Introduction: Youth, ages 18-21, are often entering the workforce for the first time as they explore their interests and skills and learn about expectations in the workplace. During apprenticeships, youth are still considered learners while supervised in the workplace. Youth apprentices' perspectives on their workplace experiences, particularly their reasons for staying or leaving, offer valuable insights into early career development at this stage of exploration. The Theory of Work Adjustment (TWA) provides a useful framework for interpreting these experiences, emphasizing the dynamic fit between the apprentices and their work environments. TWA considers both how well the individual apprentice's abilities and values align with workplace demands (e.g., technical skills) and how well the workplace supports the individual's needs through reinforcers (e.g., pay, meaningfulness).
Purpose: Both the workforce demands and apprentices' needs are essential for understanding how long apprentices are willing to stay employed and pursue career pathways in industry. Applying TWA to youth apprentices' experiences may help apprentices, career development practitioners, educators, and employers better understand how to foster environments that meet young workers' expectations, reduce attrition risk, and support more sustainable employment.
Method: This qualitative, thematic analysis study investigated the experiences of youth in the construction industry, an industry sector facing labour shortages and barriers for retaining young workers. Based on interviews with 17 apprentices in their first year of employment, the results emphasized the importance of socialization to the workplace.
Results: There were three main concerns of youth (1) providing decent work conditions, (2) scaffolding learning experiences, and (3) supervisor/mentor relationships. The results suggest that the values of youth apprentices underpin their intensions to stay or leave and the factors that are influencing their decisions in the first year of employment.
Conclusion: Recommendations address the importance of adjusting workplace cultures to meet the needs of youth, while youth are adjusting to work.