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Savills has a long-standing and strong relationship with @freeholdlgbt and was delighted to host them along with co-sponsor Core Recruitment for a pre-Pride march event at our global HQ. Our Café 33 event space was full of people from client organisations such as Lendlease, British Land, Landsec, Battersea Power Station, Shaftesbury Capital and Unibail Rodamco Westfield, as well as colleagues and other property professionals from around 70 property-related companies. "As a flagship event for Freehold, with over 140 people in attendance, it gave us a great opportunity to network and celebrate #Pride. The event showed the power of bringing people from different organisations and roles together. We will continue to strive to achieve this in our activities next year." - Sarah Chapman - Director, Savills & Freehold LGBT+ CIC Board Member. #SavillsPride
As part of Deaf Awareness Week in the UK, Savills head office hosted a dynamic session on “Working effectively with deaf colleagues”. Delivered by Alexandra Shaw, a deaf trainer with over 20 years of experience delivering Deaf Awareness Training. Teams online and in the room learned about different types of deafness and hearing loss, different communication methods, hearing loss, and participated in a lip-reading activity task that had everyone on their feet. Jake Ash, Senior Economist within the Planning Division, comments “Deaf awareness is crucial to creating an inclusive workplace for deaf and hard of hearing colleagues. As a deaf person, it is important for hearing people to be aware of different ways to communicate, hearing loss, and the best ways to approach us. It was fantastic to see everyone getting stuck into the lip-reading game and watch people realise that lip-reading is not as straightforward as it might seem!” #DeafAwareness #WeAreSavills
Colleagues from Savills UK Wimborne recently participated in the Walk of Light to raise money for the charity Blood Cancer UK, to support Rosie Ford who is undergoing treatment for Acute myeloid leukemia. The group walked a route of 10 miles along the 📍 Dorset coastline, starting and returning to Sandbanks Beach 🚶♂️ 🚶♀️ 🚶♀️ 🚶 🚶♂️ The Wimborne office will be fundraising throughout 2024 to raise money for Blood Cancer UK; this is the first event that the office have completed to raise money. So far, the charity walk has raised £1,885. This was organised by Charlotte Fairman and Sarah Bignell, who said: “We are both so grateful to the members of staff who took part in this event, and everyone who donated to support us. This charity is close to our hearts and being able to raise this money in support of Rosie’s journey means a lot.” #WeAreSavills #Charity #Walk #UKDonations
Celebrating Head of Diversity and Inclusion, Chanelle Gray, who won Head of Diversity & Inclusion of the Year at the British Diversity Awards this month. The evening recognised individuals, organisations and unsung heroes who help make the world and workplace better for others - promoting the values of equality, diversity and inclusion. Reflecting on the event, Chanelle comments: "I am proud to have won this award, not just as recognition for me personally, but for the journey we’ve taken at Savills with our D&I agenda. This award is testament to all of the work many volunteers and allies put into our initiatives and actions everyday." Savills is committed to eliminating discrimination and encouraging diversity amongst our workforce. Chanelle's dedication and passion continues to highlight our aim to ensure our teams will be truly representative of all sections of society and each employee feels respected and able to give their best.
With benefits ranging from a more diverse workforce and increased employee satisfaction, through to improved retention rates and happier clients, apprenticeship programmes are a proven way to help individuals progress in their careers while generating results for businesses large and small. Firms that invest in apprenticeships – whether for new talent or upskilling existing employees – continue to see long-lasting rewards. For the apprentices themselves, they gain valuable expertise and experience in a profession that might otherwise have been difficult to access. Savills currently has 227 people on apprenticeships across the business in every division, including Property Management, Building and Project Consultancy, Residential Sales, Rural Management, Valuations, Corporate Account Management, Marketing and IT. This week is National Apprenticeship Week (5–9 February) – providing the perfect opportunity to shine a light on apprentices’ growing importance in the workplace.
Savills named in top 75 of Social Mobility Employer Index 2023. Created by the Social Mobility Foundation (SMF), the index recognises companies' efforts to ensure those from lower socioeconomic backgrounds have the ability to succeed. This is the second year that Savills has taken part in the index and we now rank 37th out of the 143 businesses that took part – climbing 63 places from 100th in 2021. Bids Manager Rebecca John ACIM APMP, who sits on the Savills Social Mobility Group, comments, "Our aim has always been to remove barriers to careers in real estate and support those who join the industry. We also recognise the importance of collaboration in helping to change the dial on social mobility and that’s reflected through our work with the likes of Real Estate Balance, Rethink Food and Career Ready. “The feedback from the SMF has been very encouraging and it’s great to know the business continues to move in the right direction. But there is still plenty of work to be done and we’ll be using this year’s findings to improve our practices even further.”
Savills has won EDI (Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion) Programme of the Year at the first-ever Inspiring Women in Property Awards hosted by Property Week The award recognises the programme we offer to students from diverse backgrounds, which has grown exponentially in the last two years. Targeting those at secondary school level has successfully raised awareness of an industry many had not considered as a career, bringing fresh talent into the business and sector. Savills made the scheme more accessible to a diverse applicant range and introduced an ambitious target of 100 apprentices by the end of 2023. The number of apprentices joining has increased year-on-year, with 68 in 2022 up from 17 in 2021. And with around three months left to go, Savills has smashed the target set in 2020, with over 260 apprentices across the business. Chanelle Gray, Savills UK Head of D&I, said: “I am incredibly proud of the team for the win of EDI Programme of the Year at the Inspiring Women in Property awards, which looks at our apprenticeship programme and how it helps to open opportunity to those from diverse backgrounds while building our future diverse leaders of tomorrow. This is a huge priority for us but also across the real estate sector and programmes like this really do break down barriers.”
Savills named The Times Property Graduate Employer of Choice for the 17th consecutive year: http://savi.li/61709XNd0 The awards reflect feedback from on campus interviews with over 10,000 final year students at the UK’s leading universities. Savills retained its number one ranking as The Times Graduate Employer of Choice for Property, a position it has retained since 2007. James Sparrow, CEO of Savills UK and EMEA, comments: “It is a fantastic achievement that Savills has once again taken home this highly valued and prestigious award. Huge credit must be given to the future talent team who work tirelessly to provide a best in class programme, which is why we continue to attract the very best people to the business.” Naomi Chandler, head of future talent at Savills, adds: “Our main priority has always been to nurture and retain talent and as a team we have worked incredibly hard to ensure that Savills graduates get the very best start to their career in real estate. The fact that this award is decided by students applying for the scheme is a real endorsement and reflects Savills passion for its people and their ongoing development.”
Savills retains number one spot for a second year in Top 100 Apprenticeship Employer 2023-2024 at the Rate My Apprenticeship Awards. Based on over 8,000 reviews from young people who have completed apprenticeships or work experience in the last 12 months. Savills has consistently remained the only property advisor to feature. Serena Phillips, professional apprenticeships manager in the future talent team, comments: “At Savills we now have 220 apprentices and it has been incredibly rewarding to see many of them flourish and achieve their aim of obtaining a professional qualification. Keeping the top spot is by no means a reason to rest on our laurels and we look forward to continuing to grow and improve our apprenticeship offer.” Richard Rees, managing director of Savills UK, says: “It is an excellent achievement to remain at the top of the rankings for a second year running and this is largely due to the tireless commitment of our future talent team. Thanks to them and the dedication of the entire UK business we continue to provide an unrivalled programme for our apprentices. Offering an alternative route into the property sector is essential and allows for a diversity of voices that helps Savills to be the go-to advisor for our clients.”
June is Pride Month. Here at Savills, we’ll be coming together in support of the LGBTQ+ community to reflect on the importance of celebrating different perspectives. We’re committed to helping our colleagues thrive, by upholding a culture where visibility, inclusivity and acceptance are at its core. Individually we are all unique, together we are unstoppable.
