Kirklees Young Employee Network (YEN) has been around for over ten years, and thanks to its dedicated team of young people it has successfully put on a calendar of events and has ensured its networks longevity.
The Kirklees YEN has been around for over ten years, and thanks to its dedicated team of young people it has successfully put on a calendar of events and has ensured its networks longevity. The YEN is led by a team of eight leads and two co-chairs, who work alongside their jobs to deliver the networks’ priorities and champion young people in Kirklees. The mission of the network is to make Kirklees Council an even greater place to work for young people.
At Kirklees, employees under the age of 31 are automatically enrolled in the network. There are 190 staff subscribed to their YEN mailing list.
The network has supported its members over the years by hosting several events, including:
- celebrating European Democracy Week 2021 and its theme of ‘Protecting the Environment – Communities Coming Together’ by creating a partnership with the Green Employee Network, which includes offering and assisting with the facilitation of a series of environmental volunteering opportunities for staff
- organising a Career’s Conference where officers across the councils participated in a careers ‘speed-dating’ event. They introduced young employees to their service areas and career pathways. Officers were challenged to speak to as many young people as possible within a 45-minute slot.
Kirklees YEN Partnerships
Rebecca Richards is the current Partnerships lead at Kirklees YEN, which involves building relationships with organisations and other local authorities to offer opportunities to young staff, as well as sharing best YEN practice across the sector. Previous partnership leads Shannon Davies (Chair of Gloucestershire YEN) and Stephen Bonnell (previous Chair of Kirklees YEN) also contributed to these partnerships. Some examples of current and past partnerships made by the Leads include:
- Kirklees University Student Union – encouraged young people to vote
- DASH – helped to upskill the volunteers’ digital skills to enable them to better support asylum seekers in Huddersfield
- Youth Council – helped with events around democracy and volunteering
- Kirklees College – delivered a presentation about Kirklees Council & entry routes to careers such as apprenticeships and graduate schemes
- Huddersfield Town Foundation – involved with their big ‘sleep outs’ and raising money for the charity
Partnership Leads also reach out to other local authorities across the country with YENs or those interested in creating one. Rebecca Richards currently chairs the YEN monthly meeting working group, which invites other councils and their YENs across the country to meet and share best practice and discuss how to overcome challenges. If you would like to be invited to these monthly meetings, be sure to email [email protected].
Interview: Rebecca Richards, Partnerships Lead at Kirklees YEN
What made you apply for a role in the YEN?
I thought it’d be great experience. I could get some project management experience that I wouldn’t necessarily receive in my day-to-day job. I could ask for more opportunities to take on more responsibility. There’s quite a lot of freedom to create your own projects [in the YEN] and to try things out. I think honestly, I’ve grown a lot of skills in this role.
What skills have you gained in your role as Partnerships Lead?
I have definitely gained a lot more skills around managing people. In particular, I have gained skills in the planning of the Kirklees YEN awards as I have had to assign roles to people and delegate work to other people and just make sure I check in on them to see what they're doing. I don’t think I’d get the opportunity to do that in my daily job. But in partnerships, this group of Councils and bringing them together and growing the group means I can learn more about communications and also just chairing a meeting. Those skills are more managerial.
Do you think this can help with promotions and developing your career in local government?
Yes definitely. It can also help with those types of jobs which ask for people management skills and project management skills. I have definitely developed in those roles.
How do you think the YEN has helped Kirklees’ young staff?
For our members, it's really helpful in getting them other opportunities in the Council as some may leave if they feel that there’s no opportunity to move up in the Council. I think helping them to make those relationships with people in other departments so they can know what opportunities are coming up and volunteering opportunities as well, that helps them to build those skills. We're looking to bring more opportunities that actually give people proper, say, project management and organisational skills that they can actually put on their CV.
What benefits has it brought?
The main benefit it has brought for us is quite a lot of retention of young people in the Council because we have heard people say that one of the main reasons they stay at the Council is for the young employee network because they enjoy it so much, which is good. But we hope that we can do more work to improve what the Council offers. So that's not the only reason why people are staying. I think so far, we're really helping with retention more than the Council realises.
We have heard people say that one of the main reasons they stay at the Council is for the young employee network.
What kind of feedback or comments have you received from young people about the YEN?
A lot of young people are quite isolated in their departments, so don't really see other young people. We have quite a lot of that actually, we have people being the youngest person in their team by decades sometimes. And so the social aspects are really big for a lot of people because we have regular socials, people can meet each other and also just have the opportunity to volunteer and other opportunities as well.
I've had a few people coming about volunteering and how that's been really helpful for them and also for the people who have found out about job opportunities as well through posts on the group. So those are the main comments we get about the socials, volunteering opportunity, job opportunities.
What advice can you give about making your own YEN in a council?
I think for us, having a really dedicated team of people, who will show up to different meetings and will have a passion. Having the support from directors too is a big one. If a network can get a corporate sponsor or some sort of manager who will support their work and be an advocate for them at the higher managerial levels that's, definitely key to unlocking some doors, making the relationships and transferring top tips.
What has been the highlight of your time at Kirklees YEN?
The biggest highlight for me has been seeing our members get more involved in events and volunteering and building friendships with other people in the council, so that they have a good personal network while they are with the council and still have that network if they move on professionally.
