Our People
Diversity
We have a strong culture of celebrating the diversity of our people, our clients and the communities in which we operate. As a firm, we recognise that our people are our key strength and by allowing everyone to work in a positive and open environment, we can all flourish as individuals and as members of a team.
Our diversity programme forms part of the induction process for all new employees and in addition, we provide comprehensive diversity training throughout the firm, particularly to supervisory and high potential managers where our focus is how to create the environment to get the best from our diverse team of people. A recent acknowledgement of this commitment to diversity is our success in winning the “Law Firm Employer of the Year” Award from the Institute of Paralegals.
Our diversity aims
- We are committed to valuing visible and non-visible differences in our existing and potential employees, clients and stakeholders.
- We welcome diversity awareness and promote a policy and practice of meritocracy and inclusion, regardless of differences including gender, colour, race, nationality, ethnic origin, religion, sexual orientation, disability and age.
- We aim to attract, retain and develop talented individuals based on their ability and competence and are committed to ensuring that all employees receive fair treatment in aspects of employment policies and procedures.
- We aim to ensure that all employees have the same access to opportunities and that any decisions are made based solely on performance and capability.
- We seek to create a diverse environment that encourages all individuals to develop and reach their full potential.
- We encourage a high performance environment where employees feel rewarded for their contribution to the success of the firm.
- We aim to ensure that people at IM at all times treat all individuals with the same attention, courtesy and consideration regardless of their individual differences.
"We all have different backgrounds and experiences and know that how we treat other people at work really matters."
It’s what we do
To ensure that we achieve our aims, we have set up a Partnership Diversity Board. This group is responsible for overseeing the practical implementation and continued development of the firm’s diversity strategy.
Alongside this group, a number of internal listening groups have been established to focus on sexual orientation, age, gender, disability and race. Each group is led by a senior member of the Partnership work with external agencies and networks to explore a range of issues and initiatives that will contribute to the inclusiveness of Irwin Mitchell and making Irwin Mitchell a ‘great place to work’ for all our people.