A stark new business survey has exposed a critical barrier preventing school pupils from gaining vital workplace exposure, with companies identifying significant operational hurdles.
Time and Resource Constraints Hinder Placements
Two in five companies (41%) that don't provide work experience placements blame excessive time demands involved in the process, according to research from The Careers & Enterprise Company (CEC). The comprehensive study surveyed 750 senior business leaders across Britain.
Beyond time constraints, a third of businesses (33%) reported insufficient staff capacity to properly supervise young people. Meanwhile, 34% struggled to identify suitable tasks that would constitute meaningful experience for students.
Among all companies surveyed, just over half (52%) currently offer any form of work experience to school-aged children. Furthermore, more than half (58%) specifically identified the traditional two-week block placement as overly demanding on their operations.
Government Ambition Meets Business Reality
This research emerges against the backdrop of the government's post-16 education and skills white paper, which pledged to deliver at least two weeks of work experience for every secondary school student.
The government's strategy involves splitting this requirement into two separate weeks: one during years seven to nine and another during years 10 to 11. This commitment faces challenges as the Office for National Statistics recently reported that nearly a million young people (946,000) were not in employment, education or training between July and September.
Skills England deputy chief executive officer Gemma Marsh emphasised the importance of these opportunities at a recent CEC event, stating: "Work experience is absolutely fundamental to ensuring that young people have that line of sight to where they need to get to."
Call for Flexible Solutions
The CEC is advocating for a fundamental shift away from traditional extended placements toward shorter, more flexible work experience models. This approach would still fulfil the weeks' worth of experience required in both lower and upper school years but in a more manageable format for businesses.
Three quarters of businesses (75%) said simplifying collaboration with schools would make them more likely to offer placements. The proposed flexible model would prioritise students who currently miss out and provide targeted support, while starting earlier to expose children to diverse industries.
Baroness Nicky Morgan, former Conservative education secretary and CEC chairwoman, explained: "This is very much a new attempt to break away from two-week block work experiences that for too long been found to be inflexible, impractical, and out of reach for many students and employers."
Ellis Potter, head of apprenticeships and careers at The Priory Federation of Academies Trust, highlighted the mutual benefit: "We can only deliver this if more employers get involved. When businesses open their doors, our students gain a clearer sense of what work really looks like and leave school even more prepared for their future pathways."
However, Paul Whiteman, general secretary at school leaders' union NAHT, sounded a note of caution: "School leaders recognise that work experience and high-quality careers advice are vital in helping young people plan for their future. However, simply expecting schools to deliver work experience, without considering some of the systemic barriers, including the capacity and buy-in of businesses across the country, could leave the promise of universal work experience out of reach."
The survey also revealed that more than two in three businesses (68%) believe entry-level candidates arrive underprepared for the world of work, underscoring the urgent need for effective solutions to bridge the gap between education and employment.
