A PRGRSS report
Lost in Translation
What employers say, what young people hear, and how we close the gap.
Who are you?
I'm 18 to 30
Take the survey free. Everyone gets the guide.
The Guide to Work: what bosses really mean, what they expect, and how to get ahead once you're in. Built from everything employers tell us. Sent to everyone who takes part.
Every month, 10 people win a free year of PRGRSS mentoring in the industry they choose. Enter once and you're in every draw left, so the sooner you take part the more chances you get.
When the survey closes, we also give away a year of Canva Pro, Adobe and LinkedIn Premium.
I run a company or a foundation
Start free. Then get the answers.
1. Take the survey free and get the summary of what we find.
2. Want to know what to do about it? Get the full report and the handbook, sent the day it's published.
Early price. It goes up when the report is out. You can also pay at the end of the survey. Use your work email. All sales are final.
Why we're doing this
Both sides are right. They're just not speaking the same language.
We've sat down with business owners, HR leads, foundations and young people. Bosses tell us young people expect "too much". Young people tell us nobody ever explains what's expected. We've heard it again and again.
Same words. Different meanings. And nobody realises until it's gone wrong.
It's costing everyone. Young people walk away from jobs that could have worked. Companies lose people they spent time and money hiring. Foundations know what works but never get to tell the employers who need to hear it.
So we're asking everyone the same questions, finding exactly where the meanings split, and turning it into something people can actually use. We're here to close this gap.
Same words, different meanings
Here's what we keep hearing
From our first conversations with business owners and young people. The survey puts every one of these to the test.
"Work hard"
- The boss means
- Do what it takes until the job is done.
- The young person hears
- Do my hours, properly and well.
"Use your initiative"
- The boss means
- Try to work it out yourself before you ask.
- The young person hears
- Don't bother anyone, and never admit you don't know.
"Feedback"
- The boss means
- We told them why. Just not this time.
- The young person hears
- Nothing I can act on. So the problem must be me.
"A step up"
- The boss means
- Get really good at this job first, then we'll talk.
- The young person hears
- A promotion, soon.
"Be professional"
- The boss means
- Eye contact, speak clearly, leave the slang at home.
- The young person hears
- Just be good at the tasks.
"The business"
- The boss means
- Something fighting to pay rent and wages every month.
- The young person hears
- Something big that can afford it.
Who we're asking
The biggest conversation between bosses and young people in the UK
Big companies and small ones. Every sector. All over the UK. Everyone answers the same questions, so we can see exactly where the gap is.
Take part, it's free
Tell us how it really is
As little as 5 minutes. Confidential. Young people get the Guide to Work and go into the monthly draw for a free year of mentoring. Companies and foundations get the summary of what we find. All free.
The full report and the handbook
The summary tells you what we found. This tells you what to do about it.
The full report
- Every finding, split by company size, stage, sector and region.
- Where bosses and young people disagree, side by side.
- What foundations see working with young people every day.
- The generations, from Gen Z to the people managing them.
The handbook
- A first month plan for a young starter, for a business your size.
- What to explain on day one: how the business makes money, when to ask and when to work it out, work emails, using AI properly.
- Feedback a young person can actually act on.
- The unwritten rules, finally written down.
- What helps young people with nerves and confidence at work.
- Free things any boss can do, like knowing each person's goal.
Built from what the people we spoke to said they need, and from real onboarding processes shared with names taken out.
Coming next: tools built from the findings, like a first month plan builder for your team.
Sponsor it
Want your name on it?
Back the research and you get:
- Your name on the report as a founding backer.
- The findings first, before anyone else sees them.
- Suggest a topic for the questions.
- A chapter on what matters to you, like your sector, young founders or your own people.
- Seen as a business that backs young people into work.
Get in touch:
hello@thisisprgrss.com