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Many companies are finding it challenging to retain employees. According to the Hay Group, between 2013 and 2018, the turnover rate will be 23 percent. This means that 192 million people left the company they work for in 2018. This difficulty to keep employees is due to companies not focusing on the employee’s well-being and keeping them motivated.
There are many methods you can use to maintain employees’ positive motivation to continue to work at your company. However, by far the most effective is mentorships.
These allow younger employees to learn new skills and senior employees to become more confident at what they already know.
How do you retain good employees?
When it comes to employee retention, it is important to make them feel safe and that they are making the right decision to stay in the company for the long run.
The employer needs to show the employee that they want to continue building their relationship. This can be done by giving the employee responsibility, which shows that you want the employee to grow and gain new skills within the company.
Another important aspect is respect. You need to show employees that they are respected and appreciated, which allows for a positive work environment that keeps employees motivated. Some companies tie part of employees’ wages to the company’s performance through revenue-sharing, which makes the employee feel like they have more stakes when it comes to company performance.
Rewards are also a good way to keep employees. These should go beyond bonuses; people want to be recognized for their hard work in ways that are not just money. You can throw department or company parties, lunches, gift cards, or even a simple note.
Lastly, but still very important, is to make sure that employees get time to relax. Overworked employees can get very stressed out and start weighing in the pros and cons of working at the company. Mental health should take precedence over working late hours or not being able to find a work-life balance.
How does mentorship improve retention?
Mentorships are a great way to improve retention. Randstad, a multinational HR firm ran a mentoring program designed to promote employee development. Not only did they succeed in building more skilled and resilient employees, but those who went through one of their mentoring programs were 49% less likely to leave the company. Evidently, there are many benefits to starting a mentoring program.
Here are three ways mentorship improves retention.
Increase employee engagement
Mentorships are one of the leading factors when it comes to employee retention. Additionally, mentorship is a great way to attract talent.
Jennifer Petrela, a mentoring expert at Mentorship Quebec, a Mentorship Accelerator supported by the Quebec government shares that more and more, mentoring is being used as a recruiting tactic:
Employees are much more likely to stay in the company when they are offered learning opportunities to build up their skills.
According to CNBC, out of 10 workers interviewed, four said they thought of quitting their jobs within the last three months because of the lack of learning opportunities in their company.
Additionally, workers become much more engaged and felt like they were fairly paid when mentorships are available at their workplace.
Retention and engagement increased by 50 percent in a talent and development study. Additionally, an Emerging Workforce study mentioned that 35 percent of workers who were not offered mentorships planned to find another job within the next 12 months.
Aids workplace learning
Mentoring is also very helpful when it comes to learning since it is much more hands-on than going to a course for a set number of hours over a couple of weeks.
This learning method is usually one-on-one or with a very small group, which allows employees to really get in-depth and learn practically. While there are other ways that a company can train its employees, 57 percent of the people who were in mentorship programs at the company they work at thought it to be extremely effective and taught them a lot compared to other learning techniques.
Promotes internal mobility
Many people do not like to stay in the same workplace position for a long time. Employees can feel stagnated and become unmotivated.
Mentorships offer the possibility of mentors and mentees getting promoted five times more than those who do not participate in mentorships. This is because not only are the mentees learning new skills from the mentor, but the mentor will become more of an expert in what they are teaching.
Additionally, mentorships allow employees to have better relationships with co-workers and learn collaborative skills, which were increased by 37 percent, according to an Association for Talent Development study.
Keeping a culture in your company where employees aim for leadership roles is a great way to keep passionate people working with you as the company continues to grow and the cycle of employees continues.
It is important that employees who have been in the company for over five years feel like they can reach for those leadership roles, as well as younger ones who are just starting. Deloitte mentions that 68 percent of employees, who worked at a company for over five years, agreed that the company gives them the support to reach for those leadership roles.
Additionally, 68 percent agreed that new employees are also encouraged to reach for leadership roles. Not to mention that employees with a mentor tend to feel like their company gives them enough opportunity to become leaders. While 71 percent of employees with a mentor agree that they have been given opportunities to advance in their careers, only 47 percent of those without mentors thought the same.
How do you structure your mentorship program to increase retention rates?
There is a wide variety of mentoring models that employees can benefit from. There is not just mentoring one-on-one. While that is, usually, the most popular and the one that first comes to mind when mentioning mentorships, you can also create mentorship programs in groups, peer-to-peer, and reverse mentoring.
One-on-one mentoring to aid career development
The most traditional mentoring method is the one-on-one model. This method consists of the pairing of a senior and a junior employee and can take between six to 12 months. The senior employee will give the junior guidance and advice when it comes to their position in the company.
Program managers will pair the two employees based on a wide variety of criteria. It is important to make a good match between the two employees. The two will create a strong connection among themselves and build skills both for the job at hand and communication.
Group mentoring to accelerate employee training
In group mentoring, there is usually one or more mentors and a group of mentees. This is a good option if the company cannot create pairs for one-on-one mentors due to employee numbers.
This mentoring method is often used to train new employees so they feel welcomed during the onboarding process by someone who is an expert at what they will be doing in the company.
Additionally, group mentoring can work like a networking event where multiple leaders and employees talk about their company goals ideas, and experiences. Lastly, this method can also be used to get potential employees ready for promotions. This allows employees to connect with mentors and practice their leadership skills.
Peer-to-peer mentoring to encourage knowledge transfer
Peer-to-peer mentoring is when employees at the same level work together to learn new skills. This method allows the group to learn new perspectives and better insight into the others’ work and skills.
Additionally, peer mentoring is a good option for companies that often hire college graduates or interns, since they will be more aware of the issues that they face as mentees and mentors. Lastly, this method allows for better relationships among employees and builds their confidence to become mentors in the future.
Reverse mentoring to give underrepresented employees face-time with leaders
Reverse mentoring consists of younger employees mentoring executives to modernize their skills. This method is useful because younger employees will know the latest technology and can help senior employees when it comes to new tools and practices.
If you want new and advanced technologies to be implemented into your company’s everyday operations, reverse mentorships are the perfect match.
Not to mention that this method allows younger employees to engage more and feel like they are a part of the company.
Build a mentorship program that employees will love with Together
With Together, you can build a mentorship program, whether that is one-on-one or a group mentorship.
You can also customize registration questions when you are pairing employees together, add your company’s branding, and write your curriculum and content for any program.
Together also allows you to manage registrations and get insights from and track your program. Book a demo and try Together for your next mentorship program.
