Transforming Work Experience into Work Inspiration - The Business Benefits

An evaluation of Work Inspiration one year on

Background

With youth unemployment continuing to trouble many countries, young people the world over are increasingly being encouraged to take advantage of every opportunity presented to them to develop their employability skills or risk being left behind.

Work experience can be an essential first step in engaging young people in the world of work.  At a time when many people assumed businesses would be cutting back on their commitment to training and to community and education partnerships, and at the height of the recession in September 2009, UK employer members of Business in the Community launched the Work Inspiration campaign.

The Project

In the second year of the Campaign, the City & Guilds Centre for Skills Development carried out an independent evaluation of Work Inspiration. The evaluation, based on a literature review, survey and series of case studies of employers, identified significant benefits of inspiring work experience, to students and, crucially, to businesses as well.

Key Messages

The business benefits identified in this evaluation centre on:

• Greater employee development and engagement
• Increased diversity and talent
• Improved business development
• More effective community engagement

Next Steps

The evaluation also identifies areas for the Work Inspiration campaign to focus on as it progresses towards becoming the standard for work experience in the UK.

For employers, the report also offers a set of ‘Top Tips’ for delivering inspiring work experience, based on the lessons learned by current Work Inspiration employers.

Both CSD and BITC will continue to work to ensure that the key findings and recommendations from this evaluation are built upon, in partnership with employers across the country.

 

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