Workplace Wellbeing: A helping hand from an old hand
Pic: iStock
JOB satisfaction is important for employees, and retention is vital for employers. But Irish workplaces are struggling to deliver on these priorities. A 2022 Robert Walters poll found that 63% of employees lacked satisfaction and felt disengaged. A survey by Willis Towers Watson showed that 52% of organisations struggled to retain staff.
Mentoring could be a solution. In 2019, multinational HR firm Randstad found that employees who went through its mentorship programme were 49% less likely to leave their companies. The 2019 LinkedIn Workforce Learning Report stated that of the 2,100 employees interviewed, 94% said they would stay at a company longer if given learning opportunities, such as mentoring.
Chartered workplace psychologist Dr Mary Collins believes all organisations should run mentoring programmes.
“We know there is a significant talent shortage in the workplace and that younger workers, especially, are less likely to remain in organisations for very long,” Dr Collins says. “Employers are lucky to get two or three years out of them. Mentoring can help engage and motivate that generation, helping employers to get the best from them and convincing them to stay for longer, improving engagement and retention rates in the process.”
Her research concluded that mentoring appeals to younger workers. “I interviewed 500 millennials and found they needed support in developing resilience in the workplace and wanted more individualised attention and feedback,” she says. “If employers want to get the best from that generation, they will have to give them that individualised attention and a good way of doing that is through mentoring.”
So, what is mentoring? Traditionally, it involves a more senior or experienced mentor being matched with a mentee to offer advice and help develop their skills and goals.
“Mentoring programmes may be new to many workplaces, but the passing on of knowledge and experience has always happened informally,” says Nina Noonan, programme director with the Irish Management Institute, which runs the Network Mentor Programme. The programme matches mentors with mentees across a range of different sectors.
“The reason mentoring is now being formalised and offered in more workplaces and through a variety of cross-sector organisations is that not everyone got to benefit from it in the past. That lack of mentoring greatly impacted the career development and progression of many people, particularly women.”
Mentor and mentee benefit
Ms Noonan thinks that mentoring programmes can benefit everyone. “The mentee can progress faster in their careers because of what they learn from the insights they get from someone in a more senior role or a different sector,” she says.
Mentors gain from the experience too. “It helps them to understand the challenges facing their more junior colleagues,” says Ms Noonan. “They also report a real sense of reward from supporting another person in their professional growth.”
Mentoring can bolster both parties. “It gives younger people the emotional and psychological support they need and older people a chance to share their wisdom,” says Dr Collins. “Older people can often feel neglected and underutilised as a result of ageism in the workplace and mentoring is a great way of connecting the generations.”
Reverse mentoring can close the skills gap in the workplace. “While older, more experienced employees can transfer their knowledge, younger employees can also share their insights about what’s relevant to their generation,” Dr Collins says. “I have a younger mentor who is 26 and who helps me understand social media platforms. In return, I provide a sounding board for her in her psychology career, sharing ideas and suggestions.”
Dr Collins thinks everyone should have a mentor. “British-based Prof David Clutterbuck is widely regarded as a mentoring guru, having written over 70 books on the subject, and he says we should all have one formal and one informal mentor, and I agree,” she says. “Informal mentors are those people in our lives who see our potential, such as our parents, relatives and friends. Formal ones are professional people who can offer insights to help us progress in our careers.”
You can still seek a mentor even if there is no mentoring system in your workplace. “Be proactive and find someone you admire and whose knowledge you feel you would benefit from,” says Ms Noonan. “This could be someone inside or outside your company or you could approach a nationwide mentoring service, like ours, that could match you with someone to suit your needs.”
Don’t be afraid to ask someone directly. “Most people will be flattered,” says Dr Collins.
However, if you go the DIY route by choosing a mentor for yourself, don’t ask your manager. “You’ll get bogged down in day-to-day tasks rather than focussing on longer-term goals,” she says. “Instead, do what David Clutterbuck recommends and ask someone two levels above and two levels across. That way, they are more senior but not in your direct network.”
To give the mentoring relationship its best chance of success, establish ground rules. “I’d advise mentors and mentees to have training before they begin,” says Dr Collins.
This training should cover the roles and responsibilities of mentors and mentees, the objectives of the mentoring programme, the importance of confidentiality, and how to give and receive constructive feedback. The logistics, such as when, where and how often the mentor and mentee will meet, should be decided at this stage too.
Professional development
Claire O’Neill became a mentee 20 years ago. The now 46-year-old deputy head principal, author and researcher from Cork was then starting as a primary schoolteacher.
“It was a Department of Education pilot project, and I was partnered with a teaching colleague who had more experience than me,” says Ms O’Neill.
“She became a steady support to me, especially because, as a newly qualified teacher, I was engaged in a year-long probationary process, which involved regular visits from inspectors. Our meetings were most helpful in advance of those visits and afterwards when we would debrief and reflect.”
Their shared experience taught O’Neill a lot. “We built up a high level of trust and I learned that it’s OK to be vulnerable, not to have all the answers and to accept help and support from a colleague,” she says. “I think we both learned how to be good colleagues to one another and others.”
She has since gone on to have other mentors. “I have been fortunate to work with other talented and generous colleagues and leaders who have facilitated my success by sharing their time, experiences, advice and opportunities,” she says. “Their mentorship has challenged me to improve and develop in my profession.”
She now mentors others. “I act as a mentor in my school when we have teaching interns on professional placements with us and I also supervise several postgraduate students,” she says. “I see mentoring as a privilege that can be a significant support and source of professional development for both mentor and mentee.”
This is why Ms Noonan urges all employees to seek out a mentor. “I’d recommend researching potential mentors or mentoring programmes and then making that call, sending that message or connecting on LinkedIn,” she says. “Tell them who you are, why you’ve chosen them and what your goals are. The worst that could happen is that they are not available. The best is that you could turbocharge your career development and create a valuable new connection.”
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