Numerous studies have shown that people who are mentored move more quickly through the ranks of their organisation, are more satisfied and are generally more successful in their careers, than those who do not have a mentor.
Engaging and supporting your employees has never been more important than it is at the moment, but also more difficult to do with remote working and social distancing.
Employee mentoring programs are a cost-effective, yet worthwhile alternative to more costly traditional training programs – and can be run remotely. Mentoring programs have the added benefit of helping not only the mentee to grow and develop, but it also helps the mentor to develop their skill set. By investing in a mentoring program you will undoubtedly see payback in the form of the following:
Employee support and development
With many employees working remotely it is easy for them to feel isolated and disconnected from their organisation. Mentoring helps employees to connect and to be able to recreate a feeling of belonging to and being supported by their organisation. It also enables them to work on their career planning and development strategies.
Recruitment
Offering a mentoring program will not only help existing employees in this time of uncertainty it will also have future benefits in helping to attract new talent to your organisation as it will demonstrate your desire to invest in employee development.
Onboarding
Many new hires find themselves thrown into a new position and expected to hit the ground running. This can be stressful for the employee and risky for the organisation as this approach can lead to costly mistakes. This is where mentoring new employees comes into its own, as having a mentor to help with the onboarding process will provide the mentee with support to help them settle in and practical guidance to help them become more productive more quickly.
Succession planning
Succession planning is a critical issue for organisations who want to ensure they have a strategy to identify and develop talent to fill key roles. The development of a mentoring strategy can be key in helping to build a strong internal talent pipeline.
Knowledge transfer
Whether you need to engage, open up information, enable knowledge transfer or drive innovation a mentoring platform can be the perfect solution to help you facilitate this.
Diversity initiatives
If you are serious about developing diversity initiatives that will build a long-term pool of employees from all backgrounds, investing in a supportive mentoring program is a great starting point.
If you would like to know more about launching a low-cost virtual mentoring platform for your organisation just get in touch.
