Nestlé alliance to double its youth employment efforts

The alliance was initiated by Nestlé in 2014 and is backed by more than 200 companies including AXA, Facebook, D.S. Smith, Cargill, Google and Twitter.

Developed from an original project 'Nestlé needs YOUth', the alliance is working with the European Commission's European Alliance for Apprenticeships (EAfA) - which connects governments and businesses to create apprenticeship schemes - to provide work, training and mentoring to young people in Europe.

The initiative claims to have generated over 115,000 training and job opportunities since its inception, in part through 10,000 workshops and 620 learning schemes to help graduates prepare for job interviews and work.

So far this figure only includes 20,000 full work placements and 12,000 apprenticeship positions.

Youth unemployment in Europe ​

Youth unemployment figures have dropped considerably in Europe, falling from 23.9% in 2013 to 18.8% this year. However, the level of youth unemployment (aged 15 – 24) remains at double the rate than for adult ages, according to Eurostat​​, the EU’s statistical Directorate-General.

In many European cities, the level of unemployment can amount to more than half the eligible work force.

In January this year for example, 50.9% of Athenian youth were unemployed, and 46% in the entirety of Spain. Across the EU, a total of 4.2m work-eligible youth remain unemployed.

Going Global ​

Nestlé says its concern is tackling these figures and increasing the rate of employment throughout Europe; the scheme has also been extended to the Middle East and North Africa where many Nestlé factories are located.

It has promised to directly hire 20,000 people under the age of 30 from within these regions by 2020.

A Nestlé ‘Global Youth Initiative’ is also underway, with the first similar project aimed at youth employment being launched in Mexico in 2013.

Business as usual?​

Nestlé says this is part of its business strategy ‘Creating Shared Value’ which promotes long-term social impact in areas such as environmental sustainability, human rights and public nutrition.  

The company benefits from the schemes by gaining access to a huge pool of potential employees and by bettering its marketing image.

“In Nestlé, we need all kind of skills to fuel our future. We have around 105,000 employees and 135 factories in Europe, Middle East and North Africa. We need brand managers, engineers but also packers, researchers or digitally savvy employees, etc.”​

But in order to show that this is not just a normal employment drive for the company, it points to the trainee and apprenticeship programmes also supported by other companies in the alliance. “We are pioneering in setting up dual learning schemes across Europe, Middle East and North Africa,” ​it says.