I'm sure like most of you, I have been totally caught up in Olympo-mania as Boris Johnson has christened it! Not only is it the excitement of the competition, but also we have seen such incredible role models for young people.

I particularly love the slogan and idea of inspiring a generation, and have been reflecting on the parallels to business and the challenges of youth employment.

According to the UK Commission for Employment and Skills (UKCES), only about 1 in 10 business directly recruit 16-18 year olds from school, and less than a quarter of employers recruit anyone under 24 directly from education. Rising youth unemployment or under employment has huge long term economic and social consequences.

We want young people when we employ them to have work experience, but we have to start by giving them the chance. We need to be able to inspire young people in to the world of work and give them opportunity.

This includes providing good work experience, supporting apprenticeships and learning at work programs, to ensuring our recruitment practices are diverse enough to attract different cohorts of young people, and even how we design jobs.

This is not just about corporate social responsibility; It's about creating positive business value and helping to build long term sustainable businesses.

At the CIPD, we have some great research and knowledge of best practices on engaging and developing young people which I am keen to promote. We are campaigning together with a wide group of employers and other institutions via our Learning to Work initiative, developing a program to encourage mentoring of young people in our local communities, as well as providing access to a wide body of knowledge.

Let's all see what we can do to inspire young people in to inspiring work opportunities.