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What is it?
Retention is about helping young people see a future for themselves, through clear pathways, growing responsibility, and support that lasts.
For many young people, staying comes down to whether they can see what comes next. When the path forward is unclear, the role stops growing, or when no one seems invested in where they are headed, even a committed young person can drift.
Organisations that get this right give young people a reason to stay and to return. They grow into leaders, mentors, and advocates, because the organisation showed them that staying was a way forward, not a way of standing still.
Common challenges
What barriers do organisations face at this stage?
Young people disengage when they can't see what their journey will be from the beginning, and the feeling of uncertainty compounds over time. Many organisations describe losing people not because the work was wrong, but because nobody ever laid out where it was heading.
When organisations hire dedicated support workers to look after young people, managers step back believing support isn't their job, and young people learn to rely on one person rather than the workplace around them. Many organisations describe discontinuing these specialist roles after realising the support didn't survive the support worker leaving.
Long career pathways can feel irrelevant to young people who think in months, not years. Many organisations describe sharing "the world is your oyster" progression maps and watching them fail to land, because the pathway was built on the organisation's timeline rather than the young person's.
What we heard
Verbatim from Community of Practice members during the Awareness session.
"The barrier is a lack of clarity from the beginning - what is the journey going to be for the individual? That feeling of uncertainty."
Community of Practice member
"When you share a long pathway of what is possible, it may not be relevant - young people have a different timeline in their mind. It can't just be 'the world is your oyster.'"
Community of Practice member
"When support only comes from certain people, managers and supervisors feel it's not their role. And it doesn't result in a sustainable understanding of the workplace."
Community of Practice member
Guiding insights
What patterns emerged across every organisation we spoke to? Hover or tap any card for the insight behind it.
Young people weigh what staying gives them — growing pay, new skills, real perks, and recognition that compounds — and when the offer stops improving, so does the reason to stay.
Young people stay when there's a visible career ladder with the next rung within reach — a named role above them, clear requirements to get there, and proof that people like them have made the climb.
Young people stay engaged for the long term when they're held by an ecosystem of support — coaches, managers, and peers together — rather than a single dedicated relationship.
A strong everyday culture makes staying the default, and no strategy or incentives can compensate for a culture that isn't worth staying in.
Retention isn't about stopping young people from leaving. Young people who leave well come back as mentors, advocates, and connections, while young people who are clung to just leave.
Strategy Playbook
Nine strategies across three themes. Pick a theme, then open any strategy for a worked example.
A visible, predictable presence in the handful of spaces young people already spend time, online and offline, rather than broad coverage nobody notices.
Identify the one platform young people spend time on, and commit your effort instead of choosing every channel.
Find one upcoming event where young people already gather, such as a careers fair, expo, or festival, and offer an interactive activity.
Commit to a publishing schedule you can actually sustain, and hold it long enough for familiarity and trust to build.
Communication that sounds like a person, shows the real work in progress, and lets young people hear about the experience in a peer's voice rather than the organisation's.
Before publishing, read it aloud. Cut any word you would never say in conversation to someone in front of you.
Document the journey of your work, including the challenges, unexpected moments, and how young people have shaped it.
Bring in a young person who already makes content to produce fun, entertaining videos.
A living space young people return to between opportunities, with real ownership over what gets made and shared, so engagement outlasts any single program or post.
Create a moderated space where young people can talk between events, and seed it with content that gives them a reason to return.
Hand a young person or small group control of your social media, with a brief and payment for their time.
Find young people already enthusiastic about your work, and equip them to share opportunities in their own voice.
Reference Panels
Two tables that apply across stages rather than only to Awareness.
Incentives are not only financial. These five types cover what young people told us made an opportunity worth their time. Select one, or compare all five side by side.
Direct payment for time and contribution, through stipends, honorariums, gift cards, or award-wage roles.
It tells young people their expertise has real-world value, and removes one of the most common reasons they say no.
- Provide honorariums or gift cards to value youth time and skills.
- Offer award-wage roles to encourage sustained engagement and responsibility.
- Give flexible micro-grants that youth control to empower ownership.
Tangible professional experience in the opportunity itself, through paid roles, internships, or portfolios.
It gives young people proof of experience they can point to long after the work is done.
- Write reference letters and endorsements to validate contributions.
- Provide paid internships and project roles for real-world experience.
- Support youth to turn their job tasks into a career portfolio that showcases their achievements.
Skill-building and personal growth, through workshops, certifications, or mentoring relationships.
It makes the role valuable in itself, because every shift builds a skill they keep.
- Offer targeted workshops that help youth build new skills.
- Provide online courses and certifications to support continuous learning.
- Pair youth with mentors for guidance, growth, and confidence-building.
- Use reverse mentoring to elevate youth voices in trainings.
Formal acknowledgement of their contribution, through credits, references, or ceremonies.
It tells young people their work mattered and that someone is paying attention.
- Credit youth publicly on publications and social media.
- Host thank you events and award ceremonies.
Access to people and networks, through peer connections, introductions, and projects.
It gives young people a community to belong to and connections that outlast the role.
- Host peer networking events to facilitate connections.
- Connect youth with industry professionals and experts.
- Include youth in real projects to encourage collaboration with professionals.
- Organise community co-creation days to co-design programs.
Direct payment for time and contribution, through stipends, honorariums, gift cards, or award-wage roles.
Tangible professional experience in the opportunity itself, through paid roles, internships, or portfolios.
Skill-building and personal growth, through workshops, certifications, or mentoring relationships.
Formal acknowledgement of their contribution, through credits, references, or ceremonies.
Access to people and networks, through peer connections, introductions, and projects.
It tells young people their expertise has real-world value, and removes one of the most common reasons they say no.
It gives young people proof of experience they can point to long after the work is done.
It makes the role valuable in itself, because every shift builds a skill they keep.
It tells young people their work mattered and that someone is paying attention.
It gives young people a community to belong to and connections that outlast the role.
- Provide honorariums or gift cards to value youth time and skills.
- Offer award-wage roles to encourage sustained engagement and responsibility.
- Give flexible micro-grants that youth control to empower ownership.
- Write reference letters and endorsements to validate contributions.
- Provide paid internships and project roles for real-world experience.
- Support youth to turn their job tasks into a career portfolio that showcases their achievements.
- Offer targeted workshops that help youth build new skills.
- Provide online courses and certifications to support continuous learning.
- Pair youth with mentors for guidance, growth, and confidence-building.
- Use reverse mentoring to elevate youth voices in trainings.
- Credit youth publicly on publications and social media.
- Host thank you events and award ceremonies to celebrate milestones.
- Lead legacy projects or spaces to carry forward youth contributions long-term.
- Host peer networking events to facilitate connections.
- Connect youth with industry professionals and experts.
- Include youth in real projects to encourage collaboration with professionals.
- Organise community co-creation days to co-design programs.
Incentives are not only financial. These five types cover what young people told us made an opportunity worth their time. Select one, or compare all five side by side.
Another young person at a similar stage
Shared experience, encouragement without authority
To feel understood by someone who gets it, and less alone in the struggle
Often, and informal
A friendly colleague, close in age or stage
Answers questions, gives a tour, helps them feel included
To get familiar, slowly settle in, and ask questions without pressure
Daily, in the first weeks
A more experienced colleague, not their manager
Offers advice on handling workplace situations, projects, decisions, and culture
To build their confidence over time and navigate challenges
Periodically, over time
An internal or external coach or supervisor
Helps them reflect, build skills, track progress, and improve in an area of work
To build a particular skill, such as speaking up or leading tasks, or work toward a goal
Scheduled, regular sessions
Another young person at a similar stage
A friendly colleague, close in age or stage
A more experienced colleague who is not their manager
An internal or external coach or supervisor
Shared experience and encouragement, without authority
Answers questions, gives a tour, and helps them feel included
Offers advice on workplace situations, projects, decisions, and organisational culture
Helps them reflect, build skills, track progress, and improve in a specific area of work
When they want to feel understood by someone who gets it and feel less alone in the struggle
When they are getting familiar with a new environment, settling in, and asking questions without pressure
When they want to build confidence over time and navigate challenges
When they want to build a particular skill, such as speaking up or leading tasks, or work towards a specific goal
Often and informally
Daily during the first few weeks
Periodically over time
Scheduled, regular sessions
Ripple Opportunities
SYDNEY // NEW SOUTH WALES
This case study is part of the Youth Engagement Playbook. Download the full playbook to explore all six stages of youth engagement and take the self-assess
In 2017, The Underground Collective was founded on a simple belief: that a café could be more than a workplace for young people at risk of, homelessness - it could be the place they rebuild on. For participants whose lives have often been unpredictable, engagement starts with predictability.
At TUC, safety is designed into the environment before anyone starts work. The café is located in the State Library, where security staff and a welcoming support team help participants feel secure from the moment they arrive. A flexible step-out policy and an agreed quiet space mean anyone can pause when overwhelmed, without explanation or penalty. Stepping away is treated as a normal part of the workday rather than something to apologise for.
All employees learn and rotate through café roles, including front-of-house, food preparation, stock management, and cleaning. They choose the tasks they take on, aligned with their strengths or growth areas. Experienced team members work side by side with participants, showing their thinking before handing it over, and stepping back a little further each time. Over time, participants understand the café as a whole, and grow confident across every area of the business.
As they grow in confidence, young people are invited to actively shape their day to day. They offer suggestions on menu items, presentation, and workflow improvements. These are low-risk topics where their daily experience makes them the experts. Suggestions that work are adopted, so young people can point to things in the café that changed because of them.
Engagement is built from small, deliberate practices. Each step is giving young people a little more ownership than the last:
- Choice in daily tasks, so participants shape how they contribute within their role.
- Operational input that visibly lands, with real suggestions on menu, presentation, and workflow adopted.
- Peer support on the floor, as experienced participants guide newer ones through tasks they once found daunting themselves.
- Growing responsibility, handed over as confidence and capability are demonstrated over time.
Together, this approach shows what engagement really is. It is the daily experience of a workplace where questions are safe, stepping back is allowed, contributions visibly land, and confidence grows one task at a time. For young people deciding every week whether an experience is worth continuing, TUC makes the answer easy.
Where do you stand on Retention?
Now it's your turn. Take an honest look at how your organisation is doing on [stage]. Rate each statement from one to five, and you'll see exactly where to start."
Download The Nine Strategies
A one page summary you can bring to a team meeting, with the worked examples and the self-assessment.
All nine strategies across Channels, Messaging & Community Building
The worked example for each one
The Social Media 101 format table
The seven statement self-assessment, printable
