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Developing student talent in a world of hybrid working

March 2023

Hybrid working and the legacy of the pandemic on student experiences over the last few years are having a clear impact on the way employers now need to support and develop students entering the workplace, explains Georgia Greer

A focus on in-person activities, building human skills and providing increased support for mental health and wellbeing have fast become central tenants in many early careers' development programmes.

The latest research from Institute of Student Employers (ISE) shines new light on the way employers are supporting and developing students entering the post pandemic world of hybrid working.

Hybrid is the new norm

From onboarding and induction activities through to on-the-job learning and development, graduates and apprentices need to be prepared for hybrid working and learning experiences as they enter the world of work.

ISE's Student Development Survey shows that 62% of employers are now running a blend of face-to-face and online induction activities, with most employers reporting that their graduates (72%) and apprentices (74%) work at home one or two days a week.

Employers also reported needing to provide extra support for new joiners to help them with this hybrid way of working. Alongside providing additional IT equipment to their students to work at home, nearly a quarter (22%) of employers said they had increased contact with peers and line managers to support transitioning successfully into their hybrid working and learning environments.

Over half the employers surveyed believed that remote activities were less effective at developing student talent than in-person events.

Change in learning and development activities

Hybrid working is also impacting the way organisations train and develop their student talent, meaning the types of activities graduates and apprentices should now expect to find in their development programmes looks a bit different to previous years.

While online and virtual learning is still a key part of many early careers' development programmes, particularly for apprenticeships, over half the employers surveyed (55%) believed that remote activities were less effective at developing student talent than in-person events, with two thirds indicating that they planned to increase in-person activities in their early careers programmes this year.

Employers rated engagement with senior leaders, rotations, and classroom learning as the most effective in-person development approaches. Notably, the most popular activity to include in graduate development this year was engagement with senior leaders, with 90% of employers planning to offer this in their programmes this year.

A focus on human skills

The impact of the pandemic and shift to hybrid working has increased the emphasis on developing human skills. This year, more employers reported behavioural and attitudinal skills being less developed than expected. Most employers agreed that graduates who had previously completed an internship or placement arrived with better skills and attitudes than their peers.

Employers reported being focused on developing a wide range of human skills for both graduates and apprentices. Teamwork skills, diversity and inclusion awareness, and resilience are key focus areas for graduate development programmes this year. Similar themes were reported for apprenticeships, with teamwork skills, interpersonal skills, and self-motivation/taking responsibility, being the top skills to be developed.

A woman makes notes while working at a laptop in a home office space.

Increased pastoral support needed

Traditional support mechanisms such as a buddy/peer support schemes are still very popular, with nearly all employers (99%) stating that they were offering this support to their students.

Increasingly, however, employers are seeing a need to support the mental health and wellbeing of their students in the workplace, with 64% of employers reporting that the number of graduates and apprentices with mental health issues had increased this year.

This can be a complex area to support, especially in the context of hybrid working, however most employers surveyed (85%) told us they now offer dedicated mental health support and counselling services to their students. 

The legacy of the pandemic and continuing trend towards increased hybrid working are having a clear impact on how employers need to support and develop their students to help them thrive in the new norm of hybrid working and learning environments. 

As we see a return to more in-person internships and placements, it will be interesting to see how this might evolve again the needs of students and therefore the design of early careers development programmes and the support employers provide in the future.

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