How Mentoring Can Help Your Workforce Engagement

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In a recent survey from Gallup, it was found that just 15% of the global workforce are engaged at work. That is a staggering 85% of the global workforce who are not enthusiastic about the work they are doing and who they are working for! If you are someone working in HR, recruitment, management or employee satisfaction, this statistic might worry you. But, that’s not such a bad thing. Now you know where you stand and the challenges you might have at your company. Of course, not all companies are like this – the 85% statistic is simply an average. On the flip side, it could be even worse. In Western Europe only 10% of the workforce are engaged at work. So, what can you do to fix that?

One of the single most successful ways in which you can help to encourage employee satisfaction, productivity and ultimately engagement, is through mentoring. Gallup’s 2017 report states that “for employees to thrive and be engaged, they need to be in positions where they can do their best work every day, know and use their strengths, and have frequent check-ins with their manager and mentors to reinforce positive behaviour.” And it is that mentoring which is both so important and often overlooked too. All employees have a manager of sorts – whether it’s a direct line-manager, a team leader or a department head to report into. However, when it comes to mentoring, there are far fewer mentors and mentees out there. The problem with this is that while a manager provides a vital support role, they often have the company and client interests at the forefront of their mind. Mentoring focuses far more on the individual and is there to support them in their career success, progression and professional development.

But isn’t good mentoring difficult to achieve, you might ask? Not at all. Mentoring, as we at PushFar define it, is simply the act of one individual helping another. Professional mentoring can be done through a wide array of formats, structures, mediums and avenues too.s Unlike coaching, mentoring takes a more informal and less structured approach. And it’s this less structured approach which can be so much more beneficial to employees. By taking away the set timeframes in which an employee should be mentoring others or be mentored you can encourage more participation in mentoring. So often employees can be overwhelmed by the number of tasks they are set, the work they are required to complete and rigid deadlines, processes and meetings. By reversing the process as far as mentoring is concerned, you take the pressure away and it becomes far more empowering, rewarding and satisfying.

The great thing about mentoring and being mentored is that the two are not mutually exclusive. A professional, in almost every case, can be both a mentor and a mentee. We all have experience and continue to grow and develop through both teaching and learning. New employees can be mentored by more established professionals. More established professionals can be mentored by more senior or experienced professionals. The cycle can go on and the engagement rates can increase.

If you haven’t yet setup a mentoring scheme or programme within your company or are finding it difficult to keep engagement within your mentoring programme, then get in touch with PushFar today. Email us at info@pushfar.com and we can show you just how easy and cost-effective setting up a successful and thriving mentoring programme can be.