Maryanne Matthews, Chief Executive of the EY Foundation, comments on House of Lords Social Mobility Committee report: Overlooked and left behind: improving the transition from school to work for the majority of young people.

As the House of Lords Social Mobility Committee report highlights – we are facing a two-sided problem in the UK today. Young people from low income households aren’t getting access to the work experience and skills training they need to transition into jobs and successful careers. And employers – many of whom have recruitment challenges – are missing out on the opportunity to work with and employ local talented young people, because they are not recruiting from disadvantaged groups. For a society to write our young people off like this is socially and economically wasteful.” 

Improving the transition from school to work – employer engagement key
To improve the transition from school to work for all young people, it is important to increase the supply of business engagement and unlock the potential in a large number of employers (including SMEs, charities and social enterprises) that don’t actively support young people with preparing for work. Employers can no longer afford to view their activities with schools and young people as just ‘the right thing to do’ or part of their social responsibility strategy – this approach needs to be reconsidered. Instead talent and HR teams need to collaborate with corporate responsibility teams on a shared agenda where activities with young people and schools support business needs and encourage more resources and sustainability, in turn driving social mobility. 

“Having employers working in and with schools is key to helping young people to better prepare for the world of work. In our experience, it is clear that targeted employer engagement at the right moment in a young person’s life can be transformational. It’s not just about getting young people work-ready and fit for the economy of today and tomorrow but also demonstrate that many young people are already work-ready, they just need a chance to shine. Business needs to be more open minded about recruiting more diverse talent. Reviewing recruitment policy and being more open-minded towards people from disadvantaged backgrounds makes strong financial sense – whatever the size of your business. I also believe it will prove fundamental to Britain’s further economic growth – helping plug the UK’s skills gap and strengthen business. 

It’s a social and economic imperative that employers collaborate together to help transform lives. Every young person deserves a great start to their working lives and UK employers have an active role to play in determining that.” EY Foundation and EY – making a step change towards social mobility. The EY Foundation is a new independent charity founded by EY in the UK which launched in July 2014 – EY is the charity’s first major corporate donor. The charity helps young people disadvantaged in the labour market to find alternative routes into employment, education or enterprise. Maryanne believes that one solution to reducing youth unemployment and decreasing the UK’s skills gap is for employers to open their doors and offer paid work experience opportunities and employment to disadvantaged young people. This is precisely what the Foundation does through its programmes, Our Future and Smart Futures: on which it collaborates with a growing number of like-minded organisations – including EY – who are willing to take a chance on young people. EY is a Social Mobility Champion committed to outreach work to accelerate social mobility through taking direct action and facilitating other organisations (including other employers) to take action. 

For example, EY is a founding member of Access Accountancy, a group that has come together to launch a social mobility drive to provide equal opportunities and fair access to all in the accountancy profession. And in August 2015 EY transformed its recruitment selection process by removing academic qualifications from its entry criteria for the 2016 graduate, undergraduate and school leaver programmes: instead using a new and enhanced suite of online strengths assessments and numerical tests to assess the potential of applicants for 2016.