British Retail Consortium, RPC join hands to uphold D&I in retail recruitment

British Retail Consortium, RPC join hands to uphold D&I in retail recruitment

Partnership to observe RPC become BRC's exclusive resident advisor in employment law

Top 40 UK firm RPC has joined forces with The British Retail Consortium (BRC), help further enhance the organisation's diversity and inclusion (D&I) initiatives related to retail staff recruitment.

RPC to be the BRC's exclusive resident advisor, due to the partnership, in employment law, which intend to boost the organisation's D&I charter regarding recruitment, progression and inclusivity.

Furthermore, the BRC and its members will gain entree to RPC's retail practice, which boasts around 70 lawyers and includes members of the firm's employment, engagement and equality practice.

Launched in March, the BRC's D&I charter has 60 signatories. It includes several UK household names like Sainsbury's, Boots and Argos, among others.

The BRC describes itself as the 'go-to' trade association for UK retailers. It will benefit from a series of D&I roundtables for its human resources community covering data and reporting, employment practices, audit practices and promoting inclusive culture and values as a way of helping retailers to address inequality and barriers to progression, RPC said.

Helen Dickinson, chief executive, BRC, branded the partnership as the next step in the organisation's journey to "make retail a diversity and inclusion leader". In addition even the sector has managed to make prospect, it still has "a long way to go" though.

Kelly Thomson, a partner in RPC's employment, engagement and equality practice, remarked: "The retail sector is in the advantageous position of being able to contribute to greater equivalence both through the consumer lens and within its own workforces. It has perhaps never been more important for retailers to build inclusive cultures. This will help them to connect the benefits of diversity in a great position. This will be vital to adopt the innovation needed to meet the challenges of the future."

"The firm directly looks ahead to get engaged with the BRC's D&I charter signatories and 'support turning their pledges into real-life actions and success stories for the collective advantages of a more equal retail sector," said Thomson.

Led by partner, Patrick Brodie RPC's employment, engagement and equality practice, currently counts 10 partners and 12 lawyers. Collectively they work across the firm's offices London, Bristol, Hong Kong and Singapore.

The City player counted its work in the retail sector for its blistering financial performance in FY21. It included a 23 percent increase in total revenue to £136m across its four offices while profit-per-equity-partner jumped to £634k, an increase of 49 percent on FY20 (£424k).

It also furthered its environmental, social and governance agenda in November 2021 when it launched RPC Tectonic. It's a tech incubator scheme that could see ESG-focused start-ups receive up to £100,000 value of legal advice upon admission to the 12-month agenda.