Meet the UK’s best employers of young people

WE NAME 14 PIONEERING FIRMS YOUNG PEOPLE SHOULD APPLY TO

Young people looking to start their career with an apprenticeship, internship, school leaver programme, graduate programme or other entry-level job have been urged to look for our new badge to confirm that the firm they are considering is a member of the Good + Fair Employers Club.

To be sure that they’ll definitely receive a reply (no more tumbleweed!) and that the company is properly committed to hiring young people from all backgrounds, young job seekers should check that the company’s logo appears on this list:

The Good + Fair Employers Club is the new name for the Graduate Fog Employers Club, which was founded in March 2018. The tagline – The UK’s best firms for young people – is also new. How do we know that these are the ‘best’ employers? Because, uniquely, the Good + Fair Employers Club is the only Club that asks employers to pass a test before they can join (Yes, you read correctly. Standards matter!). Prospective Club Members must answer ‘Yes’ to the following:

FAIR PAY

Does your organisation pay all staff at least the National Minimum Wage / National Living Wage (including interns, if applicable)?

If staff require training, do they receive their full salary during this period?

FAIR ACCESS

Do you advertise all your vacancies publicly, and make efforts to ensure they are seen by as broad an audience as possible?

When recruiting graduates, do you consider those from a wide range of universities?

Are you making active efforts to improve diversity and inclusion within our workforce, including ethnic and social diversity?

FAIR PROCESS

Do you reply to every application you receive?

Do you fund travel expenses for applicants who ask for financial help in order to attend interviews or assessment days?

Why change the name of the Club? Founder Tanya de Grunwald – who has been running the campaigning careers website Graduate Fog since 2010, and is best known for calling out bad practice among employers such as Poundland, Capita, Arcadia, Simon Cowell, Vivienne Westwood and Tony Blair – said:

“Initially, our launch name made sense as the Club comes from the team that runs the campaigning careers website Graduate Fog. However, we quickly realised there was room to expand the Club’s remit in line with demand from our Members, who were keen to extend discussions beyond just graduates, and instead to include apprentices, school leavers and undergraduates. In response to that, our events are now themed around issues (not segmented groups) which impact early careers overall, such as diversity and inclusion, fair access, retention, organisational culture and mental health.

“We are proud to have built a vibrant and thriving community of the UK’s best employers of young people, and our Club Members’ shared commitment to be ‘good and fair’ to them forms the beating heart of the Club. Essentially, our new name – the Good + Fair Employers Club – is simply catching up with what our fantastic Members have already shaped the Club to become.”

As well as checking that the firm they’re considering meets the mark, young job seekers can even discover the order in which the Club’s Members joined. As de Grunwald explained:

“We genuinely want to reward true champions. We recognise that big brands must be careful about making bold statements, and where there name and logo appear, so we salute the firms who have been brave enough to  say: ‘This Club sounds great – count us in.’

“Additionally, we’ve found that keeping a list of Members creates a playful edge of competition, with firms vying to be the first in their sector to join the Club!”

To see the order in which these pioneering firms joined the Club, just click the logo below. (Warning: the list will surprise you!)

So, the big question… Have we turned down any firms that don’t quite hit the mark? Yes – but we won’t reveal who they are! This is because all have gone away to work on improving their hiring processes – so that we can re-start the discussion about them joining the Club once they answer ‘Yes’ to every question on the list.

That’s right – some of the UK’s biggest firms are actually changing the way they hire, so that they can join our Club.

(To their credit, all have welcomed this as a useful benchmarking / housekeeping opportunity for them to make sure they’re getting the basics right.)

This is just one of the ways that the Good and Fair Employers Club is already making a difference to the lives of young job seekers. We’re also bringing together all our Club Members four times a year, to share their experiences and find solutions to common problems, to help make everyone’s recruitment processes even better. And we’re just warming up. Stick around in the coming months to witness many more ways that our Club will benefit young job seekers…