
Design
When offering young people experiences of the workplace it’s important to have all the key documents, policies and procedures that need to be in place.
We’ve done the groundwork for you and collated a range of useful information which will help you to provide invaluable experiences of the workplace.
How will you deliver workplace experiences?
Are you thinking about virtual work experience, face to face or a blended mix of both? If you’re opting for online work experience, you will need to think about whether you would like to carry this out live, pre-recorded or offer a mixture.
To include an activity under Benchmark 6, it must meet the following minimum requirements. Use these requirements as best practice guidelines:
- Learning outcomes are defined, based on the age and needs of students.
- Student meets a range of people from the workplace.
- There is extensive two-way interaction between the student and employees.
- Student must perform a task or produce a piece of work relevant to that workplace and receive feedback on it from the employer.
Employers are telling us that young people engage well in online activities and the quality of engagement has in some cases been higher than in face-to-face settings.
– The Careers & Enterprise Company
Engaging your Organisation
Consider ways to align your workplaces experience with your wider organisational culture and priorities. This will help to shape job descriptions and the resources below provide good examples of employers using this in practice.
Recruit volunteers to support the activities you are designing. Engage them early to ensure you have the resources you need, for example you will need to prepare someone to oversee the induction and delivery of the work experience.
Ensure your employees understand what is required of them and bear in mind that they may need someone to help with their own workload if you’re planning a comprehensive programme.
See some excellent examples of other organisations’ programmes for ideas below.

Resources
Safeguarding
The NSPCC is there to help with safeguarding and child protection.
They offer online training courses to help stay safe online and also have a consultancy service for any extra support and guidance you may need.
Ultimately safeguarding responsibility lies with the school or college, however employers should be aware of the requirements and always consider safeguarding when planning.
Read more about the steps you should take to ensure you are taking the required steps when working with young people.
Basic safeguarding principles apply whether working face to face or virtually.
– EngineeringUK Virtual Work Experience Working Group
Resources


Virtual Work Experience resources
Coca-Cola EuropeanPacific
Get inspired! Explore Coca-Cola’s interactive virtual work experience programme. This microsite is the tool to be used by young people so they can experience a variety of roles and take several challenges across the business.