Transcript Slide 1

The Learning to Work Campaign:
HR professionals, young people and the
education sector
Gavin Ellison
[email protected]
Ian Neale
[email protected]
We have seen the old rhetoric
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It's not a new issue – but is very important
“They cannot do reading. They cannot do arithmetic.
They cannot do writing……..There is a lot of money
being spent [on skills] but we want to make sure
that what is required is being met by what is
produced. Sometimes there is a mismatch and we’re
not always getting what we need.”
Sir Stuart Rose, chief executive of Marks and
Spencer, 2009.
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Informing the CIPD’s Learning to Work Campaign
CIPD Learning to Work is an action-focused campaign to
tackle the problem of youth unemployment. The overall
aim of the campaign is to achieve a shift in employer
engagement with young people, so that they are
encouraged both to help young people prepare for the
workplace and to make the labour market itself more
youth-friendly, by offering a wider range of access routes
into organisations and adapting recruitment methods.
YouGov
• Online panel of 8,000 HR professionals.
• Survey designed to deliver insight on the recruitment,
perceptions, the value and process of employing
young people.
• The total sample size is 780 HR professionals.
• Fieldwork was undertaken between 20 July and 6
August 2012
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Not enough employers recruit young people
Medium business
30%
Small business
53%
Micro business
79%
Other private sector services
38%
Manufacturing employers
51%
Private sector
30%
All
Equivalent to
c.260,000 employers
25%
0%
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No
20%
40%
Base: All HR professionals (n=780)
60%
80%
100%
Employers acknowledge young people are disadvantaged and
need an opportunity but have concerns about their readiness
for work
The dichotomy in employers views on young people
Young people…..
Young people…..
Need an opportunity to
prove themselves
64%
Do not have adequate
career guidance
Lack insight into the
working world
63%
Have unrealistic
expectations about work
59%
Lack work experience
57%
53%
Agree
Are disadvantaged in
today's labour market
Are not prepared for work
Receive a negative press
which is unjustified
20%
Base: All HR professionals (n=780)
40%
60%
49%
Lack basic skills that are
needed in the workplace
41%
0%
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Agree
47%
80% 100%
46%
0%
20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
The views of those with young people on
Apprenticeships
Q. To what extent do you agree or disagree with the following
statements regarding why you recruited Apprentices? (agree)
Cost effective way of building up the skills of the
workforce
86%
Provide high quality training tailored to the needs
of business
80%
Helps to identify the staff with the greatest
potential
62%
Helps attract the best quality employees
60%
Bring new thinking on latest technologies and
techniques
58%
0%
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Base: HR professionals with young people on Apprenticeships (n=176)
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
Over half intend to recruit young people and education
system barriers are secondary to economic conditions
Q. Which, if any, of the following would encourage you to recruit more young
people? (multiple choice)
More job vacancies arising in our
41%
organisation for other reasons
Do you intend to recruit young
people in the next 12 months?
What would encourage
you to recruit more
young people?
24%
New vacancies created through
increased demand for our products…
33%
An increase in the quality of
applications from young people
24%
Help with funding
24%
Greater reassurance that the
education system is delivering more…
56%
20%
Yes
No
I don’t know
Base: All HR professionals (n=780)
More applications from young people
17%
If we create more access routes (e.g.
apprenticeships)
16%
Nothing would encourage us to recruit
more young people
13%
A change in attitudes towards this
industry/sector from young people
12%
A change in attitudes of senior
management / managers
8%
5%
Other
0%
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22%
Base: All HR professionals (n=780)
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
How do they build the business case for young
people?
What are the benefits of employing young people? (multiple choice)
A willingness to learn
47%
Fresh ideas and new approaches
43%
Motivation, energy and optimism
42%
A more diverse workforce
27%
Cost-effectiveness
27%
Commitment and loyalty as they become a part…
23%
Reduce recruitment cost for more experienced…
21%
Greater flexibility (hours worked, geographically…
13%
Insights and connections to the market
5%
Improve the employer brand
4%
Other
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Link between
recognising the
business case and
having employed a
young person.
16%
Prevent and address skills shortages
Base: All HR professionals who believe there is a business
case for employing young people (n=574)
74% can see the
business case for
recruiting young
people.
2%
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
Working with education
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But there is a mismatch between how employers
think they can help and what they are doing
How are employers helping? (multiple choice)
Work experience placements
61%
Access routes for non-graduates
(apprenticeships, school leaver programmes)
What should
they be
doing?
41%
Career insights (school visits etc)
73%
29%
Internships
61%
24%
Insight into recruitment (mock interviews, help
with CV writing etc)
56%
14%
Other
3%
None
21%
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
Base: All HR professionals (n=780)
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68% of employers think they should get more involved
in education, why?
To raise awareness of our sector
56%
To improve the appeal of young people when
they enter job market
52%
To 'give something back' / CSR
47%
To increase interest in job vacancies
39%
To aid existing staff development
38%
To enhance our reputation among young people
37%
To be seen acting positively about youth
unemployment
32%
To access new ideas from young people
27%
To improve employee engagement
25%
0%
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Base: All HR professionals who believe they should be
involved with education (n=524)
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
Employers that do work with education thinks it's
fairly easy to do so but will we see more engagement?
• 58% of employers believe that it is easy to work with schools
How easy or difficult is it to work with schools?
100%
2%
How will your involvement with schools/ college
change next year?
100%
13%
80%
80%
26%
60%
60%
40%
47%
Easy – 58%
40%
20%
20%
16%
20%
4%
11%
0%
4%
1%
0%
Very easy
Fairly easy
Neither easy nor difficult
Fairly difficult
Very difficult
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54%
Base: All HR professionals who have had any personal
experience of working with schools (n=338)
Increase Increase Stay the Reduce Reduce I don’t
it a lot it a little same it a little it a lot know
Base: All HR professionals (n=780)
For many the experience is that engaging with
education can be ‘demanding’
Organising work experience
40%
26%
37%
46%
Staff being governors
Job shadowing
37%
31%
Staff giving CV feedback or mock interviews
31%
37%
31%
32%
Staff being mentors
Not very /
not at all
demanding
31%
34%
Workplace visits
Staff taking part in enterprise competitions
27%
Staff being reading or number partners
26%
42%
22%
Staff going to schools to talk about work
0%
14
Very /
quite
demanding
20%
Base: Those with experience of each varied from a high of 241 to a low of 53.
40%
50%
46%
60%
80% 100%
Taking action
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What should be done to help engagement with
education …?
“Improve career guidance in
schools, help young people
understand what is required in
the workplace through courses
at school, involve employers in
relevant work related courses,
make work placements for
certain career choices
compulsory, encourage
courses which would help to
plug skills gaps.”
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“There does not appear to be a cohesive
policy to tackle the problem of young
people being ready for the workplace,
e.g. the right subjects at school, involving
SMALL employers to talk about the
workplace. Not Banks and other
monolithic organisations.”
“Better education around work realities,
financial awareness, life skills etc. could
be provided for young people to bridge
the gap between school/college and
work.”
Actions
1. Raise role and HR professionals and employers can play in
supporting young people from education to the workplace
2. Access routes into employers
3. Culture change and buy-in among line managers
4. Turning ‘risk’ of young person’s employment into an ‘investment’
5. Engaging with schools
6. Joined up support and incentives for employers
7. Better careers advice and guidance for alternatives to HE
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