Social / Oakley: Employee culture, engagement and wellbeing
Employee culture, engagement and wellbeing at Oakley
In 2025, we continued to prioritise employee culture, engagement and wellbeing, recognising the role they play in sustaining long-term performance and retaining talent. Our focus is on building a workplace where colleagues feel supported, connected and empowered to thrive as Oakley grows.
How we deliver our engagement strategy
Oakley’s employee engagement programme is underpinned by a dedicated governance structure and three workstreams that guide priorities and delivery in line with our engagement mission, vision and values. This structure supports clear accountability and ensures initiatives are informed by employee feedback and coordinated across offices.
Engagement governance structure
Steering Committee
4
employees, providing senior level sponsorship, advocacy and guidance
Workstream Leads (supporting three workstreams)
6
employees, providing strategy-setting and development and oversight of workstream plans
Working Group
9
employees, providing input into and delivery of workstream plans
Engagement Mission, Vision and Values
Vision
We will continue to drive meaningful change at Oakley and across our wider industry through the way we recruit and nurture our employees, manage our portfolio companies and engage with our network.
Mission
We want to build an inclusive and meritocratic team with a supportive and fun corporate culture, where everyone can be themselves. We believe that achieving this will help us attract and retain the best talent, make better decisions and deliver better results for our investors.
Values
Empowerment
Humility
Meritocracy
Collaboration
Respect
Employee Engagement Workstreams
1.
Inclusive Culture
2.
Fair Management & Career Development
3.
Social Mobility
These workstreams are championed by our Engagement Steering Committee, which oversees Oakley’s dedicated engagement governance structure and reports to Oakley Partners to ensure effective oversight and programme delivery. The Committee is supported by the Workstream Leads and a Working Group of employees who drive day-to-day execution. This structure ensures broad input, accountability and alignment with the firm’s strategic goals.
Share of women across Oakley
As part of our engagement approach, we track workforce composition metrics to support transparency and inform our people priorities.
44%
across the Oakley global team
32%
of the investing teams*
24%
of the Investment Team
* Investing teams encompass the Investment Team, Specialist Group Teams and the Investor Relations Team.
| 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Employee numbers | 94 | 140 | 168 | 199 | 216 |
2025 highlights: Early careers programmes
Oakley’s Summer Placement, Work Experience and Internship Programmes provide participants with practical exposure to private equity and the opportunity to contribute to live workstreams, primarily within the Investment Team, alongside colleagues across Origination, Operations and Investor Relations. Programmes typically run from one week to two months, with participants joining team meetings, receiving structured onboarding and feedback, and taking on meaningful tasks to support professional development.
In 2025, we hosted 11 participants across the three schemes, with 1,500+ hours spent supporting Investment Team projects. We received 149 applications across the programmes despite no formal advertising, and 27% of participants were women. The calibre of students remained strong, with positive feedback from deal teams and extensions granted to two participants.
1,500+
hours spent by early career participants supporting Investment Team projects in 2025
149
applications received across the three schemes despite no formal advertising
I found the week incredibly informative and genuinely interesting; it gave me a great insight into the industry and how the different teams work together.”
Work experience participant feedback (2025)
Culture, engagement and wellbeing initiatives
In 2025, we continued to focus on embedding and strengthening the initiatives that support Oakley’s culture, engagement and wellbeing. Our approach combines regular employee feedback with practical programmes that help colleagues connect, feel supported and develop throughout their time at Oakley.
Employee engagement and connection
A strong employee experience starts with how colleagues join and connect across the firm. In 2025, we continued to strengthen our new joiner experience through initiatives such as new joiner coffee mornings and a buddy programme, helping new starters build relationships across teams and understand Oakley’s culture and ways of working.
We also continued to develop how we gather and act on employee feedback. Participation in our annual employee survey remained strong at 83%, supporting robust insight into the employee experience. We use these insights to inform priorities and initiatives delivered through our engagement workstreams, including learning opportunities and development tools. In 2025, the survey also included two new dedicated Social Mobility questions, providing deeper insight to support this workstream. We also expanded our survey approach, which had previously focused primarily on equity, diversity and inclusion, to incorporate broader employee engagement and culture monitoring, providing deeper insight, improved reporting and more consistent benchmarking.
Alongside these feedback mechanisms, we continued to support informal connection across offices, teams and seniority levels through initiatives such as Mystery Coffee. Since the September 2024 launch, the programme has generated over 1,000 matches across over 200 active users, and has been rated highly for meaningfulness, reflecting the value colleagues place on simple opportunities to connect and share perspectives.
Development and career progression
Supporting development and progression remains a priority for Oakley, particularly as the firm grows and the number of people managers increases. In 2025, we continued to build on the tools and programmes introduced in recent years to provide clearer expectations, better feedback and practical support for colleagues at different stages of their careers.
Our Performance Competency Frameworks, developed in 2023 and expanded across teams in 2024, are now fully embedded across the firm. The frameworks set out grade-specific expectations across core competencies, helping colleagues understand what strong performance looks like at their level and what is required to progress.
We also continued our Mentoring Programme, launched in 2024, and refined elements of the programme based on participant feedback. Alongside this, we progressed the Management Training Programme to support Oakley’s growing community of people managers, strengthening capability and consistency in day-to-day management practices.
1,000+
matches generated through the Mystery Coffee programme since September 2024
200
active users participating in informal connection initiatives across offices and teams
83%
participation in Oakley’s annual employee survey, providing robust insight into the firm culture
Wellbeing and support
At Oakley, we recognise that sustainable performance is underpinned by a workplace where colleagues feel supported and able to access help when needed.
In 2025, we launched an enhanced Employee Assistance Programme across all jurisdictions, expanding access to confidential mental health support, additional counselling sessions and practical advice services, including home-life support, verbal legal advice, and tenancy and housing rights.
We also continue to invest in peer support through our network of Mental Health First Aiders, which has grown to 13 colleagues across almost all office locations. Mental Health First Aiders are trained to recognise common signs of mental health challenges, provide initial support, and guide colleagues towards appropriate professional help, supported by annual refresher training.
Oakley also seeks to support employees through major life events and caring responsibilities. Our Emergency Family Care Allowance, Bubble, continues to provide flexible support during unexpected family situations, alongside parental transition coaching to support colleagues before and after parental leave. Where needed, additional support can include counselling services, return-to-work programmes and flexible working arrangements.
Having Bubble makes balancing work and family life so much easier. It shows that Oakley Capital truly cares about supporting employees beyond the workplace.”
Oakley employee feedback
Training and awareness
We use training and awareness initiatives to help maintain a respectful, supportive workplace culture and to strengthen people management practices across the firm. In 2025, the mandatory EDI in the Workplace e-learning module was rolled out and achieved a 100% completion rate across all employees.
We also continued our annual training programme for all colleagues, including anti-harassment and mental wellbeing modules. In addition, we delivered targeted training for hiring managers on neurodiversity in recruitment and people management, supporting inclusive hiring practices and effective leadership.