Mentoring programmes play an important role in assisting employees do the right thing by exposing them to senior employees that know how to do the right thing.
This helps the employee perform more effectively and boost the morale of the employee. In this week’s edition, we focus on the benefits of mentoring programmes on the part of the organisation.
Mentoring programmes have the potential to speed up the process of bringing on new employees as well as speeding up the process of redeploying existing employees into new roles. It also brings them up to efficiency in the shortest possible time.
Studies have shown that the first month of a new hire or new assignment is critical to the overall success of that employee’s tenure with the organisation. Mentoring provides a key resource to these employees during this crucial learning phase.
Employee satisfaction also results from a well-organised mentoring programme. It has been discovered that employees that participate in mentoring programmes have prospects for a higher job satisfaction.
Higher job satisfaction ultimately leads to increased productivity and reduced turnover.
A well structured mentoring programme is key to employee Retention. Studies have shown that employees that are mentored stay on the job longer than those that are left to sink or swim.
A high percentage of turnover is directly linked to the fact that employees are not sure of how to do their job.
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Employees should be afforded the ability to do their job correctly and effectively and they will decide to stay longer and produce better results.
Employee productivity is also linked to employees participating in mentoring programmes. It enables new employees to have an effective mechanism for getting answers quickly, allowing them to move on quickly.
Employees that have to rediscover or re-invent solutions to common problems not only waste time that could be better spent, but may also introduce new and costly problems into the organisation when they solve their problems incorrectly.
A good mentoring programme also results in career growth or succession planning. It provides an effective way to provide a career growth path for employees.
Developing employees into more senior positions is an effective way of reducing hiring and turnover costs.
Mentoring is an effective mechanism for grooming employees to fill key roles as part of the organisation’s succession plan.
Knowledge Management and Retention can also result from an effective mentoring programme. The knowledge retained in key individuals is the most valuable part of the organisation. When these key individuals leave, this valuable information leaves with them.
This will not happen if your organisation has an effective mentoring programme that allows and encourages these key employees to share their knowledge and skills with other employees.
This does not only benefit the organisation by reducing the risk of loss of key skills and knowledge, but it also helps reduce the load on the key employees.
An effective mentoring programme also reduces frustration on the part of the employees. Those employees that do not understand their jobs and are not aware of where to go for help usually become frustrated more often.
This will ultimately lead to reduced morale that may ultimately lead to higher staff turnover.
Mentoring therefore provides an avenue for employees to find resources and answers to problems, to empower employees to resolve their problems themselves.
Paul Nyausaru is training & development practitioner. You can contact him on email [email protected], [email protected] Views contained in this article are personal.
