The Youth Voice Forum held its fourth meeting on Tuesday 11th May which focused on one of the subgroups – Quality of Work.
The Quality of Work YVF session was chaired by Cristiana Orlando (Institute of Employment Studies). The session explored how young people define and view the quality of work in particular what a good quality job means to them, how this relates to their experience of work to date and where they can look for good opportunities.
Sam Windett (Impetus) chair of the Youth Employment Group gave an update on YEG activity and some background into the Quality of Work subgroup. She said that the YEG has had various meetings across government departments covering a range of topics such as the Kickstart scheme.
Laura-Jane Rawlings (Youth Employment UK) co-chair of the YEG gave an overview of five good youth employment principles:
- Creating Opportunity
- Fair Employment
- Recognising Talent
- Developing people
- Youth Voice
Amelia Cockran (Youth Ambassador – Youth Employment UK) spoke about her experiences completing an apprenticeship for Youth Friendly Employer, Coca Cola Europacific Partners. She compared her current apprenticeship to previous employment experiences and explored the benefits such as the support available, including having a mentor. Reflecting on her experience completing an apprenticeship, she felt it was the best option for her career goals.
The Youth Discussion highlighted:
Young people have no sense of their rights and responsibilities and find it difficult to know who to report to for particular issues
- Young people worry about their position at work and feel that they cannot challenge issues without pushback or fear of the impact it may have
- Bringing up issues as a person of colour can be an additional barrier, young people said they can be made to feel their issues were exaggerated or smaller than it actually was.
Young people do not always recognise what skills they are gaining and developing, e.g working in retail they will work with so many different people and might learn great conflict management skills
Many of the greater opportunities are usually located in major cities, e.g London. One benefit of the pandemic has meant that experiences and opportunities have become virtual and thus more accessible.
The quality of jobs and the type of roles available do not reflect what young people are looking for – young people want to explore their creativity and there aren’t as many opportunities to explore this.
Young people suggested that:
- Employers should be more open and create safe spaces for constructive criticism
- Employers should ensure there is appropriate representation in higher positions so that POC can feel more comfortable creating dialogue and expressing concerns
- There needs to be more of a link between employer expectations and what young people have actually been exposed to. Bridging that gap will empower young people about their career choices and what it is they need to do to get there
- Government should learn from virtual working and spread opportunities more fairly throughout the country
Cherie – “The Youth Voice forum was incredibly informative and I really enjoyed it. I felt that it was a safe and open space to voice our thoughts and it was greatly taken on board. Everyone gave their suggestions on what changes they feel needs to happen and I’m glad that these conversations are happening as I believe that even if we don’t see the change happening with our generation , it will most definitely support the future generation of young people. I am looking forward to the next one already”
More about the Youth Voice Forum
The Youth Voice Forum (YVF) is chaired by four young people within the founding organisations. Organisations that retain YEG membership are welcome to invite young people to participate in the YVF.
The purpose of the YVF is to create a safe space for young people to come together and discuss the views, experiences & challenges that they face as a direct result of Covid-19. Here they also support the work that the YEG do and have an active voice in influencing policy. The YVF ensures policy responses genuinely reflect young people’s needs and perspectives by providing young people with opportunities to identify what changes need to be made and discuss solutions to the problems they themselves have identified.
If you want to find out more about joining the Youth Employment Group you can find out more and sign up here.
The next session will be on Tuesday 8th June
