Opening your doors to students isn’t just good for young people – it’s good for your business too.

By welcoming students into your workplace, you help bridge the gap between education and employment and inspire the next generation. But it can also deliver real business returns.

Employers who offer work experience are 77% more likely to report business benefits such as a stronger talent pipeline. For those offering a wide range of experiences – such as job shadowing or T-Levels, that figure rises to 90% (The Careers & Enterprise Company. The Business Case for Work Experience: Employer Standards 2024/25).

With recent changes to work experience guidelines, where students are expected to have workplace experiences throughout their secondary school years, there are now many flexible options on what you could offer. Whether it’s a half-day visit, a hands-on project or part-time job shadowing over a number of weeks, there has never been a better time to get involved.

What you gain by offering work experience

Engaging with young people through work experience gives you the chance to showcase your sector and career pathways to the next generation. You’ll be building meaningful relationships with local schools and colleges, contributing to developing future talent in your industry and influencing curriculum relevance – helping educators understand what employers actually need.

Why this matters for your business

Access to future talent

Early engagement helps students who may never have considered your industry to see your sector as a viable career path. The students you host today could be your apprentices, graduates or employees tomorrow.

Shape the workforce

You have a direct opportunity to influence what skills young people develop – and to help them understand what employers actually need from day one.

Flexibility reduces barriers

Work experience no longer has to mean a full week’s placement. Shorter visits, project briefs, workplace tours, or placements spread across the year make it far more manageable – especially for smaller businesses or those with fluctuating capacity.

Supporting local communities

Hosting students – particularly those from disadvantaged backgrounds – helps young people access opportunities beyond their immediate networks. The impact can be profound and lasting.

Ready to get involved?

Whether you can offer a two-hour visit, a project brief or a longer placement, there’s a format that works for your business. If you want to explore providing work experience, Surrey Careers Hub is here to support you.

Complete our form to express your interest, and we’ll arrange a short consultation to understand your business, capacity and what would work best for you. Together, we’ll help you design a programme that suits your circumstances and industry.

Through our work experience matching platform CareerThread, you can connect with schools and students whose interests align with your sector.

Get started today. Complete our contact form or visit Surrey Careers Hub to find out how to take the first step.

If you’ve been thinking about offering work experience but aren’t sure where to begin, now is a great time to start.

Under new government guidelines, every student should have multiple workplace experiences throughout their education. Gone are the days of a two-week placement in Year 10 being the only option available – there are now multiple ways for employers to offer meaningful experiences throughout secondary school.

For businesses, this creates more opportunities to engage with young people, and flexibility in how you participate. Not only are you giving young people a chance to gain real-world skills, you’ll be introducing the next generation to your sector and identifying future talent early. So the benefits go both ways.

If you think you could offer meaningful work experience for secondary school students, here are five steps to get started with work experience in your small business.

1. Identify what you can offer

Start by looking realistically at your capacity. If you’ve felt unable to offer a full-week placement in the past, one of the new options may work well for you. Businesses can offer a two-hour or half-day site visit with talks and workshops, a workplace safari with other businesses, work shadowing in-person or virtually, as well as a hands-on project over a few days.

Think about quieter periods when hosting students would be manageable. The key is finding an arrangement that’s sustainable for your business while offering genuine value to the students. Starting small, perhaps with a single two-hour or half-day visit, lets you test what works before scaling up.

2. Define clear learning outcomes

Setting out specific learning outcomes is the best way to create a meaningful experience for young people and make the best use of your time. For example, students coming away with an understanding of the customer service skills required in retail is more useful than just experiencing a retail environment.

Clear outcomes help you structure the programme, brief your team and provide a valuable learning experience. They also help you identify students who show genuine aptitude in the skills your sector needs; these young people could become future apprentices or employees.

3. Prepare your team

Your employees are crucial to making work experience successful. Brief them on what’s expected and bring them in to help tailor the programme – they will have something valuable to share.

Identify team members who will interact well with students and consider appointing a work experience coordinator who can take ownership of the project. Discuss what meaningful interaction looks like: answering questions, explaining tasks and sharing honest insights about your industry.

Employees often find supporting work experience participants very rewarding. It can help develop their own communication skills and enhance their sense of purpose through inspiring the next generation.

4. Create structured activities and tasks

Students need to actively participate and engage with the experience. Design tasks that are achievable but provide genuine insight into your sector, and ideally, add value to your business.

Activities might include researching competitors, creating social media content, mystery shopping your customer service, contributing to team meetings or shadowing different departments.

Well-designed tasks can deliver real value: fresh market research, usable content or honest feedback on your customer experience. You will also gain insight into the mindset of the next generation, which could inform future business strategy.

5. Get in touch with Surrey Careers Hub

If you want to explore providing work experience in your small business, Surrey Careers Hub is here to support you.

Complete our contact form to express your interest, and we’ll arrange a short consultation to understand your business, capacity and what would work best for you. Together, we’ll help you to design a programme that suits your circumstances and industry.

Through our work experience matching platform CareerThread, you can connect with schools and students whose interests align with your sector.

Get started today. Complete our form or visit Surrey Careers Hub.

Moving regularly is a proven way to boost mood, build confidence and feel more energised. Active Surrey has released a new set of free workplace wellbeing posters designed to help employers promote movement and create healthier working environments.

Why is movement important?

• Just 15 minutes of movement a day can reduce workplace stress by 15% and boost productivity and creativity by 32%
• Physically active workers take 27% fewer sick days
• Physical activity programmes in the workplace reduce absence by 20%
• The return on investment for physical activity in the workplace programmes is up to £34 return for every £1 spent.

Posters that encourage active choices

Active Surrey has created a toolkit of posters designed to gently nudge staff to choose healthier, more active options where they are able to:

• Step Up Your Game – Choose the stairs instead of the lift – view here
• Walk the Talk – Take your meetings on the move – view here
• Make Your Commute Count – Walk or cycle to get to and from work – view here
• Get Up, Stand Up – Break up long periods of sitting – view here

The posters work best if they are placed in high‑impact locations such as lifts, meeting rooms, and car parks, to encourage staff to consider taking up options for additional movement.

Movement posters for staff desks

The Active Surrey team also created two desk-friendly resources designed to be simple, accessible, and effective, helping workplaces build a culture where movement becomes a natural part of the working day.:

• Desk-Based Stretches & Movements – a simple visual guide to stretches that ease tension and support better posture – view here
• 6 Ways to Sit Less & Move More – quick, practical tips to help break up sitting time – from stretching at their desk to talking walking meetings – view here.

Use the posters around your workplace

Surrey businesses that would like their staff to benefit from increasing activity can easily:

• Download these posters and get lots more ideas from the Active Workplaces website
• Display the posters in communal areas, and share with colleagues
• Get in touch by emailing becky.hadley@surreycc.gov.uk if you’d like printed copies for your workplace

Find out more about Active Surrey, and the Active Travel Grants that are currently available to help your staff travel to work in a more sustainable and healthy way.

New flexible work experience options make it easier than ever for Surrey employers to offer placements to young people – with the benefits to businesses spelled out in recent research.

Gone are the days of the traditional five-day placement. New Government guidelines around work experience mean employers can now offer placements that fit around the realities of modern business – from half-day site visits and workplace safaris to hands-on projects and hybrid block placements spread across weeks rather than days.

The move comes as research from The Careers & Enterprise Company’s Employer Standards 2024/25 reveals that businesses engaging with work experience are 77% more likely to report tangible business benefits including a stronger talent pipeline. That figure rises to 90% among employers offering a broader range of experiences, including T-Levels and job shadowing.

A variety of formats means work experience now works for everyone

Surrey Careers Hub, which connects schools, colleges and employers across the county, is encouraging businesses to explore the new work experience offering to find a format that suits them.

Shorter site visits can welcome groups of students for guided tours, demonstrations and Q&A sessions with staff – giving young people a real window into a sector with minimal disruption to the working day. For businesses based on enterprise parks or industrial estates, workplace safaris offer a collaborative option. By partnering with two to four neighbouring employers to host students for 30 to 45 minutes each, businesses can share the load while giving students a richer, multi-business experience.

For employers wanting deeper engagement, block placements have been redesigned for flexibility. Students can attend on consecutive days, one day, of just a couple of hours a week over a month, or through a hybrid mix of in-person and virtual. Hands-on project briefs go further still. This involves setting students a real business challenge; a marketing campaign, a sustainability proposal, a new piece of website content – with students presenting their final work to the team and receiving professional feedback.

Employers see the benefits to their business

Ellie Smith, Social Value Consultant at Epsom-based law firm AtkinsRéalis, said: “The new modern work experience system has made it much easier for us to connect with young people in a meaningful and flexible way. Our virtual work experience programme works particularly well because it removes barriers around travel and scheduling, enabling students to take part and gain real insight into the world of work.  

“We’ve found that project‑based work experience and insight days are especially effective, as they allow students to work on real‑world challenges and develop tangible skills while gaining a clearer understanding of the careers available in our sector. It’s been a really successful model for us, and we’re seeing genuine curiosity, confidence, and capability grow in the young people who take part.” 

Cath Burnet, Head of Audit at professional services firm KPMG UK, said: “At KPMG, we’ve seen how these experiences broaden horizons and help young people connect their strengths to real opportunities. But this only works when businesses collaborate. By opening our doors wider, we can offer young people a clearer picture of what’s possible and, in doing so, strengthen the future workforce.”

Ian Browne, Early Careers Leader at Lloyds Banking Group, added: “In the world of hybrid working, the traditional five-day work experience is ever challenging to achieve. Our approach offers experiences of the workplace of different lengths and venues for maximum flexibility and scale.”

Surrey Careers Hub provides tailored support to help businesses design visits that work for them, including guidance on accessibility and safeguarding.

To find out how your business can get involved, email careers.hub@surreycc.gov.uk or read more about the modern work experience opportunities.

Finding the right people for hard-to-fill roles is one of the biggest challenges facing employers today. With around 728,000 vacancies across the UK, many businesses are struggling to fill skills gaps. But what if there was a ready pool of motivated, loyal candidates – backed by expert support to ensure they succeed in your business?

Connect to Work is a new supported employment programme funded by UK government, and delivered by Surrey County Council. It connects employers with those who want to work but face barriers to employment. The scheme includes people living with disabilities, health conditions, and those experiencing other significant challenges in accessing the job market.

Compelling business case

Research by Mencap found that workers with learning disabilities often have no whole-day absences, far fewer late arrivals and significantly higher job loyalty than the UK average.

And according to a broad review by CBM UK, inclusive employment – correctly supported – can lead to equal or greater productivity, lower absenteeism, better attendance and stronger safety records. The review also found workplace accommodations for disabled staff often benefit the wider workforce (e.g. flexible work, better wellbeing support), improving overall staff retention and company resilience.

All this leads to lower staff turnover, which reduces costs associated with recruitment, onboarding and training. And sectors that struggle to recruit, such as retail, hospitality, social care and logistics, often match well to the skills and flexibility offered by disabled or learning-disabled candidates.

Tap into talent

By partnering with Connect to Work, you’ll also tap into a substantial, under-utilised talent pool. Research shows that 86% of people with learning disabilities who aren’t working want a job. These candidates are particularly well-suited to roles involving routine tasks, warehousing, retail, and basic admin – exactly the positions many employers struggle to fill.

Tangible business benefits

And the benefits extend beyond just filling job roles. Businesses that embrace inclusive hiring report improved workplace morale, better team cohesion and a more empathetic, supportive culture. Your reputation strengthens too, building community trust that’s invaluable for customer-facing businesses. Inclusive hiring also enhances your employer brand by boosting your evidence of social value, and can help your business secure contracts where diversity and social impact matter.

How to get involved

Connect to Work is completely free to employers of any size, matching Connect to Work’s supported candidates to your vacancies at minimum wage or above.

Your dedicated Employment Specialist will help with job matching, supporting the application process, and providing ongoing workplace support for as long as needed – ensuring success for everyone involved.

If you’re ready to build a stronger workforce, get in touch at STEPSurrey@surreycc.gov.uk to discuss how Connect to Work can benefit your business.