Young employees ’not equipped for business’

Top UK businesses believe young employees need to bridge the business skills gap before entering the workplace, according to a new survey

Many young employees come to the workplace with few business skills, too much text book theory and too high an estimation of their abilities-all at a significant cost to business. These are the key findings of a new survey commissioned by Young Enterprise, the UKís largest business and enterprise education charity, and carried out among HR Directors of UK companies.

As graduates and school leavers rush to complete job applications this summer, the survey identifies a number of skills gaps among the intake of employees under the age of 22, which impact on companiesí annual training budgets:

68% respondents believe that many young employees are not equipped for business

Over three quarters (76%) believe that young employees can often have a higher estimation of their abilities than is the reality

63% believe that too much emphasis is placed on theory at school and university

58% believe that young employees have not been trained to think laterally

84% recommend that young people gain more experience of the business world while at school or college and 70% recommend supplementing coursework with business training.

In terms of specific skills gaps, businesses went on to identify the three key areas for concern: project management (50%) financial skills (45%) and leadership (49%). Over one third (35%) of respondents also believed that time management skills are lacking, while one third cited poor presentation and reporting skills.

The fact that businesses have identified these gaps is not necessarily reflected in their training spend. Only 17% of respondents say that project management training is undertaken in a young employeeís first year, 23% cite financial skills training, and 26% focus on leadership training. In contrast, two thirds (60%) of respondents say that team work training will be scheduled in a young employerís first year, but only 11% cite this as a skills gap.

Michael Savory, Chief Executive of Young Enterprise says ìTeam working is a required skill from day one of a young personís employment and one that our Summer Schools for 14-16 year olds are focusing on. Young Enterprise is able to offer students essential enterprise experience in the summer holidays as well as in term timeî.

The survey goes on to highlight key business attribute gaps which can affect the performance of young employees: While nearly half (48%) respondents say that their young workforce do not shy away from competing, 43% say that young employees lack entrepreneurial flair, 36% say that they cannot deal with criticism and 33% say that they cannot deal with setbacks.

Commenting on the findings, leading business entrepreneur Sir Alan Sugar comments: We live in a fast moving world and the earlier that young people grasp the essential skills for business, the better. Initiatives such as Young Enterprise summer schools can play an important role in this, and business should focus more attention on supporting them.

Andy Powell, Chief Executive of Edge, an independent education foundation dedicated to promoting practical and vocational learning, adds: One of the main drivers behind our support for Young Enterprise is our belief in learning by doing, and the practical development of skills through programmes like the Enterprise Summer Schools initiative. It is only through learning by doing that people truly find out for themselves what they are good at and what they want to do in life, whilst gaining all those skills and abilities that have been highlighted through this survey as currently lacking in young people as they enter the world of work.

Michael Savory, Chief Executive, Young Enterprise, concludes: ìEach year, training young people in key business skills costs British Business between 600 and 700 per employee, and delays the usefulness of that employee to them. Young Enterprise Pilot Summer Schools, which are running in 23 locations this Summer, provide one innovative solution to this. By supporting business education programmes such as Enterprise Summer Schools, businesses can help more young people develop key business skills from an earlier age, and have them better equipped to contribute on appointment.î