Bisnow Rise UK — Meet The Companies Pushing The Boundaries On Improving DE&I

CBRE’s Work Experience Programme 

Pictured: CBRE's work experience candidates 

CBRE has a global ambition to further embed inclusion into recruitment. An opportunity arose in the UK when a member of CBRE’s employee business resource group REACH suggested a partnership with Career Ready, a charity focused on providing opportunities for young people. The result is a Work Experience Programme that engages young people from underrepresented communities to help them pursue a career in commercial real estate.

The initiative is led from the top. CBRE Chief Responsibility Officer and member of the Executive Committee Tim Dismond leads the wider DE&I, while UK-based DE&I Manager James Brandon heads the Career Ready partnership.

In the first two years, the programme reached 412 students through masterclasses and supported 32 mentees and 49 interns. Two apprentices have since been employed. The Talent Acquisition team worked with six schools in London, Birmingham and Manchester. The programme has since expanded to Scotland. 

CBRE signed a three-year partnership with Career Ready in 2020. This has now been extended as part of a wider Community Impact Initiative, which focuses on building a sustainable future, a diverse workforce and improved communities. 

The Rise steering committee admired CBRE’s metric-driven approach with clear, measurable objectives. The organisation knows, for example, that out of the 2,097 people the Career Ready programme reached in 2022, 28% were eligible for free school meals, 53% have no parental history of further education and 1.5% have refugee or asylum-seeker status.

Led by executive-level decision-makers, the programme has real scope for wide employee engagement. The number of those recruited is still modest, but likely to increase as the project expands and reaches beyond the traditional pool of recruits.

CBRE Investment Management’s Elba Eagles

Pictured: Elba Eagles team Nadiya Afruz, Mehrab Rahman and CBRE IM EMEA CIO Direct Real Estate & EMEA Head of DE&I Paul Gibson.

In 2021, CBRE Investment Management partnered with the East London Business Alliance. Its goal was to broaden the diversity of the workplace and enable social mobility. Known as Elba Eagles, this charitable organisation offers an employment programme for local graduates, who spend two weeks in paid training before beginning a six-month internship. 

CBRE Investment Management’s involvement with Elba Eagles was led by Ronald Visser, head of people EMEA, and Steven Sinclair, head of people UK. Both had worked with Elba Eagles previously and had seen the impact of the programme. The partnership aligns with the National Equality Standard, which CBRE Investment Management was accredited with in 2020. The scheme assesses organisations against a clear set of equality, diversity and inclusion criteria.

So far, CBRE Investment Management has appointed four permanent employees from the programme, or 30% of annual analyst hires. Two of the 2021 cohort have already been promoted. And across the organisation there has been a year-on-year increase in the percentage of people who believe they are working in an environment that accepts diversity of backgrounds and thought. 

The Rise steering committee admired how the programme is clearly linked to an overall DE&I strategy, with clear evidence of accountability, leadership and societal impact. Although the scheme is smaller scale, CBRE Investment Management’s decision to partner with experts in the community is one that other real estate organisations can replicate. 

Gensler’s Diversity in Design Bursary + Micro Prizes

Pictured: Gensler's bursary and prize winners

Gensler’s goal was to break down barriers to entering the architectural and design industry for underrepresented ethnic minority students in the UK. The business decided to launch a scheme in 2021 to directly support these students financially. Gensler’s London-based talent acquisition team led the programme's creation, alongside a jury of Gensler’s UK DE&I committee members and design directors. 

Students in the final year of their Part I architecture degree can apply for the Diversity in Design bursary of £10K, which can be put toward course fees and living expenses. Ethnic minority students enrolled in an architecture programme can apply for micro prizes, which range from £500 to £2,500. To apply, students must demonstrate consideration of how to design for racial equality and inclusiveness, and create a safer, healthier new normal for communities and cities.

Gensler reported that the bursary scheme has already given the business access to a wider pool of talent. In 2023, 33% more people applied than in 2022, demonstrating how the scheme's impact is growing. In 2022, Gensler met its goal of offering a winner a permanent position at the firm. Bursary applicants are also invited to apply for a yearlong work placement at Gensler, which has led to 89% of interns being people of colour. 

The steering committee valued this entry for its positive contribution to improving racial diversity, even at a small scale, and its clear sense of purpose. Gensler employs almost all interns, which demonstrates the long-term impact of the initiative. 

JLL Thrive

JLL realised that career progression and retention was a challenge for ethnically underrepresented employees. In 2022, the organisation launched Thrive, a coaching programme that focuses on engaging people approaching director level or senior profession level where representation tends to drops off. Individuals accepted to join the scheme are paired with a senior sponsor and take part in individual and group workshops as well as coaching circles.

The programme is led by JLL’s DE&I team, but it was developed with stakeholders, including executive sponsors for race and ethnicity, board members and the Race For Change Business Resource Group. This group, along with ethnically underrepresented employees, helped shape the solution to ensure it was as impactful as possible, and applications were measured against a clear scoring criteria and guidelines.

Thrive is a key element of JLL’s target to increase representation of ethnically underrepresented employees to 15% of the organisation and 10% of leadership by 2025. To date, 120 people have participated in Thrive and 22% have moved roles internally. Participants say they have greater understanding of how to progress their careers and increased confidence and efficacy. 

The Rise steering committee was impressed with the clear goals of Thrive and its demonstrable impact. It is an initiative that is making a difference for ethnically underrepresented employees that could be scaled up to approach other elements of diversity as part of JLL’s long-term approach to DE&I. 

Mount Anvil’s Makers & Mentors Scheme

Pictured: some of the children who took part in the Makers & Mentors scheme

Mount Anvil launched Makers & Mentors in 2020 in partnership with the Greater London Authority. The scheme isn’t just for the developer; it is an industrywide initiative that aims to boost diversity in property and construction by making learning opportunities more accessible to people from all backgrounds.

The initiative has several aspects, led by Mount Anvil senior leaders Development Director Emma Foster and Chief Marketing Officer Lisa Ravenscroft. It provides opportunities for networking, mentorship and leadership development as well as work experience in property and construction for young people.

One of the first steps when creating the scheme was tackling unconscious bias. Mount Anvil created a website that removes applicants’ personal details and images, which also reduces applicants’ nervousness about applying. 

Makers & Mentors has already engaged a wide group of people. The programme was launched with 150 mentors from 80 different businesses, including Mount Anvil and its competitors. Mentees take part in weeklong work experience placements to try 10 different roles at Mount Anvil. The developer has recently launched a ‘matchmaking service’ to connect London businesses with schools to offer workshops about the opportunities available across the industry. Free resources for schools are also available on the website.

The Rise steering committee acknowledged that Mount Anvil’s initiative is still in its early stages, so there are few metrics available. However, the developer has reported a high level of engagement among staff, and the scheme is measured and monitored through annual reporting to the GLA. The steering committee also recognised the initiative has potential to impact DE&I across the wider industry.

The Savills UK's Apprentice Programme

Pictured: Savills' UK apprentices

Savills tackled the lack of people from underrepresented groups in senior leadership across real estate by starting with those entering the sector. This meant overhauling its apprenticeship scheme.

The organisation recruited an apprenticeship team to target schools where students wouldn’t normally pursue a career in real estate and broadened the application procedure. This team, supported by employees from across the company, visits schools to discuss the entry routes into Savills and highlights career opportunities within property.

Savills set a clear target in 2020 to reach 100 apprentices by the end of 2023. That target was met a year early, and there are now 230 apprentices across the business, 19% of whom do not identify as white. Retention is high, with only 16 people leaving the scheme so far. 

By overhauling its previous apprenticeship scheme, Savills has managed to target young people who previously wouldn’t have met the criteria to join. The result is a higher number of apprentices than in previous years; 68 apprentices joined in 2022 compared to 17 in 2021.

The steering committee was impressed with the growth of the scheme and how apprentices join many areas of the business, including surveying, junior estate agency, accountancy and more. They commended the 'highly practical and pragmatic response to something the industry accepts as a problem'.

The committee noted it would like to see how Savills could engage the wider industry, providing an apprenticeship model for others to replicate, and to increase the number of participants who identify as non-white.

Seaforth Land’s Scholar Award

Pictured: Some of Seaforth Land's scholars

Seaforth Land was inspired by its established partnership with the Mayor’s Fund for London programme, called Access Aspiration, to create its Seaforth Scholar Award in 2021. The scheme provides financial support to sixth-form students from disadvantaged backgrounds applying for courses related to the built environment at university, as well as first-year students. Access Aspiration focuses on working with students who don’t have the connections or confidence to secure work placements for themselves and schools with a high proportion of pupil premium grant recipients. 

The programme was established by Seaforth Land CEO and founder Tyler Goodwin and Operations Manager Farrah Laborde, who were keen to widen the pool of young people entering real estate. To generate companywide engagement, all employees are involved in reviewing the top three scholarship applications. Successful students are then matched with mentors in the organisation to support their growth. 

To date, Seaforth Land has supported three interns and five work experience students. On average, the business hosts 12-20 sixth-form students once a quarter. Feedback from participants is that the programme has a significant impact on their career decisions, giving them insights they wouldn’t otherwise have gained.

The Rise steering committee praised Seaforth Land’s 'impressive top down approach to role modelling'. The business’s decision to partner with an organisation experienced in outreach meant it could offer a scheme that many small businesses struggle to provide.