Mentoring could be the key to retaining talent

Providing your staff with mentoring opportunities could be the answer to enhancing your talent pipeline and boosting retention and engagement levels.

According to research by HR services group Penna, 20% of employees globally are not currently mentoring others or being mentored themselves, although they would like to be.

Surveying 2,000 respondents, the research found a further 40% of employees have never actually been given the opportunity to be a mentor or mentee.

“Talent management slipped down the agenda during the recession, but individuals are clearly hungry for opportunities to learn and develop and businesses can provide this through mentoring schemes,” Penny de Valk, managing director of Penna’s Talent Practice, said.

“It’s no coincidence that 70% of Fortune 500 businesses run mentoring schemes, and 75% of executives said it played a key role in their personal career success, as it helps both mentor and mentee to gain new skills and stay engaged with the business.”

The research also highlighted that employers have nothing to fear if they are worried about mentor schemes being mainly used to help staff find their next role - only one in 10 mentees used mentors with the objective of finding new job opportunities.

This is compared with nearly 59% who did so to acquire new skills.

With acquiring new skills as a key driver, it’s no surprise mentees said the most desirable characteristics for mentors to possess are expertise (65%), strong rapport (62%) and being challenging (59%).

“It’s essential that businesses ensure commitment and engagement up front with both mentors and mentees, and agree benchmarks for success so that strong foundations are in place for mentoring relationships and programmes to flourish,” the report stated.

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