Three in four (72%) of employers have seen a shift in young people\u2019s (16-24-year olds) values and priorities in the workplace in the past three years, with over half (51%) attributing this to lack of work experience due to the pandemic, a new survey has found.<\/p>\n
The survey, from The Open University, revealed that nearly half of employers (46%) are not only struggling to recruit young people into the workplace, but are also struggling to retain them in their organisation, too (53%).<\/p>\n
With over half (54%) of organisations not having any specific initiatives, skills programmes or workplace adjustments in place for specific talent pools including employees under 25, this adds a further strain to the ongoing skills gap.<\/p>\n
Over half (58%) of organisation leaders surveyed, report a mismatch between young people\u2019s skill levels and employer expectations in the past three years.<\/p>\n
A decline in soft skills (54%), such as communication, teamwork, time management and technical skills (55%) amongst young people, suggests there is a need for more investment in preparing this generation for the workplace, which accounts for 20% of the current workforce.<\/p>\n
Organisational leaders attribute the mismatch between young people\u2019s skills and employer expectations to a lack of work experience due to the pandemic (51%), lack of social and work\/study interaction due to Covid-19 (44%) and lack of opportunity to work with and learn from colleagues in a remote or hybrid work setting (31%).<\/p>\n
Employers have revealed the top five benefits young people have requested more of in the past three years, which further highlights the shift in young people\u2019s workplace priorities:<\/p>\n
With mental wellbeing being a priority for young workers, employers should look at ways they can improve overall morale. For example, the OU\u2019s report with TrainingZone – \u2018L&D\u2019s role in employee wellbeing<\/a>\u2019 – highlighted the clear link between employee wellbeing and flexible learning and development programmes.<\/p>\n This latest survey has also found that the top learning and development opportunities requested by young people in the past three years are short courses with certification (31%), mentoring or coaching (30%), informal online courses (29%), vocational qualifications (25%) and apprenticeships (24%).<\/p>\n The Open University is hosting a full-day event \u2018Elevate Equity: Harnessing Young Talent\u2019 on 22 May, which will include keynote speakers and panel discussion to understand how employers can attract, develop and grow young talent. <\/em><\/p>\n The event, hosted by presenter and journalist Ben Hunte, will offer insights from Gen-Z\u2019s career expectations and values, to ideas and practical advice on addressing the hybrid working and learning challenge and how to successfully grow and develop young talent in business. <\/em><\/p>\n