An edited address by Emily Lee-Ack, EO of SWLLEN, to the Connect To Thrive Exhibition

Did you do work experience at school? What kind of workplace did you attend, and is it your current job or industry? Was your work experience the week that solidified your commitment to a career ideal, or was it scary, bewildering or worse still, boring?

There’s a lot of data out there about the importance of industry and work placements for young people, and the transformative difference they can make for career choices, confidence, academic performance and even wellbeing. 

In fact, in the last few years alone there have been over 1000 pages of published reports, exploring the ways that career advice and connections to industry make a difference in career paths for students. 

I think most of us, even without those reports, get that.

But that’s not what I want to talk about today.

Today I want to talk about why students and young people participating in your workplace should be an absolutely central priority for all businesses.

And I want to do that by talking about two of my favourite quotes from one of our region’s great innovators, Fletcher Jones. 

For anyone who didn’t have a school uniform or a skirt or a shirt made by Fletcher’s factory, you’ve probably seen the silver ball here in Warrnambool, over the factory space once occupied by the company. 

Fletcher, whose factory was central to our region’s manufacturing base and was one of the great champions of connectedness for his staff, believed a very simple truth: 

‘You can do more work, and do it better and easier, when you are enthusiastic’  – Fletcher Jones

 Fletcher, one must say, clearly never saw me draw. Or dance.

So how do we currently inspire enthusiasm? We do it by being proud of our work. We do it by sharing our own motivation and connection to the industry we work in, or the workplace we love, or the people we work with.

We do it by ensuring that we have a workplace which values the people who are in it, which motivates and inspires the people around us, a place which is a joy to come to, and a pleasure to connect with, regardless of the work. Thinking of your time in work experience, was this something you knew to be true?

How many of us spent time in workplaces where we weren’t sure the employer had time for us, or cared about their job, or felt like they were an afterthought? And how much of an impact did that then have on our future choices – of industry, career and workplace?

Currently in the Great South Coast, we have full employment, which means that we have fewer than five per cent of the labour market out of work. In practical terms, this means that everyone who wants a job, has one. But does it mean that the right people are in the right jobs? That’s harder to tell.

Anyone who employs staff knows how important the right people can be. You know what a difference it makes when you’ve got shared purpose, drive and commitment.

If you value the future of your business, you’d be an idiot not to be thinking about how that business will be staffed, how you get the people you need, and how you build a shared vision and eventually, a shared history with your staff.

When I worked for a national not for profit early in my career, I took some flack for hiring two twenty year old students who wanted to job share an administrative role. There was some grumbling about whether they were committed to the job. 

My response was pretty simple: these young women are amazing and who wouldn’t want to get in on the ground floor with people who have a brilliant future ahead of them? 

In the Great South Coast, there continue to be industry shortages in areas key to our future economic prosperity, and I regularly attend meetings where employers and employer groups are concerned about the future of participation in their industry.

We also know that people are worried about the movement of young people out of our region to pursue opportunities elsewhere, and the impact that has on the future of our region. For small communities particularly, this is a deep and ongoing concern.

There’s also a lot of pretty unhelpful rhetoric about who young people are, and their attitude to work. Of course, the reality is that critiques of young people date back to our earliest records, and ‘young people today’ has been a catch cry of ‘old people today’ since Roman times, and I’d argue probably beyond that too.

We need to change our language about this. You aren’t doing young people a favour by offering them an opportunity. You are activating succession planning, championing your industry, and contributing to a thriving community. You are getting in on the ground floor with the talent that will sustain your business and your industry into the future.

Young people are hard working, enthusiastic, committed and curious. They bring new insight to your business and help you to see it in new ways. They have a natural inclination to innovation, because they’re not burdened by ‘business as usual’. 

Working to support young people to get excited about your industry and the communities in which they live isn’t an investment in their future. It’s an investment in yours. 

By helping young people to love your industry or your business as much as you do, you’re ensuring its future survival. 

By showing young people the breadth and depth of job opportunities available to them here, you’re ensuring the future of our communities.

We need to tell young people, as Fletcher Jones told his staff every week, 

‘We’re glad you’re here’

 I’m here to ask you to be selfish, to put your business first, and to involve young people in its future because that’s the way you’ll make it great. It’s the way you’ll make it sustainable. It’s the way you set up a great industry future here, a place to be proud of, a place to call home.

So I hope you’ll join me in a workshop today to help demystify the ways you can involve young people in your work place, and feel confident about the sustainability of your business. 

Thank you