How a Mentoring Program Can Serve as an Employee Recruitment and Retention Tool
Business leaders cite attracting and retaining top talent as one of the top challenges they face. In 2022 more than 50 million Americans quit their jobs, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Employee turnover is costly and inconvenient for employers; it costs 100 percent to 150 percent of an employee’s salary to hire a replacement. For C-level executives, the cost is even higher, at around 213 percent of their salary.
Beyond the high price of high employee turnover, failure to retain talent leads to productivity loss, lost knowledge, and poor morale. It is difficult to create and maintain a positive company culture when employees must frequently say goodbye to co-workers.
Mentoring Programs to Attract Talent
To recruit and retain top talent, employers must understand what their ideal employees are looking for in a position. According to recent data, more than 50 percent of the workforce consists of people born after 1981. Deloitte’s 2022 Global Generation Z and Millennial Survey revealed that these two demographics rank work/life balance highest as the most important concern when considering a new job.
Number two was learning and development opportunities, which ranked more important than opportunities for career advancement, a positive workplace culture, or financial benefits. These results indicate that the majority of today’s workers seek the chance to learn and grow in their professional positions.
A structured mentoring initiative can show potential employees that their employer values these same attributes. First, young professionals can benefit from the experience of mentors, who can offer insights about work/life balance. For example, a mentor might teach their mentee how to prioritize key work tasks and essential company events but how to respectfully decline what falls outside their scope.
Further, a mentoring program allows young professionals to explain the competing demands on their time. These concerns can work their way up the management ladder, eventually informing benefits and policies that advance work/life balance.
Many young workers prioritize opportunities for growth and personal development in their jobs. Mentoring presents an opportunity for scaffolded learning, where the mentee can learn from the mentoring partner’s experience and insights. The mentoring pair might also design joint learning opportunities, such as reading a book or taking a course simultaneously and then discussing how to apply the knowledge to their work.
Because they focus on collaboration, trust, and connection, mentoring structures can contribute to positive workplace environments. Additionally, formal mentoring programs help both partners stay engaged with their jobs while demonstrating a company’s commitment to development, learning, and growth.
A mentoring relationship can help mentees identify the skills they need to advance within their careers and learn how to set goals and milestones to keep them on track. Mentors can guide mentees in creating a vision for their career and identifying opportunities for growth within their current organization. While mentoring should not focus on promotions, it can help mentees build the competencies they need to thrive.
Mentoring to Retain Talent
In addition to attracting top talent, mentoring initiatives can help organizations retain valuable employees. As soon as they hire new employees, companies should create opportunities for team members to connect. A mentorship initiative for new hires will create a warm welcome, highlight important aspects of company culture, and cultivate connection.
With more employees than ever working remotely, there are fewer opportunities for them to talk and get to know each other. Mentorships provide new employees with the chance to socialize. Particularly for organizations that hire a group of new employees at the same time, a mentoring circle can be an effective resource. In a mentoring circle, employees engage in peer-to-peer mentoring with co-workers who share common interests or learning objectives.
Complementary mentoring can also help new employees feel valued and important. Coined by Jack Welch in the 1990s, “reverse mentoring” refers to a mentoring structure in which new employees mentor senior executives. Today, the term “complementary mentoring” better reflects the idea that mentoring is a partnership where both parties gain something valuable from the relationship.
Senior executives who are willing to listen to new employees can better understand what’s going on in the company. Simultaneously, junior members gain access to respected leaders, lending a greater sense of their agency and potential contributions to the company’s mission.
Mentoring positively affects employee productivity and loyalty, which benefits the company. When new workers receive ongoing training and guidance, they are better equipped to step into management roles, minimizing the need for external hiring. Additionally, mentors can identify employees with leadership potential, helping develop a pipeline of senior talent that saves time and money.
Mentoring can help companies create a culture of inclusivity, which is a high priority for many millennial workers. Instead of one-time training events, companies can highlight their ongoing commitment to accountability and action through relationship-building among employees of diverse backgrounds.
Research from Cornell University’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations indicates that mentoring programs are more effective than other diversity initiatives at increasing the representation of under-represented populations in management positions.
Further, when women and employees of color receive mentorship, their rates of promotion and retention increase dramatically compared to their non-mentored counterparts.
