Creating Conditions for Young Adults to Thrive@Work

When JFF this past spring took a deep dive into the marketplace of employee experience technology, we found the most promising innovations to help young adults thrive at work. But our interests go beyond the capabilities of such technology. We want to know the conditions—the processes, relationships, and policies—that will allow this technology to optimally meet the goal of helping young adults thrive at work.

For JFF, this question matters because, as we work to create inclusive and equitable conditions in the labor market, we place particular emphasis on the importance of young people as a vital talent source that can bridge skill gaps, drive workplace innovation, and offer diversity that aligns with changing customer bases. We know it’s imperative to consider the needs of opportunity youth (those 16 to 24 who are disconnected from school and work) and young adults from a low-income background as we scanned the market and considered the potential of employee experience technology.

To tackle the question of optimizing the technology’s benefits, we convened an Innovation Council composed of 22 thought leaders from several sectors, including young adults. The council explored innovative ideas for creating conditions for young adults to thrive at work, and in doing so focused on ideas with the potential for high impact that perhaps have not succeeded yet or might not have been applied in an effective way. Good ideas often encounter two main challenges, scale and implementation. We therefore looked at both the way ideas are disseminated and subsequently adopted by more people and the way in which ideas are carried out.

In an article on Medium, we share the council’s five recommended strategies for helping young workers thrive on the job:

1. Make Quality Onboarding Practices Standard and Widespread
2. Create a Role Within a Network of CBOs Focused on Post-Hire Success
3. Facilitate Youth Input for Tech Startups
4. Incorporate Business Skill Development into Standardized Onboarding
5. Expand Metrics of Success for Tech Startups