Workshops to strengthen engagement with Young Women & Gender Diverse Youth at work
Young people are the future of every workplace - bringing fresh ideas, energy, and ambition. Yet, research from Aotearoa and around the world shows that many young employees struggle to feel heard, supported, or understood at work. They’re often eager to contribute but can face barriers such as a lack of recognition, limited career pathways, and outdated assumptions about their attitudes or work ethic.
At Gender at Work, we believe that when organisations listen to and learn from their younger staff, everyone benefits. Inclusive, intergenerational workplaces see higher engagement, stronger retention, and better innovation outcomes.
Our workshops are designed to help organisations move beyond assumptions and start meaningful conversations with their young employees. Through structured facilitation and practical activities, we help teams surface real challenges, identify opportunities for improvement, and build stronger connections between young people and leadership.
We offer two workshop options to suit your organisation’s needs and readiness for change.
Workshop Content
Youth Voice and Leadership Workshop Series
Cost: $4,500+GST ($3,500+GST member price)
Session One – Youth Voice Workshop
2.5 hours, group facilitation
This workshop provides young employees with a structured opportunity to share their experiences, highlight challenges, and co-design solutions for workplace improvement.
What’s covered:
Research context: An overview of what national and international research tells us about young people’s experiences at work.
Appreciative enquiry activities: Creative and engaging guided individual and group exercises that help young staff voice challenges and brainstorm actionable solutions.
Insight consolidation: The challenges and ideas generated are collated by Gender at Work into a clear document that the Gender at Work team will present to Senior Leadership.
Session Two – Senior Leadership Workshop
1.5 hours
Held after the youth session, this second workshop enables leaders to engage directly with the insights raised by young staff and to commit to meaningful change.
What’s covered:
Demographic shifts & workplace expectations: Background on the changes occurring in Aotearoa and the case for responding to evolving expectations.
Research insights: A summary of New Zealand and global data about young people’s workplace experiences and what this tells us.
Myth-busting and perspective shifting: Challenging commonly held beliefs about young people at work.
Youth perspectives: A tailored summary of the key challenges and proposed solutions raised in the Youth Voice Workshop.
Commitment activity: A facilitated exercise encouraging leaders to consider, prioritise and commit to meaningful organisational changes.
Organisations can also choose to only host the Youth Voice Workshop (Session One). The cost of this is $2,500 +GST ($2,000 +GST members price)