How will hybrid work environments impact talent retention?
This week my team and I have been discussing how hybrid work environments affect employee retention. And if there are strategies or programs that can be implemented to maximize retention in the changing work paradigm.
Not surprisingly, to those of you who follow my posts, we ended up discussing the value of mentorship and workplace mentorship programs as an effective tool for increasing employee retention. The following is a synopsis of what we discussed and learned from the research…
The anticipated gradual global return to co-located work provides opportunities to experiment with hybrid ways of working while deploying strategies to maximize retention of talented senior and junior employees.
Employees, particularly younger talented ones, received less support during the pandemic-driven shift to remote work. And many of the most talented have become acutely aware that they need more feedback to develop the capacities essential to becoming the leaders of tomorrow.
Highly talented mature employees have lacked the opportunity to pass on their experiential knowledge and skills that they acquired throughout their careers. Finding strategies to delay their departure is essential for an effective knowledge-transfer to occur within the organization.
Research supports that strategically implementing a mentoring program is the best way to meet the needs of both these talent pools. Mentoring programs are inexpensive and easy to implement and benefit everyone – the talented mature and their younger successors!
It is important to note, that Mentoring is not supervision. Supervision has an inherent power imbalance with an employee in a more senior position overseeing the competencies and performance of an employee in a less senior position. Mentorship is a relationship of equals and changes over time as the mentee moves from some degree of dependence to independence.
The boundaries between the personal and professional are less well defined – it’s a partnership that’s personalized to the mentee’s specific work and development needs in an environment which is supportive, non-judgemental, and non-competitive. It fosters trust, facilitates the sharing of information and is based on a foundation of mutual respect.
Most importantly, mentoring programs enhance an individuals’ feelings of being valued, and provide ongoing learning opportunities - which are the top two reasons reported by employees for staying with their current employer.
In other words, mentorship = retention? What are your thoughts?
