Green jobs of the future: OVO launches OVO10 young leader program with The Aleto Foundation

• Ten young people will join OVO10, part of The Aleto Foundation’s Future Leaders Programme, following a successful trial earlier this year.

• Working for a company making a positive environmental impact is an important career priority for 61% of young people from disadvantaged backgrounds.

• Supports OVO’s Plan Zero ambitions to be the leading place to work, where everyone can belong.

Thursday 27th October 2022: OVO will inspire more people to pursue a career related to tackling the climate crisis and supporting customers as it kickstarts a partnership with The Aleto Foundation.

The news comes as recent polling suggests that when thinking about progressing in their career, 78% of young people from disadvantaged backgrounds are worried about stress and burnout, while 57% are worried about their confidence in the workplace. The highest scoring solution to help was mentoring schemes with business leaders, with 66% of respondents believing that such schemes would be helpful to future career progression.

The Aleto Foundation is a social mobility charity working with young people aged 17-27, from tough reality backgrounds, who have demonstrated exceptional leadership potential. OVO10 will focus on providing leadership training, mentoring and peer-to-peer buddying. Some participants will also be offered paid summer internships.

Following the success of the small pilot, OVO is launching the next wave of the OVO10 programme. Ten young people from The Aleto Foundation, all of whom received mentoring and support, spent eight weeks at OVO in areas including operations, technology and commercial. Two of the interns who have taken part in the OVO10 pilot have now secured permanent roles in the commercial and product teams, with four interns offered the opportunity to join OVO after they’ve completed their studies.

Since 2010, The Aleto Foundation has supported over 1,000 young people through leadership and mentoring programmes (60% are women), have provided over 10,000 hours of leadership training and have had 95% of programme delegates enter employment within 6 months of programme completion.

Earlier this year, OVO also launched the OVO Tech Academy, an apprenticeship programme focused on supporting more people to kickstart a career in software engineering. Both programmes support OVO’s Belonging strategy, focusing on creating progressive policies, listening to the experiences of ethnically diverse colleagues, and publishing progress data on an annual basis.

Charlotte Eaton, Chief People Officer, OVO said:

“I’m thrilled to extend our support to The Aleto Foundation and launch the Future Leaders programme. We’re passionate about supporting and inspiring more diverse talent and young people to pursue careers in fighting the climate crisis. As a mentor to the pilot apprentices earlier this year, I’ve seen first hand the ambition from young people and can’t wait to open our doors again.”

David Villa-Clarke, CEO, The Aleto Foundation said:

“I am delighted that we have been able to partner with OVO to launch the Future Leaders programme. Fighting the climate crisis Is at the forefront of the minds of young people and  I am pleased that we can help OVO bridge the diversity gap by finding the right talent to fit their organisation. It is also gratifying to note that such a high proportion of the interns on the OVO10 programme have now been offered permanent roles. We look forward to continuing to develop our relationship with OVO, a company which has demonstrated its commitment to being a place that welcomes and develops talent from diverse backgrounds.”

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For more information please contact:

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Polling:

Strand Partners’ specialist research team conducted an online survey of 502 ‘young people from disadvantaged backgrounds’ between Monday, 24th October and Tuesday, 25th October 2022. Young people from disadvantaged backgrounds were verified to be aged 17-27 years old, were the first generation in a family to attend university (i.e. both parents or carers did not attend university) and Average household income of below 60% of UK median, under £19k. (This is currently £18,840 based on the UK median income of £31,400 from ONS for financial year ending 2021.)

Strand Partners’ online polling studies are accredited by the British Polling Council and conducted under their rules of disclosure. All data gathered is of a publishable quality with produced within Market Research Society guidelines.

For full data tables and more detail of the methodology, please e-mail: [email protected].

About OVO

OVO was founded in 2009 and redesigned the energy experience to be fair, effortless, green and simple for all customers. OVO was awarded Company of the Decade at the BusinessGreen Leaders’ Awards and has won multiple awards, including Innovation Project of the Year, for investing in the market leading technology, customer service operations and digital products to help customers cut their carbon emissions. OVO is on a mission through its sustainability strategy Plan Zero to tackle the most important issue of our time; the climate crisis, by bringing our customers with us on the journey towards zero carbon living. OVO Energy has committed to being a net zero carbon business and achieve bold science-based carbon reduction targets, while helping customers reduce their household emissions at the same time.