How should workplace mentoring be designed and assessed?
Mentoring is associated with career and job outcomes, but selection and programme design matter. Compare matching, roles, support and indicators before launching a scheme.
What can workplace mentoring achieve?
The meta-analysis concluded that internal mentoring is linked to several outcomes such as career satisfaction, interpersonal relationships, and motivation, but the size of the effect is generally small. In particular, the effect was small on objective outcomes such as compensation and promotion. So, rather than expecting mentoring to be a means to significantly increase performance, narrow the purpose to a device that helps new and transitioning employees adapt, and design pairing, time, and inspection methods together.
What has changed for people who have received mentoring?
A meta-analysis (Allen et al., 2004) that synthesized the relationship between mentoring and career outcomes looked at both objective outcomes, such as compensation, and subjective outcomes, such as career satisfaction. We included all studies that compared groups that received mentoring and those that did not, as well as studies that looked at the relationship between the degree of mentoring received and performance. Results generally supported the benefits of mentoring, but the effects related to objective performance were small.
This study divided mentoring into a career function and a psychosocial function and showed that the relationship with performance may vary depending on which function was provided. When determining the purpose of mentoring, it is useful to separate these two.
Two functions of mentoring
| function | What a Mentor Does | Examples of in-house activities | changes to expect |
|---|---|---|---|
| career features | Connections, advice and exposure to work opportunities | Attending important meetings, recommending assignments | Work competencies and career direction |
| Psychosocial functioning | Support, acceptance, example | Regular interviews, counseling for concerns | Sense of belonging, adaptation, and career satisfaction |
Both functions are necessary for new employees, but the career function may be more useful for job changers who are already familiar with the job, and the psychosocial function that helps experienced employees recruited from outside may be more useful to help them adapt to the organization.
How big is the mentoring effect?
A meta-analysis (Eby et al., 2008) pooling youth, college, and workplace mentoring studies concluded that mentoring is linked to a wide range of outcomes, including behavior, attitudes, health, interpersonal relationships, motivation, and career, but that effect sizes are generally small. Among the three areas, the effects of university and workplace mentoring were generally greater than youth mentoring.
Just because the effect is small doesn't mean it's useless. If the cost is not large, even small effects can be meaningful, and even a small reduction in costly problems such as early job change makes it worth operating the system. However, if you try to solve organizational culture or performance problems through mentoring, expectations and results are likely to be misaligned. It is possible that the person who received mentoring was originally a more active person, so it is difficult to attribute all the differences seen in the comparative study to mentoring.
How is mentoring different from education or external exchange?
The biggest difference is that mentoring is not a one-time event but an ongoing relationship. That's how much time it takes to operate it. Compared to other methods with similar purposes, it is as follows.
Comparison of talent development methods
| way | easy to get | correct target | limit |
|---|---|---|---|
| In-house mentoring | Advice tailored to the company context, a sense of belonging | New employee, job changer | Depends on the mentor’s capabilities and time |
| collective training | Systematic knowledge and practice | Groups that require the same capabilities | Field application must be managed separately |
| External management exchange | Experience and business relationships with other companies | executive, manager | There is a distance from our organization’s situation. |
The design conditions for group training can be seen in Administrator leadership training design, and the experiment showing that advice from experienced entrepreneurs increased profits, but the effect decreased as the relationship was broken, can be seen in Effects of managerial exchange meetings. Keep in mind that mentoring only works as long as the relationship lasts.
How does the law determine on-site training?
The Act on Support for Parallel Work-Learning in Industrial Sites defines apprenticeship-type on-site education and training as training in which a person with specialized skills and knowledge in the workplace passes on the knowledge, skills, and knowledge necessary for the job to workers. Companies that run this course must designate a corporate field teacher, and the corporate field teacher establishes an operation plan, transfers knowledge and skills, and confirms and evaluates the training performance. Designated corporate field instructors must also complete designated training.
Even for companies that do not participate in work-study parallelism, this structure can be used as a reference when designing in-house mentoring or Cultivating successors to family business succession. Planning, transmission, and performance verification are specified as the roles of mentors, and training is also provided to mentors. In the first month, you can set goals together with your mentee, show them your work each week, and check what they've learned at the end of the period.
How should mentors and mentees be paired?
If your goal is work competency, you can have an experienced person in the same job as a mentor, and if your goal is adaptation and belonging, you can have a senior in another department as a mentor. If a direct supervisor with evaluation authority serves as a mentor, it may be difficult for the mentee to raise concerns. If the mentor's workload is adjusted to ensure interview time and mentoring activities are not reflected in the evaluation, the system easily becomes a mere formality. Asking about the mentee's wishes when choosing a partner can also help sustain the relationship for a long time.
How can we check the performance of the mentoring system?
Compare the early turnover rate of new employees, the time it takes to get used to the job, the satisfaction of mentees and mentors, and the workload of mentors before and after introduction. If the mentee briefly writes down what was most helpful and what was disappointing, it will serve as a basis for modifying the next team member's operations. Korea Research Institute of Business & Branding treats the talent acquisition, development, evaluation system and member experience of the change promotion process as the subject of organizational research, and develops the research results into education tailored to the job and career stage. Visit Management education/corporate education for courses and Management publications and reports for publications.
In-house mentoring Frequently asked questions
What is the appropriate mentoring period?
There is no set correct answer. If the goal is to help new employees adapt, it is convenient to set the probation period and the first evaluation as one cycle, and then decide whether to continue at the end.
Should mentors be compensated?
It is important to recognize mentoring time as work and reflect it in evaluation rather than monetary compensation. If time is not guaranteed, the better the mentor, the greater the burden.
What do I do if the mentor and mentee do not match?
Establish a procedure for changing partners from the beginning. Problems are revealed early when there is an atmosphere where change is not considered a failure.
Do small companies also need a mentoring system?
If the number of people is small, a simple method of assigning one senior to each new employee may be sufficient rather than a formal system. Just set the purpose and period clearly.
References
- Journal of Applied Psychology, 「Career Benefits Associated With Mentoring for Protégés: A Meta-Analysis」(Allen, Eby, Poteet, Lentz, Lima), 2004. https://doi.org/10.1037/0021-9010.89.1.127
- Journal of Vocational Behavior, 「Does Mentoring Matter? A Multidisciplinary Meta-Analysis Comparing Mentored and Non-Mentored Individuals」(Eby, Allen, Evans, Ng, DuBois), 2008. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jvb.2007.04.005
- National Legislation Information Center, Articles 3 and 19 of the Act on Support for Parallel Work-Study in Industrial Sites, effective on February 18, 2022. https://www.law.go.kr/법령/산업현장일학습병행지원에관한법률