Youthful Insights: Sustainability and the future world of work
At Hopscotch, we know the importance of brands addressing issues that matter to young people. They are the future workforce, customers and leaders, and what they care about has to influence how organisations define their business drivers and social impact ambitions.
It’s not news that sustainability and climate change concerns are on the rise - when asked to choose their biggest fears, climate change comes out as number one for global Gen Z, with 56% feeling personally at risk over the next five years. The recent ‘Green skills in education and employment’ briefing highlighted the importance of upskilling the future UK workforce to address green skills shortages and increasing awareness of green skills and career paths in the sustainability sector.
As a social impact agency, our work puts us at the intersection of supporting brands meet their net zero ambitions and ensuring they have a stable future talent pipeline, with young people inspired and skilled to fill the increasing number of ‘green’ jobs. As part of our audience-led approach, we wanted to find out more about what young people really think about sustainability issues and how this influences their choices and attitudes towards careers.
This month, our Youth Insight Panel, a curated selection of young people with diverse experiences and backgrounds from across the UK, joined forces with Youth Leads UK, an award-winning youth voice charity, to ensure we’re enabling clients to put young people’s voices front and centre.
Here are some of the highlights:
Young people recognised positive sustainability steps from government such as investment in renewable energy and efforts to reduce plastic waste, but felt that they didn’t always understand the progress and impact these were having
There was consensus that more forceful and direct approaches were needed from big businesses to drive meaningful change
Career decisions were often based on the wider reputation and workplace culture of an organisation rather than just sustainability credentials
Perceptions of green jobs reflected wider societal awareness – there was an assumption that green skills related to jobs that directly address environmental concerns rather than being applicable universally to the future workplace. For many young people, this was the first time they had heard the terms green skills or green jobs here
There were many examples of the ways young people take small steps to lead more sustainable lifestyles – from diet and transport choices, to recycling and responsible consumerism – but ultimately they felt that their individual actions must be augmented by bigger actions from government and business
Read the full newsletter here to hear directly from young people on what sustainability means to their lives and career decisions.
Hopscotch helps organisations define, create and measure their social impact, then share it with the world. Key to this is our commitment to co-create programmes and campaigns with those who have lived experience of the issues we cover. Our passionate Youth Insight Panel provide a voice for their peers across the UK, helping our clients generate ideas and provide iterative feedback. If you’d like to know more about delivering audience-led social impact, let’s chat.
