N E W S
11
www.engineeringnews.co.nz
Partnering up for the youth
of tomorrow
At just 25, Jack Parsons, the British
entrepreneur, has established his own
organisation, The Youth Group, which
works with 1.7 million young people and
1,500 ambassadors, along with more
than 200 employers / companies across
the UK, to help people aged 18 to 30
transition into fulfilling, productive and
financially rewarding work lives.
Ben Towers is cut from the same cloth
– an award-winning young UK entrepreneur
Global youth leaders launch Youth Ready Employer Programme
who is just 21 and started in
business aged 11. Having successfully
exited his marketing agency, Ben now
invests in disruptive start-ups, keynotes
to some of the world’s most influential
audiences and works actively with organisations
(for profit and not) which
are interested in joining his mission to
change the health outcomes of his generation.
Now, as the result of an established
partnership with the Auckland Business
Chamber and the Ministry of Social
Development, Jack and Ben are in New
Zealand for a fortnight of key advisory
work that will culminate in the launch of
the Youth Ready Employer Programme,
a step-by-step programme which
shows employers how to bring young
people into the workforce and make
them confident and productive workers.
In New Zealand, the youth category
known as NEETS (young people Not in
Education, Employment or Training) has
been concerning for many years; in the
December 2019 quarter, the seasonally
adjusted proportion of people aged
15–24 years who were not in employment,
education, or training rose to 11.6
percent, up 0.9 percentage points from
10.7 percent last quarter, according to
Statistics New Zealand.
The Youth Ready Employer Programme
is explicitly designed to help this cohort,
along with others aged up to 30,
transition into work and often away
from benefit dependency and hardship.
The programme includes a number of
downloadable resources that will help
employers understand, connect, recruit,
develop and retain young people
along with templates from how to write
a youth-first job description to building
habits for wellbeing and mental health
for young people in the workplace as an
employer.
Jack Parsons says, “The Youth Group’s
mission is extremely simple; we believe
every young person should have the
chance to ‘make it’ in whatever they
want to do in life. Through this collaboration
with key New Zealand agencies
we expect this programme will help
move the needle in creating opportunities
for young people and employers.
“All developed countries are struggling
to some extent with how to transition
youth into work in the modern, increasingly
gig-dominated economy, and how
to overcome issues of mental health,
loneliness and isolation, social and economic
disadvantage and other factors
which can be serious obstacles to productive
work. It’s in the interests of any
local or national economy and all communities
to give companies best-practice
tools to overcome the everyday
barriers which block young people from
accessing employment opportunities.”
In the UK, one of over 200 partner organisations
The Youth Group is working
with is the global accounting firm
EY (formerly known as Ernst & Young),
which as a leading corporate struggled
to identify how to engage with potential
employees who had not emerged
through the usual university channels.
The Youth Group observed a number of
barriers to access, including the cost of
travel to job interviews, and helped EY
stage pop-up interviews where recruiters
would travel to potential employees
and do five to 10 interviews in each location.
The Minister for Employment, Hon Willie
Jackson, says this initiative will support
the Government’s employment strategy
to grow productive, supportive and
inclusive workplaces. “The Ministry of
Social Development is very focused on
working with New Zealand employers
and anticipating the tools and resources
they will need to engage successfully
with young people. We’re bringing some
different thinking and making it easy for
employers to effectively engage with
a younger workforce and create work
environments that make them want to
stay.”
Auckland Business Chamber is a key
sponsor of the programme and will be
making all resources available to employers
on its website. Ceo Michael Barnett
says, “With the surge in young people
entering the workforce there needs
to be an attitude and behaviour change
among employers as to how they approach
employing and retaining youth.
The Youth Ready Employer Programme
has easy to follow resources that will
help employers be the best they can be
for each young person that walks into
their business.”
Rockwell
Automation
strengthens
control and
visualisation
portfolio
Rockwell Automation, Inc, has
announced it has signed an
agreement to acquire Italy-based
ASEM, S.p.A., a leading provider
of digital automation technologies.
ASEM provides a complete
range of Industrial PCs (IPCs),
Human-Machine Interface (HMI)
hardware and sofware, remote
access capabilities, and secure
Industrial IoT gateway solutions.
ASEM’s high-performance
automation solutions enable
‘The Connected Enterprise’ with
smarter technology, enhanced
productivity, and a more secure
environment by integrating smart
devices, the control platform, and
design and operational software
all on a single network.
“ASEM’s strength in the IPC
market and expertise in HMI
will further expand our control
& visualisation hardware and
software portfolio and enhance
our ability to deliver high-performance,
integrated automation
solutions. ASEM’s products will
provide our customers with a
high degree of configurability for
their industrial computing needs
through innovative hardware
and software that allows them
to achieve faster time to market,
lower their cost of ownership,
improve asset utilisation, and
better manage enterprise risk,”
says Fran Wlodarczyk, senior
vice president, architecture and
software at Rockwell Automation.
“ASEM has a leading market
position in Italy and has a brand
that is synonymous with quality.
We are delighted to have the
opportunity to leverage our
pioneering expertise in the design
and production of Industrial
PCs and industrial software to
broaden Rockwell Automation’s
control & visualization offering
and accelerate the digital transformation
of our customers,” says
ASEM founder, president, and ceo
Renzo Guerra.
The transaction includes the
purchase of a minority interest
in ASEM held by KEB Group,
Germany. Post-close, Rockwell
Automation will maintain ASEM’s
strategic supplier and technology
partner relationship with KEB.
The transaction is expected to
close in the spring (US time)
of 2020, subject to customary
approvals and conditions, and will
be reported in the architecture
and software business segment.
SIGN UP
FOR
YOUR FREE
eMag
ENGINEERINGNEWS.CO.NZ/SUBS
/www.engineeringnews.co.nz