Starting a job with your company can be difficult for new hires, with new people to meet, policies and procedures to learn, and a company culture to fit into.
By offering a mentoring program to help them adjust, you can make them feel more comfortable and welcomed, allowing them to settle in and be productive more quickly.
“Research has shown that when employees develop good relationships quickly, they’re more likely to adapt to their new roles and stay with the organization,” says Wendy Marcinkus Murphy, Ph.D., assistant professor of management with Northern Illinois University. “You’ll reduce your turnover rates and increase productivity and performance.”
Smart Business spoke with Murphy about how to develop a mentoring program and what you can do to ensure it succeeds.
How has mentoring changed over the years?
Mentoring has become more widely adopted as a human resources strategy over the years. Early research talked about how important mentoring was for young executives in developing their careers, which drove a lot of formal programs.
Today, more than 70 percent of Fortune 500 companies in the U.S. have a formal mentoring program. Mentoring has changed dramatically from an individual perspective because of how different career paths are now. The traditional career, in which employees stayed with one company for 30-plus years until they retired, doesn’t really exist anymore. Instead, most employees will work for multiple employers throughout their careers.
As a result, research has moved beyond the traditional mentoring relationship, in which a senior, more experienced individual is paired with a young, new or high-potential employee. New hires are now encouraged to develop relationships throughout their organization and professional field. This developmental network approach allows them to get the support they need from multiple people as their careers develop, instead of just that intense, one-on-one relationship.
Why is mentoring important?
Relationships are one of the most important developmental tools a company can employ. The amount of learning that happens cannot be underestimated.
Both parties have something to learn from one another. Protégés get insight from their mentors in terms of skill development, new techniques and approaches to work, and obtain knowledge about the organization. And mentors learn about the perspective that employees from different areas of the company have on what goes on in the organization.