For thousands of young people, today marks the start of a new chapter. For employers, it is a reminder of the role they can play in making that chapter a positive one.
For many young people across the UK, today is a day of anticipation, celebration and uncertainty as A-level and T-level results are released.
For those heading to university, it marks the next stage of education. For others, it may be the beginning of an apprenticeship, training or their first job.
But what happens when the transition from education to work doesn’t happen?
The scale of the UK’s youth employment challenge has become increasingly difficult to ignore. The Rt. Hon. Alan Milburn’s Young People and Work interim report published this week (10th August) found that nearly one million young people aged 16 to 24 in the United Kingdom are not in education, employment or training (NEET). Shockingly, 6 in 10 young people who are NEET today have never had a job, up from 4 in 10 in 2005.
The report makes clear that NEET is not a single group with a single problem. It includes young people with health conditions or disabilities, young parents, care leavers and others facing significant barriers, as well as those temporarily between education or training. It also explicitly says that the problem is a whole-system issue, requiring employers, education, health, welfare and other organisations to work together.
A-level results day is a moment to think not only about opening the door to employment, but about what happens once young people walk through it.
The transition into work is a health and wellbeing issue too
The first experience someone has of working life can shape their confidence, sense of belonging and expectations of what a healthy workplace looks like.
That makes the transition into employment an important part of the Healthy Working Lifecycle: thinking about health and wellbeing not only when someone becomes unwell, but proactively at different stages of their working life.
For a young person entering their first workplace, that means getting the basics right – from supportive management and psychological safety to clear expectations, meaningful work and an environment where asking for help is not seen as a weakness.
It also means recognising that young people do not all arrive at work with the same networks, confidence or understanding of how organisations operate.
Who believed in you?
That is the thinking behind Circl’s #WhoBelievedInYou campaign, launched today to coincide with A-level results day.
The campaign asks business leaders to reflect on the people who gave them confidence and opened doors early in their own careers – and then to consider how they can play that role for someone else.
The stories shared by senior leaders from organisations including eBay UK, NatWest Group and Zoopla highlight something that is easy to overlook in discussions about employability: talent is not always obvious from a CV or interview. Sometimes it needs someone to recognise potential before the individual can see it themselves.
For employers, that could mean investing in mentoring, coaching, work experience, apprenticeships or partnerships with schools, colleges and community organisations.
It could also mean examining recruitment processes themselves.
If employers genuinely want to tackle the NEET challenge, they need to ask whether their definition of “work-ready” inadvertently excludes the very people they are trying to reach.
Make the first payslip part of the wellbeing conversation
There is another opportunity when young people enter work: helping them establish healthy financial habits from the outset.
People’s Pension is using A-level results day to highlight the importance of engaging young employees with workplace pensions early in their careers.
Retirement may seem impossibly distant at 18, but understanding how employer contributions and tax relief work can help make pension saving more tangible.
More broadly, employers have an opportunity to make financial wellbeing part of onboarding rather than waiting until employees experience financial difficulty.
The same principle applies to wider health and wellbeing support: don’t assume that young employees know what is available or how to access it.
What can employers do?
Tackling youth inactivity is clearly not something employers can solve alone. The Milburn Review itself takes a broad view of the interaction between health, education, skills, welfare and employment systems.
But employers are an important part of the solution.
Practical steps could include:
- Create more routes into work through apprenticeships, paid work experience, entry-level roles and return-to-work pathways.
- Broaden recruitment criteria to identify potential, rather than relying too heavily on previous experience or polished interview performance.
- Invest in mentoring and coaching, particularly for young people without established professional networks.
- Build health and wellbeing into onboarding, making support, expectations and routes to help clear from day one.
- Give young managers the skills to support younger colleagues, including recognising signs that someone may be struggling.
- Make financial wellbeing tangible, explaining pensions, pay, benefits and financial support in language that is relevant to someone starting their working life.
- Work with schools, colleges and community organisations to create stronger bridges between education and employment.
Ultimately, the NEET challenge is about much more than getting young people through the door.
It is about whether we can create workplaces where they can enter, belong, develop and thrive.
Today, as thousands of young people take their next step, is a good moment for employers to think about what that first step looks like from the other side – and whether their organisation is ready to be the place where a young person can discover what they are capable of.
Because, as the #WhoBelievedInYou campaign reminds us, sometimes the difference between potential being realised and potential being lost is simply whether someone believes in it – and gives it a chance.
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