Shakespeare Martineau is the first major UK employer to sign up to the #FairRedundancy campaign.
Launched by Han Law, the #FairRedundancy campaign is calling on the UK's major employers to sign up to the Fair Redundancy Pledge and be transparent on their redundancy programmes for 2020/21 and beyond.
The campaign aims to ensure employers declare the splits of their redundancy programmes by age, race, disability and gender to ensure that women, individuals from minority ethnic backgrounds, the disabled and people of certain ages are not disproportionately affected by Covid-related redundancy.
Sarah Walker-Smith, CEO of Shakespeare Martineau, said: “As soon as we saw this initiative, I knew we needed to be part of it. I believe that navigating a good course through the upcoming economic uncertainties requires us to have a strong, open and fair working culture. We’re happy to back greater transparency in redundancy programmes so that everyone knows where they stand and why.
“There are a lot of economic benefits to retaining a diverse workforce and it’s something that we’re committed to as a business. I’d love to see the whole legal industry come together on this issue.”
Hannah Strawbridge, founder of the #FairRedundancy campaign said: “Having a firm of Shakespeare Martineau’s calibre on board from the outset is just amazing. Having a leader like Sarah backing us means a great deal. We set up the campaign as we believe in equality and diversity and that sticking to your values in more challenging economic conditions is what will highlight those that are genuinely committed to the cause. We believe that we will have more names to announce very soon and have had some wonderful support to date. All UK employers should consider signing the pledge today.”
Sarah Walker-Smith added: “We have no current plans to make further redundancies, we just know that increasing transparency is the right thing to do for our people and our business. None of us want to lose anyone at any time. These aren’t statistics; they are people. But in the current climate there won’t be many businesses who can avoid restructuring - we owe it to all our people to fight for business survival and to protect as many jobs as possible. But when redundancies are needed, let’s rally as a business community and keep it fair and transparent, and stay mindful of the wider impact we are having.”
