nGAGE Talent Group is a global collection of talent solutions brands that recruit into STEM, the built environment, public health and social care: sectors where the work itself shapes outcomes for people and communities.
Rather than treating social impact as something that sits alongside the business, nGAGE treats it as a function of the business: through who they place and where, nGAGE delivers Social Value for their own as well as their clients’ workforces and beyond. This case study shows what that looks like in practice across four key sectors, along with the headline impact narratives.
Social Value at nGAGE
nGAGE’s Social Value strategy defines a core aim:
To facilitate a more resilient and dynamic workforce, which strengthens the economy, and to empower the local communities within which we and our customers operate.”
nGAGE Social Value Policy
This aim breaks down into three priorities, each grounded in what nGAGE as a recruitment business is practically positioned to do:
- Helping people enter work who are new to the job market or transitioning from other sectors
- Helping people return to work after time away from paid employment
- Overcoming the barriers that stop people getting hired in the first place
In 2024, nGAGE worked with Social Value Portal to measure and report on its own Social Value delivery:
- £23 million of Social Value over the year
- A 26% Social Value-Add, relative to nGAGE’s total revenue for the reporting year
The largest Social Value contributions came from nGAGE staff across the brands being locally employed (i.e., living within 20 miles of the workplace). Remaining contributions include nGAGE’s employee wellbeing benefits programmes, and hiring staff with disabilities and ex-offenders.
However, nGAGE’s overall impact goes beyond their own workforce: by placing candidates in societally impactful work, nGAGE enables the delivery of Social Value for their clients’ workforces and wider society.
From healthcare to built environment: Impact across industries
nGAGE’s Social Value strategy translates into activities which go hand-in-hand with the work they do: where possible, nGAGE brands place candidates locally, upskill candidates before placement, and run targeted programmes for veterans, prison leavers, and people who have been out of paid employment for extended periods. They also partner with schools to run CV workshops, careers days and interview practice sessions, drawing on the same expertise they use commercially.
There is also an environmental dimension: many of nGAGE’s placements sit in renewable energy, sustainable construction, and adjacent fields, where the work itself contributes to wider decarbonisation.
The examples below show how individual nGAGE brands use specialist recruitment expertise to widen who gets hired and extend the relationship with clients and communities beyond the placement itself.
STEM:_nology
_nology is a diversity-first technology training and talent provider, training and placing candidates from underrepresented communities, career changers, and people from non-STEM backgrounds. The model addresses two problems at once: tech’s diversity gap, and the bottleneck of people who want to move into the sector but lack a route in.
Each year, _nology trains over 100 software and cloud engineers. The cohort breakdown:
- 60% women and non-binary
- 71% from ethnic minority backgrounds
- 25% LGBTQIA+
- 83% career changers
- 47% from non-STEM backgrounds
One full-stack developer placed through the programme described it this way:
The thing I enjoyed the most about _nology training was the lightbulb moments. Support both during and after training has been great. Communication channels are always open for technical and nontechnical help. The role I was placed in post training has a lot of freedom to learn and work on different things. I feel like I’ve learned more than what I would have from a degree. Tech is such an exciting fast paced environment, getting your foot in the door opens a whole world of opportunity for you to make of it what you want to.
_nology graduate, full-stack developer
Built environment: RG Setsquare
RG Setsquare is a built environment talent specialist. Its work for Osborne Construction (a family-run firm delivering a complex £62 million residential development) shows how Social Value can be designed in from the start of a project.
Osborne and its development partner needed a local employment and skills plan robust enough to satisfy the planning conditions for a series of mid- to high-rise residential blocks. RG Setsquare developed that plan by engaging the job centre, social enterprises, and local institutions early to map local talent and identifying the specific points in the project where local labour and upskilling targets could be hit.
Outcomes
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Hundreds of job opportunities created across the project
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All filled roles went to candidates from the local area
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All outcomes backed by auditable management information for planning compliance
On a complex £62 million project with stringent local employment and skills requirements, the team produced a detailed action plan that included developing local labour pools; creating a legacy through apprenticeships, work opportunities for people unable to work normal hours, and a training programme for local people. It was insightful and highly innovative, and built from an impressive knowledge of the construction process and local challenges.
Project Director, Osborne Construction
The same approach defines RG Setsquare's work with housing associations, where the brand supports clients' services users back into paid employment after extended absences.
The format is small-group and one-to-one career guidance: CV writing, interview techniques, and the practical mechanics of applying for jobs online.
Over the past 12 months, RG Setsquare delivered 20 hours of training to 40 attendees, on a total investment of £4,800. At time of writing, more than 40% of attendees from a recent programme have moved into paid employment.
Healthcare: Holt Doctors and Agile
Holt Doctors and Agile are healthcare talent specialists. They place candidates into NHS trusts and private healthcare providers – and extend that relationship beyond the placement itself.
On contracted sites, the brands deploy mental health first aiders to run wellbeing drop-in clinics for staff. Last year, Agile reworked its approach to client festive gifts to maximise social impact – where the brand had previously sent token presents to its contracted Trusts, last year it instead made donations to each Trust’s own charity, letting the Trusts direct the money where it would make the most difference internally.
Over the period, Agile supported 10 client charities and donated in excess of £1,500.
Social care: Eden Brown Synergy and Caritas
Eden Brown Synergy is a public sector talent specialist, which includes placing candidates in social care.
In partnership with the Careers and Enterprise Company’s Careers Hubs, the brand has run dedicated career sessions for a school in Leeds, focused on interview preparation and broader careers guidance. Over the past year, Eden Brown Synergy delivered three sessions at the school, each three hours long with two staff members in attendance.
Caritas similarly specialises in placing candidates in social care. The brand has built a long-running relationship with the NSPCC, supporting the charity through regular fundraising, awareness events, and volunteer initiatives. This has given Caritas’ team first-hand insight into the charity’s work, which in turn shapes how the brand engages with the cause.
Redefining recruitment
Social impact is business as usual at nGAGE: every day, the group uses the same expertise it sells commercially to help people and places where they can make the most meaningful impact. The examples highlighted here demonstrate how nGAGE enables Social Value for their clients and beyond – and behind these narratives, lives are being changed, one placement at a time.
Want to learn more about how professional services can create Social Value? Explore our Benchmarking Guide for Professional Services.
Or, see how other businesses are driving impact in our Success Stories.
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