation Birmingham Campus on Thursday, July 13.

John Mortimer, CEO and co-founder of the Angela Mortimer, which includes Birmingham-based Katie Bard, said the group is well positioned to strengthen Birmingham’s employment scene.

He said: “It has been well-discussed that the West Midlands region is suffering from a skills shortage and retention problem. This has posed many questions for local employers and prompted significant debate through HR functions and the general business community.

“We expect that the companies that will be most successful in an increasingly competitive market are those that invest in their staff, rather than taking a cost-minded approach to labour.

“Our experience over 40 years is that the majority of employers talk investment, but in reality act in a cost based fashion. There are however already some interesting examples in the region of the investment minded approach.

“Birmingham is sitting on the edge of what appears to be a major opportunity and we believe the work in this project could result in transforming, or accelerating change within the employment scene, and that that would contribute significantly to an improved outcome.

“This is not like-minded people on some sort of social crusade. It’s more a case of new innovators, desperate to attract high-quality achievers, or progressive companies desperate to keep their product competitive.”

Organisations already involved in the project include Wesleyan, Glide and Customer Plus.

The launch event at Innovation Birmingham Campus on July 13 starts at 6pm and closes at 8pm. To register to attend, or express an interest in the Progressive Employers Group, contact john.mortimer@angelamortimer.com or go to http://nvite.co/q283v4.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Matt Joyce .