Mentorship schemes are the key to employee engagement in the hybrid work era, as long as they are not used merely as an HR box-ticking exercise, argues Partha Gopalakrishnan.
The work-from-home revolution has forced managers and HR professionals onto new terrain.
Generations entering the workforce have new expectations, and employers need to meet them to retain the best talent.
In this new working environment, one trap that I've seen far too many managers fall into, is that they assume that a desire to work from home equates to a lack of engagement with working life. This simply isn't the case.
Generations entering the workforce now still desire growth and career development as much as any previous generation. In fact, recent studies have highlighted that the main driving force behind employee engagement now is development, in the form of career progression, learning new skills, and personal growth.
So, the defining question of early career talent retention for HR professionals today is to find a way to meet these personal development expectations in the new work-from-home era. And there's one tool in their arsenal that they reach for straight away - robust and comprehensive mentorship schemes.
For too long now, mentorship programmes have been restricted to senior executives, and are a rarity for entry- and mid-level employees - this has to change, and the priority now needs to be those junior workers. This will be the fastest way for the organisations of today to ensure that they shape and retain the talent of tomorrow.
The first way mentorship schemes will pull in the best talent is through skill development. Junior employees greatly benefit from informal learning opportunities - observing colleagues, participating in impromptu discussions, and receiving immediate feedback. Unfortunately, remote working limits exposure to these instances.
Leaders will have to be smart on how they can redefine mentorship in the world of remote and hybrid working. This is equally true if mentors are located in a different city or region than their mentee. Dedicated time of at least one hour a week with their mentor, who should ideally be two or more seniority levels above them, and work outside their day-to-day work streams and hierarchy, can rebalance this deficit. Mentors can help junior employees identify skill gaps, set career goals, and develop personalised growth plans. This targeted approach ensures that employees continue to learn and grow, even when they are not physically present in an office environment.
Not only is this of benefit to the employee, but it also allows organisations to get a pulse of their workforce and steer dynamically based on an understanding of the needs of their workforce, enhancing the wider organisation's performance.
Employee churn is costly, both financially and in terms of organisational knowledge and morale.
Mentorship programmes play a critical role in mitigating this by fostering a sense of loyalty and commitment among employees and connecting junior employees with mid- and senior-level staff. When junior workers feel supported and see a clear investment in their personal and professional growth, they are far more likely to stay with the organisation. This is also a surefire way to increase productivity right across a business, driving up morale and productivity from employees who will feel valued and connected to a company in which they can grow, and ensuring those same employees have the adaptive skills needed in the AI age.
Finally, mentorship provides a platform for employees to voice their concerns and provide informal feedback and reporting to senior staff members. These backchannels can be vital for decision-making executives to be fully informed about the impacts of their potential decisions on their workforce, when junior staff may be hesitant to offer feedback in a more formal and visible setting. Comprehensive mentorship programs can, therefore, increase organisational resiliency as a whole, better insulating the firm, as senior staff have their finger on the pulse of exactly how strategic decisions and changes of direction will impact their workforce. In an external environment defined by economic shocks, geopolitical instability, and technological disruption, the benefits of this constant feedback loop cannot be overstated.
Among employees, mentorship programmes are often met with derision and scepticism. This is usually because it becomes an HR box-ticking exercise rather than a genuine attempt to engage employees and develop their skills, as well as using it as an opportunity to receive feedback from the employee's point of view. But it can be hugely impactful if mentors receive rounded training and sufficient budget is earmarked to make these schemes a success.
If organisations truly want to drive engagement in the work-from-home era and attract the best talent and prevent churn, then they need to see mentorship as more than that. Mentorship, when integrated comprehensively across the organisation with targeted aims of developing employees' skills and learning, is the fastest way for companies can foster this engagement.
