Social Value at Grassroots
At GR, recruitment isn’t just about filling vacancies — it’s about creating opportunities, building confidence, and opening doors for people who might otherwise be left behind.
As a Stockport-based business with strong community roots, we’re proud to play an active role in promoting social mobility, supporting local organisations, and giving our time and skills to make a meaningful difference.
Our social value strategy is built around four core pillars that reflect what matters most to us and to the communities we work in:
Supporting Students and Young People
We deliver practical, accessible careers support to help the next generation get work-ready — from CV writing workshops to speed networking events and one-to-one mentoring.
What we’ve done
- Designed and delivered over 200+ hours of careers talks, workshops, and mock interviews in local secondary schools and colleges.
- Supported over 1,500 young people through our social values commitments as part of Post-16 Careers Week and dedicated youth employability programmes.
- Organised large-scale Speed Networking events in partnership with GMCA and PiE to connect 140+ Year 10–11 students with 60+ real employers.
Championing Social Mobility
We actively engage with local partners to support individuals facing barriers to work — whether that’s due to long-term unemployment, disability, housing insecurity or being new to the UK — offering practical, tailored help to find work.
What we’ve done:
- Provided mentoring, training and job search support for older workers, care leavers, refugees, and previously homeless individuals.
- Supported long-term unemployed residents through targeted sector-themed job fairs and Restart Scheme collaboration with Ingeus.
- Helped local employers hire inclusively through the Steps to Work programme and Work & Skills Agreements on regeneration projects.
Advocating Inclusive Recruitment and Best Practice
We’re committed to raising standards in the recruitment industry – not just through our own services, but by supporting other employers to recruit fairly, transparently, and inclusively.
What we’ve done
- Founded the Equal Futures EDI Group, a free networking and advisory forum for HR managers and business leaders to share best practice .
- Achieved Membership of the GM Good Employment Charter – embedding service excellence and fairness in our own practices.
- Regularly speak at events and careers panels to highlight inclusive recruitment strategies and inspire positive change.
Proactive Support for Stockport’s VCFSE Sector
We know how vital the local voluntary, community, faith and social enterprise (VCFSE) sector is — and we’re proud to offer hands-on support, sponsorship and time to help it thrive.
What we’ve done:
- Delivered over 500 hours of volunteering and pro bono support to local organisations including Engage Grow Go and Sector 3.
- Sponsored and supported Stockport Rocks and are members of the Proper Good Business Club to bring businesses and communities closer together.
- Encourage all staff to take 2 paid days each year to volunteer with local causes — from Girlguiding to Mission Christmas.
Our Impact
Over the past five years, we’ve delivered a wide range of initiatives to support young people, help disadvantaged jobseekers back into work, and champion inclusive hiring. We believe in doing the right things, in the right way, for the right reasons — and that means embedding social value into everything we do.
2024
We’re ISO 9001:2015 certified, which allows us to work more efficiently and make better decisions. We measure what we do and how we do it, so we can keep finding ways to.
2023
From local business awards to national nominations, we’ve been recognised for fast track growth, customer service excellence, and ethical resourcing practices.
2022
Our compliance with APSCO conduct regulations underpins everything we do. We know our clients rely on our expertise, standards, and consistency every time.
The Stockport Award
In 2022, we were honoured to received ‘The Stockport Award’ at Stockport Business Awards in recognition of our ongoing CSR work and our particular contribution to supporting local businesses and residents during the Covid pandemic.
During this period, we volunteered as part of SMBC’s Economic Resilience Taskforce to discuss the crisis response and potential plans of support. Within days, we created Stockport Jobs Match and continued to deliver this service for three years.
Stockport Jobs Match
We don’t just talk about social value — we measure it. Between 2022–2023 alone, we delivered over £527,000 in verified social value through our work on the Stockport Jobs Match contract (exceeding our original target by 380%). This included:
- 3,863 hours of career mentoring
- 393.5 hours dedicated to supporting young people into work
- 544 volunteer hours to support local VCFSEs
Want to Work With Us?
Whether you’re an employer looking to build a more inclusive workforce, a local school seeking careers support, or a community group looking for volunteers — we’d love to hear from you.
