Employer Innovation Lab

SVA's Employer Innovation Lab is an evidence-based program helping employers improve their recruitment and retention by lifting barriers facing young people.

Our impact

The Employer Innovation Lab has helped employers:

improve early-career pathways
boost retention rates, particularly for new young staff
increase productivity, employee satisfaction, equity and social impact.

In 2025, Lab employers reported:

81% employers developed or implemented a practice change
73% plan to embed, replicate or build on learnings
100% found SVA’s tools & resources very useful
96% developed a better understanding of the challenges that young people face in the workplace.

Through the Lab, we are:

supporting over 40 major employers
expecting to affect around 2,000 roles in the next 12 months
changing the way employers work with young people nation-wide.

Read the Employer Innovation Lab Annual Report

Case studies

More than a job: How GW Landscapes rewrote the recruitment playbook offering careers to youth at risk

A story of innovation, empathy, and cultural transformation.

Bright Futures at APM: How a disability-employment specialist is hiring its own young talent

Hiring with intent. Leading by example.

A new way forward for youth disability employment

An independent evaluation released in May 2025 found that employers participating in the Employer Innovation Lab are changing their business practices.

The problem

Recruitment and retention are a challenge for most employers. Particularly of younger staff in early-career pathways.

Meanwhile, 1 in 5 young people want more work but can’t find it. Many didn’t get a head start in life and face barriers at critical stages of their employment journey. Often, these barriers are the unconscious product of ‘business as usual’.

The Employer Innovation Lab helps organisations rethink how they recruit, retain, and support young people, focusing on those who haven’t followed the university path. It’s a practical program that makes inclusion achievable, offering hands-on workshops, real-world pilots, and expert support.

The Employer Innovation Lab gave us the structure, the know-how and the backing to put what we knew into action” Peter Balbata • Community Learning and Participation, Brimbank City Council

The solution

The Employer Innovation Lab is an evidence-based program to improve recruitment and retention by lifting the barriers facing young people. It helps employers start small, find quick wins, then scale up for longer-term impact. The Lab model was adapted in partnership with US-based Talent Rewire, with support from the Citi Foundation.

Lab participants can:

access a latent talent pool of over 1 million workers nation-wide
improve early-career pathways
boost equity, diversity, inclusivity, productivity and profit.

How it works

Our evidence-based model has 4 stages:

Hear cutting-edge insights on the labour market
Collaborate with young people and other employers
Identify barriers at your organisation
Leave with a ready-to-test pilot blueprint

Implement your pilot prototype
Receive expert support over 12 months
Incorporate youth voice
Access our extensive network of community partners

Maintain momentum with our guidance
Measure your pilot’s impact on recruitment and retention
Identify what’s working and fix what isn’t

Confirm that your pilot contributes to business goals
Develop a plan to scale
Tell your story internally and externally
Increase impact and boost your profile as an employer of choice

Case study: Consep Pty Ltd

When engineering and manufacturing company Consep struggled to attract young talent, they reimagined the whole hiring process. Through Social Ventures Australia’s Employer Innovation Lab, Consep developed the Young Starters program – a paid, rotational work experience initiative designed to bring in young people with little or no prior experience.

The result was a transformed workplace, new career pathways, and a shift in company culture that continues to grow.

I would recommend this in a heartbeat. Any employer that has the opportunity to do this, should.” Kate Mills • Head of HR, Consep Pty Ltd

Three years later, the Young Starters program is now business as usual. Consep has committed to running the program permanently – not just in Australia, but in their Canadian operations as well. The goal is to double their business in five years, and for Young Starters to be a big part of that journey. Recently the Consep team was awarded the Advancing Equity Award at the 2025 Shared Value Awards

Read the Consep case study