As part of Youth Employment Week 2024, we launched the findings from our Good Youth Employment Benchmark, a digital tool that supports employers to access the information, advice and guidance they need to grow the quality of their early careers interactions and programmes. Our framework of employer activity includes Explore, Experience and Employment, capturing school engagement activities, work experience all the way through to apprenticeships and graduate schemes.
Our data showed that all employers have some level of involvement in activities across Explore, Experience, and Employment stages. All had started a journey and could see the benefit of all three stages. However, most employers lack a clear, time-bound strategy for these efforts, with only 15% of employers stating they had a youth employment strategy.
A well-defined youth employment strategy is crucial. It helps employers align their efforts with business objectives and ensures that plans are systematic, accountable, and regularly reviewed. Creating good quality opportunities requires time, investment, and staff capacity, especially in the early stages. Without this, employers often find that it is impossible to be anything other than reactive to what is happening around them that could lead to duplication, frustration or missed opportunities.
The first section of the Benchmark focuses on strategy and activity. Providing employers with immediate feedback and tools to support their early careers development. Completion of the tool gives a full guide and steps to creating a joined-up, EDI focused approach to workforce development. You can begin the steps to completing the Benchmark by joining our Membership.
Since 2012, Youth Employment UK has been working with employers to help them develop their early careers work, providing training and insight into all aspects of an employer’s activity. Our expertise and guidance is supported by the data we have from young people and from our network of Members across multiple sectors and sizes. Over this period, a number of clients have won national awards for their early career programmes and identified improved ROI, EDI and future workforce metrics.
Members of Youth Employment UK who complete the Good Youth Employment Benchmark, gain access to the information, advice and guidance they need to grow the quality of their early talent interactions and programmes, particularly for young people from disadvantaged backgrounds. The Benchmark benefits employers by:
- Providing a guided space that will help them review and reflect on their current practice
- Support employers to build
- Gain access to a wide range of tailored content and resources that will support strategic priorities
- Employers will build a wider evidence base of good youth employment practice, providing crucial data to enable further support and potential system change in the future.
Connecting young people to employers and quality work is key to reducing inactivity and NEET figures.
Recent ONS data has shown that young people are at least 3 times more likely to be unemployed than any other age group. Navigating and transitioning into quality work has always been challenging for young people but the last few years have added more complexity to deep rooted issues.
The 2023 Youth Voice Census showed us how disconnected young people were feeling from society and their futures. Young people have missed out on opportunities to connect and grow their skills throughout Covid 19, not just in terms of traditional work experience but in socialsing, and since then opportunities have failed to recover. There are now less opportunities for youth clubs, changing work habits and a cost of living crisis means that 50% of young people are not engaging with any extra curricular activities, activities that build skills and confidence.
The Good Youth Employment Benchmark opened on 29th May 2024 and will remain open until the 29th August 2024 for employers to complete. Employers will receive a bespoke report, highlighting areas of good practice and practices that could be improved. To support this, employers will receive tailored content based on their needs.
