PRESS RELEASE: embargoed Mon 31 March
BUSINESS SAYS IT'S NOT MAKING THE GRADE ON YOUTH EMPLOYMENT
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 Young people in Britain don’t believe they’re benefitting from economic recovery
Fear their career prospects are worse than their parents and want more time with business
people
Most young people in Britain don’t think the economic recovery will improve their chances of finding a
job and want the business community to do more to support them, according to research undertaken
by the charity Business in the Community (BITC) to mark the start of Responsible Business Week in
partnership with Veolia Environnement.
Just 1% of the businesses surveyed by Business in the Community say they’re doing all they can to
support the career prospects of young people seeking employment – and the charity is today calling
on the other 99% of businesses to ensure that young people are not left behind by the economic
recovery by better engaging them at every stage on their journey from school to employment.
Despite a decline in unemployment for other age groups, the rate remains high for young people at
19.8%, meaning over 900,000 16-24 year olds are out of work. A majority (62%) of 16-24 year olds
said that they’re not confident economic recovery will benefit them, with just 7% very confident about
their career prospects. A similar number of young people (61%) feel that they face worse career
prospects than their parents did at their age.
Only 8% of young people think that businesses are doing all they can to support the job prospects of
young people seeking employment, with the majority (56%) thinking that they’re doing too little or
nothing to support their employment.
The findings are echoed by the business community, who accept that they aren’t lending enough
support to young people – with the majority (3 in 5) saying they could do much more.
Other key findings include:
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Most young job seekers (51%) say that they’ve received less than one hours’ contact time
from business, suggesting that that despite best intentions, most businesses simply aren’t
effective at reaching young people.
3 in 4 (77%) businesses say they engage young people prior to them entering the workforce
through work experience, yet less than 2 in 5 (37%) 16-24 year olds say they have actually
benefitted from this type of work placement.
Businesses find it difficult to engage with young people in school, citing barriers such as
difficulty in establishing a relationship with the right contact within the school, time pressure
on teachers and a lack of structure.
Not all businesses struggle to support and enhance young people’s employability. Two fifths (39%) of
young people say that the retail sector is particularly good at engaging them, a view shared by 36% of
businesses.
Responsible Business Week, which runs from 31 March to 4 April 2014 in partnership with Veolia
Environnement, aims to inspire and equip businesses to do more to meet the world’s most pressing
challenges. One of the central themes for this year’s Responsible Business Week is youth
employment, and the role that businesses can play to support young people’s employability.
Commenting, Stephen Howard, Chief Executive of Business in the Community said:
“Businesses recognise that they’ve got a leading role to play in supporting young people’s career
prospects, but our research shows that there is a substantial gap between the support businesses
offer, and what young people feel they receive.
“We know from the 200 committed businesses supporting 50,000 young people in 350 schools
around the country through our Business Class schools programme, that business has an appetite
and potential to make a real impact. Indeed, young adults who had experienced four or more
employer contacts are five times less likely to be out of work or employment than those who had no
engagement with business.
“This Responsible Business Week, we’re urging businesses to fulfil this potential, by doing more to
lean into the challenge and ensure the economic recovery is inclusive for all young job seekers.”
Estelle Brachlianoff, Executive Vice President for Veolia Environnement UK and Northern
Europe said: “There’s no better way of getting experience than doing the job first hand. As an
environmental solutions provider we employ hundreds of apprentices across our business and our
role is to harness their ability and then train, mentor, encourage and develop these young people.
“This Responsible Business Week we’re going to be meeting with young adults to understand the
challenges they face to see if we can help overcome them together. We’re bridging the gap to help
ensure school leavers will be ready for business!”
Business in the Community is calling on businesses of all sizes to provide meaningful support to
young people from school to employment
During Responsible Business Week, the charity is bringing together head teachers, schools, pupils
and businesses from around the UK along with representatives from Ofsted, Teach First, and
influencers from business and government (including John Cridland, Director General of the CBI and
Lord Nash Under Secretary of State for Schools) for an all-day Business Class Education Symposium
on Thursday 3 April in London.
The Business Class Education Symposium will see 200 school and business delegates explore how
business can more effectively work with schools to support young people, and Business in the
Community will be launching new guidance to help businesses provide more effective careers support
for young people.
The charity offers a wide range of tools which help employers to:
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Deliver meaningful work experience – Work Inspiration aims to support businesses in making
work experience more inspiring and meaningful.
Form long term partnerships with schools – Business Class offers three-year structured
partnerships with schools brokered by Business in the Community.
Ensure job vacancies reach all young unemployed people – Generation Talent is a joint initiative
with the Department for Work and Pensions to help businesses recruit more unemployed young
people through Jobcentre Plus.
The entire suite of support is available online, at http://www.bitc.org.uk/youth-unemployment
Case study 1: Veolia Environnement – Back to business: Veolia Environnement’s Back to
Business scheme has been driving forward its approach to developing apprentices for school leavers.
Veolia now has more than 350 apprentices across its business, helping them to learn on the job and
gain the vocational qualifications they need to perform a variety of skilled roles - everything from
mechanical engineering and HGV driving to customer service and horticulture. Veolia is also part of
Business in the Community’s Business Class programme, partnered with schools up and down the
country to provide coaching, mentoring and work experience opportunities for students to increase
their career prospects.
Case study 2: Whitbread Investing in Skills and Employment (WISE): Whitbread Hotels and
Restaurants’ WISE initiative is a great example of a best practice model for supporting employability
and skills among young people. The company is part of the Business in the Community Generation
Talent Group, and this project aims to promote the hospitality sector as a meaningful career path and
provide work experience placements for young unemployed people. The programme boasts an 80%
internal succession rate, and is committed to widening access to career opportunities.
Case study 3: Jaguar Land Rover – Inspiring Tomorrow’s Engineers: Inspiring Tomorrow’s
Engineers addresses the shortage of skilled engineers in the UK – a major barrier to growth in
advanced manufacturing – by promoting science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM)
subjects in schools. Jaguar Land Rover develops long-term partnerships with schools - each site is
partnered with at least one school, and it has six education business partnership centres at its plants
for young people to visit. To date, the programme has promoted STEM skills to two million young
people. Through the programme Jaguar Land Rover is creating a skilled future workforce, motivating
employees, boosting productivity and reducing absence – key business benefits with a value of at
least £700,000.
ENDS
NOTES TO EDITORS
Source info: Business in the Community research based on an online survey conducted on
Springboard UK against a sample of 503 16-24 year old British residents, plus a separate survey of
102 businesses. Fieldwork took place 7th – 24th March 2014.
Further information:
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Although 56% of businesses offer face to face guidance on understanding the range of careers
available, only 1 in 5 (18%) of 16-24 year olds say they have received any.
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Furthermore, 45% of businesses say they offer help and advice on interview techniques, while
just 17% of young people receiving such support.
FOR MORE INFORMATION AND INTERVIEWS
Ross Gill, Fishburn
ross.gill@thisisfishburn.com
Ochuko Adekoya, BITC
Ochuko.Adekoya@bitc.org.uk
020 7544 2234
020 7566 8650
About Business in the Community
Business in the Community is a business-led charity committed to shaping a new contract between business and
society.
We have over 30 years’ experience forging better relationships between business and society, driven by a unique
collaboration of business leaders. We stimulate action by challenging and supporting thousands of businesses to
create a fairer society and a more sustainable future - through our local, national and international campaigns.
Business in the Community is one of The Prince’s Charities, a group of not-for-profit organisations of which The
Prince of Wales is president. www.bitc.org.uk
About Responsible Business Week
Responsible Business Week aims to inspire and equip businesses to do more to meet the world’s most pressing
challenges. In doing so, they will unlock innovation and opportunity and demonstrate the positive impact of
business in society.
The week brings together businesses, innovators and contributors from around the world through events,
debates and online activity. It enables businesses to explore new possibilities for collaboration and develop the
bold new ideas, practical action and behaviours necessary to build a fairer society and a more sustainable,
prosperous future.
Responsible Business Week is convened by Business in the Community in partnership with Veolia
Environnement and Telegraph Media Group with support from, EDF Energy, Goldman Sachs, Nationwide, PwC,
Santander, Tata and Waitrose. www.responsiblebusinessweek.org
About Veolia Environnement
Veolia Environnement (Paris Euronext: VIE and NYSE: VE) is the worldwide reference in
environmental solutions. With over 200,000 employees*, the company has operations all around the
world and provides tailored solutions to meet the needs of municipal and industrial customers in three
complementary segments: water management, waste management and energy management. Veolia
Environnement recorded revenue of €22.3 billion* in 2013. (*) Excluding Transdev employees and
revenues currently under divestment
Further information can be obtained by visiting the websites:
www.veolia.co.uk
www.veoliaenvironnement.com