We will show you 6 benefits of mentorship programs in the workplace so you make your public organization stand out. Mentoring can provide several benefits to your organization's workplace culture, its employees, and its recruitment and retention strategies. Today, we'll break down some of the many benefits of a mentor program so you can decide if this is a benefit you'd like to offer.
One common benefit that private organizations offer is workplace mentorship programs. As a public organization, this is an easy benefit to offer that helps you compete with the private sector and become an employer of choice. Most employee mentorship programs are free or low-cost to run. At the most basic level, all you need is time. Of course, you may decide to pay for extras such as a lunch meeting or hosting a team-building event for new mentors/mentees, but that's not a requirement to run a successful mentorship program.
A recent study by Deloitte found that providing mentorship programs is a significant way employers can support women in the workplace. As you strive to hire more women, people of color or people from historically underrepresented groups, a mentorship program can help your organization shine.
We are currently dealing with a challenging time for workers. Many jobs are being automated or removed, especially if they aren't skilled labor. If you want to protect your workers, you need to upskill and reskill them and ensure they are prepared for the future of work. According to a report from SHRM, 57% of businesses use mentoring to reskill their workers.
The World Economic Forum has discussed the sheer number of employees needing to be reskilled in the coming years. According to their research, we must reskill 1 billion workers by 2030. This is a big undertaking, and mentorship programs can play a significant role in it.
Finding new leaders to promote and develop can be challenging. Some people will naturally stand out when you give them access to a simple leadership role. Mentorship programs are great because a mentor only needs to be a few steps in their career ahead of their mentee to make an impact. So, this is a great way to test any employees who have been around a couple of years and want more responsibility in your organization.
Inc. has commented on the importance of looking for coaching and mentorship competencies in potential leaders. This notion was further cemented in Cheryl Bachelder's book, "Dare to Serve: How to Drive Superior Results by Serving Others," in which she breaks down how mentoring is essential, especially for younger generations of public service workers.
Employee loyalty is important. Thankfully, the public sector boasts an exceptional 6.8-year median tenure, according to the U.S. Bureau Of Labor Statistics. But like most industries, this number has gone down in recent years.
Mentors create a connection between each of your employees. As we know from Gallup, having a friend and someone who encourages your development at work is crucial to employee engagement. When people are engaged, they are more likely to stay with your company.
Accomplishing a goal you've set can be challenging, especially if you don't have anyone to discuss it with. Mentors provide employees with a ton of clarity by helping them:
Accountability is a critical aspect of accomplishing work goals, as keeping your goals in your head makes them less concrete. If your employees are consistently missing their goals, a mentor could help them turn things around.
Creating a mentorship program at work has several benefits for workers and the organizations that employ them. If you are on the fence about building a program, consider where your employees could be a year from now with a few hours of coaching.
Creating this program doesn't have to break the bank. Keep the implementation simple at first. For your first cohort, keep the ask simple and make the reward cheap. Measure results by tracking each employee who goes through the system, whether they are a mentor or a mentee. You can decide whether to invest more money based on those initial results.
With a few investments in your people, you could reap the continued rewards of an employee mentorship program.
CPS HR Consulting is a self-supporting public agency providing a full range of integrated HR solutions to government and nonprofit clients across the country. Our strategic approach to increasing the effectiveness of human resources results in improved organizational performance for our clients. We have a deep expertise and unmatched perspective in guiding our clients in the areas of organizational strategy, recruitment and selection, classification and compensation, and training and development.
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