Category: Advice for Businesses

A coaching plan is an effective way to encourage employees to become more skilled in their positions and can be implemented alongside the daily duties that the main position needs to fulfil.

And the results are noteworthy. It’s reported that over 63% of the businesses that offer coaching to their workers had a higher net income and sales development.

This article covers the benefits of a coaching plan, what to include in it, and the key benefits that will optimise your business operations and make your company more reputable in the process.

Let’s take a look!

What is a coaching plan?

A coaching plan is a career roadmap designed to assist both coaches and trainees in reaching their goals. In order to make it as beneficial as possible, it’s best to refine a well-structured plan that can also work with both schedules.

While coaching, like anything, can go wrong – a bad coaching experience can cause an employee to leave a company, and there are stats to indicate this just as much as with the pros – it is generally a great way to implement new skills that qualify you for bigger positions, and a terrific coaching experience can result in career advancement and a framework for your next career moves.

The benefits of a coaching Plan

The benefits of a coaching plan are countless, including: 

1. Focus

Firstly, it can provide clarity and focus by refining ultimate goals into manageable, achievable daily tasks which strive towards it. Having ultimate goals can be overwhelming and a great grey ocean. But breaking them down helps the professional to streamline their daily activities to get there.

2. Accountability

To excel, the secret ingredient is often to create outside pressures to push us forwards. Coaching achieves this by bestowing milestones, deadlines and actionable goals upon you. Falling short requires you to note them, adding to the accountability.

3. Motivation

By the same stroke, it is used for motivation and commitment. The measurable results are important in this, as they are instrumental in your development. All committed professionals progress, of course, but often they don’t take note of it. Measuring success comes with the bonus of good feelings from a job completed.

4. Engagement

Learning new skills will increase the employee’s engagement with your company, as they will be well-equipped to deal with issues of a higher level. This, in turn, leads to a higher employee retention rate, as you will be more greatly benefited by the company, and it by you.

5. Personal Awareness

It’s easy to be blindsided by our strengths, but a coach can make you more aware of your blind spots. Once aware, you can work towards improving them, making you an even stronger candidate in your industry. These are strengths that are marketable, at best, and in daily working life is a confidence booster that will help you to tackle future roles with a solid confidence.

What should be included in my coaching plan?

To implement or undertake a coaching plan it’s important to have structure. Before this comes the type of plan, as there are many variations from peer coaching, to executive coaching, to performance coaching. But whichever it is, it is important to universally follow these stipulations.

• Set clear goals

It’s vital to define clear, specific and achievable goals that you wish to achieve through coaching. While realistic, you can also make them challenging, and of course relevant to your ultimate goals.

• Evaluate your resources

So you’ve defined your goals. Now it’s time to look around you and identify the skills and resources available that will help you to achieve them.

• Define activities and strategies

Then comes the meat and bones of it: what activities to undertake to better achieve these goals. For many, one-on-one coaching sessions are optimal. Others are possible too though, such as group mentoring. Then there are tools such as worksheets, exercises, and the kind of targets to set, which will differ from person to person.

This is an area where your personal needs come into play. You need to define them and use this knowledge to craft the most beneficial coaching plan possible.

• Set a timeline

This one works both ways. Timelines are important for establishing how long it will take to achieve each progressive milestone. Make it realistic, leave room for daily hurdles, and most importantly, don’t stress if things change and you don’t make the deadline. There is always more time, and a timeline is there to exert progression, not stress. That said, feel free to set challenging goals as this will push you further!

• Allow for flexibility

It’s also good to realise the versatility of coaching. Ergo, you can shape it in any way that suits your goals. Communicate with your coach or trainee and ensure you’re getting the best out of it. Also, if you find that the structure agreed upon isn’t working, you can always rework it.

What’s next?

Remember to establish a routine system for check-ins and reviews. Regular coaching meetings are fundamental for development and for ensuring that you remain on the right track and in line with your biggest goals. Communicate your needs, goals, and establish a routine system for check-ins and review. You can schedule periodic meetings to assess progress, address those challenges, and make all necessary refinements to the strategy. 

And once again, remember to celebrate the successes! Having achieved them, their value will be multiplied if you allow yourself to have a few drinks, a holiday or a new toy. Setting these treats in place will make the progress an exciting prospect that you look forward to completing, adding to the motivation!

The verdict

Implementing and structuring a coaching plan is a great way to increase the productivity, morale, and progression of your company. It builds a foundation for future success and strengthens your team as a whole. Now, all you have to do is match each employee with the right coach, and away you go!

If you need more information about how to handle your career trajectory, then check out our further reading: 

Coaching and mentoring: what’s the difference?

Benefits of coaching and mentoring

The different types of coaching

Why all leaders need coaching and mentoring

How to set and achieve long-term career goals

If there’s one thing that businesses can’t stop talking about right now, it’s AI. From ChatGPT to Dall-E, it’s clear that we’re living in the AI era.

As the world adapts to AI, it’s a great time for early adopters to take full advantage and understand the main ways in which it can help businesses across the board. 

And while AI is still in it’s infancy; that doesn’t mean it can’t already be used for coaching and for mentoring. Here we outline the creative ways that you can start adopting AI into your coaching or mentoring practice. 

How is AI being adopted for coaching and mentoring? 

First up, let’s look at the ways that AI can be used in coaching and mentoring on an industry level.

There are a few different areas in which AI is thriving in the industry, and already has the power to change how businesses operate.

These are: 

1. Psychometric testing

A psychometric test is used to understand an individuals skills, knowledge, abilities, personality traits, attitudes and job/academic potential.

Psychometrics can be largely automated with the help of AI. It’s already a big part of certain industries practices and the answers provided can give recruiters an interesting insight into the skills and abilities of certain candidates. 

Using an AI psychometrics test, candidates can be evaluated without any human involvement. An AI program will also be able to keep a record of the skills and personality traits they record, helping to establish what areas the candidate or staff member may need help to improve.

This can be used for both coaching and mentoring alike in order to understand a mentee or coachee’s current state and measure their improvement on skills and personal development.

2. Matching 

Matching mentors and mentees, or coaches and coachees can be tricky to get right. And a wrong match can do more harm than good. This is actually one of the reasons the need for mentoring software was recognised.

Matching is one of the key ways that AI can also help with coaching and mentoring. An AI program will keep a database of the team and their core skills, and match them to a specific mentor or coach who they will get the most benefit from being paired with.

Also, AI tools can also provide ideas for courses and coaching, training, and mentoring that can improve potential weaknesses for a group of employees.

📖 Find out more about how to match mentors and mentees in our guide 📖

3. AI coaches

AI coaching uses AI software to help provide specific feedback and create coaching plans for staff members and students. The process allows companies to set goals and employees and individuals can work towards these goals in a more structured way.

AI coaching can also use a chatbot method to respond to specific questions, which means more specific and relevant feedback and information. 

Which begs the question, should we be preparing for a future in which coaching is accessible to all through AI programs? Or is that still science fiction!

How can I use these tools in my mentoring and coaching practice? 

The good news is that there are many ways that you can use existing AI tools for your coaching or mentoring.

These can be integrated into the day-to-day operations of your business to improve the accessibility and effectiveness of mentoring and coaching.

Our top 5 recommendations to try are:

1. Jasper

Jasper is a powerful AI tool for writing, and it can help to generate content that is full of interesting information for those who want to upskill.

For instance, Jasper can write a full article that is tailored to a specific department or staff member, providing tips on how to improve their skills or work towards a more effective outcome for their business.

Jasper can also be used by mentors and coaches, taking a few of their ideas and putting them into coherent learning materials for the mentee or coachee. By using AI writing tools you can speed up the creation of personalised reading and learning materials. As long as you remember to edit them thoroughly after! 

2. Movavi

Similarly, using a video content creation tool like Movavi, can help mentors, coaches and organisations create engaging learning materials. 

Written content can certainly be dry and boring. With Movavi, it is easy to take content and ideas and create training videos that are specifically tailored to the mentees or coachees.

Something that would once have taken a long time and expertise to create is now quick and simple, and makes information easier to digest.

3. ManageBetter

ManageBetter is an AI tool for performance management that can be integrated into many aspects of a business and its workflows, from sales to HR.

As well as helping to organise teams, it has many different features that can help with coaching and mentoring. For instance, there is a feature called Review Builder that can help to create personal reviews for team members based on peer feedback, strengths, and weaknesses. These can help to identify areas to work on and training to take part in.

This tool may be useful across your business to better manage the performance and development of your people. Employed for mentoring and coaching, it could improve the impact of your programs.

4. ChatGPT

Probably the most talked about AI tool out there currently, ChatGPT is a conversational AI tool that can answer user questions in seconds. 

While it’s not specifically built for coaching and mentoring, with the right prompts help with a variety of coaching purposes. For example, staff can ask ChatGPT which courses they should take to improve a certain skill or to help create clear goals for mentoring and coaching. 

ChatGPT is immensely powerful, but it’s a tool that requires a lot of human input if you are going to get the best results.

5. Adaptiv Academy

Adaptiv Academy uses Ada, the AI-powered mentor that can answer career related questions and provide advice to users.

Ada has been built to ask specific questions to individuals who need a bit of coaching, mentoring and guidance. Ada then takes this information and uses it to provide advice on specific courses, skills that need to be worked on, and even career paths that may be most suitable for someone’s skillsets.

Essentially, it is an AI mentor that can help people that aren’t quite ready to find an in person mentor to work with them!

The wrap up

While a lot of the best training and mentoring still comes with a human touch, that doesn’t mean that AI tools can’t enhance your experience.

There are many different ways that they can integrate and assist the relationship between mentor and mentee, and coach and coachee.

AI tools also have the power to identify weaknesses and specific training options to address these, as well as take away the time-consuming elements of being an exceptional mentor or coach. 

How Guider can power exceptional mentoring and coaching

While we love exploring new technology, it’s important to remember that the human connection of mentoring and coaching is where the magic really happens.

Finding someone you connect with and being able to spend time with them working on your personal development is a game-changer.

Our platform makes finding, matching and meeting mentors and coaches simple. With everything you need for successful mentoring all in one place.

For program leads, our powerful reporting features are there to help you steer your program towards your business goals and ensure that you’re getting ROI from your program.

Find out more about how Guider can transform personal development at your organisation. Book a call with our expert team today!

About the author: Vlad is a partnership manager at Movavi. He has 4 years of experience in the e-commerce and marketing industries, having written articles on these topics for various publications. Vlad is passionate about helping businesses grow and reach their full potential. He enjoys spending time with his family and friends when he’s not working.

Read more: 

Do I really need mentoring software?

How to embed occupational wellness into your culture

4 Essential succession planning tools

5 Ways to make mentoring work for hybrid roles

4 Example mentoring program goals to steal! 

Top mentoring apps to download today

According to a report by LinkedIn—94% of employees would stay longer at a company if more learning opportunities were provided. Moreover, organisations that recognise employees for their efforts and appreciate them saw a 14% increase in employee productivity. 

These statistics paint a clear picture that a positive and encouraging work environment and culture are what the workforce wants. And as the increasing level of pressure and competition is a significant cause of burnout, a cohesive and supportive workplace can counter that feeling by providing a sense of satisfaction, security, confidence, and most of all, peace of mind. 

This guide will focus on the importance of occupational wellness, why companies should focus on creating a better environment, and how prioritising their employees’ well-being can benefit both.

To learn more, read on… 

What is occupational wellness? 

Occupational wellness means achieving a balance between work and other responsibilities. This balance, in turn, lessens work stress, improves co-worker relationships, and enables employees to seek satisfaction in their work and enjoy recreational activities. 

It enables employees to find value in themselves and their work and allows them to branch out to try new and different prospects should they feel the need because people only have that mentality when they’re comfortable. 

Additionally, a healthy balance of work and other activities in daily life is essential to maintain good mental health, which, in turn, is vital for good workplace performance. Moreover, according to research, 79% are more likely to stay with a company that provides good mental health care. 

Why is occupational wellness important? 

Occupational wellness is essential today because of ever-increasing job competition and pressure. More often than not, work takes priority over recreational activities and connecting with friends and family. This imbalance can have devastating effects on people’s wellbeing. 

On the flip side, if household responsibilities are overwhelming, they can affect performance in the workplace. So, establishing a balance is crucial so neither obligations suffer a drop. 

Providing opportunities and supporting employees during challenging ordeals, whether at home or in the workplace, eases their burdens and allows them to destress and collect their emotions which is important to achieve much-needed balance. 

Only after that can employees see an increase in productivity and job satisfaction, be more motivated, and experience the same outside of the workplace.

Key stats on occupational wellbeing:

• 15% – 20% of voluntary turnover is due to experiencing burnout.
• 82% of employees suffering from mental health issues did not report it, fearing negative feedback.
• Companies with a good well-being program saw 89% of their employees recommending them as excellent workplaces. 
• 35% of employees reported a negative impact due to workplace stress, and 2% reported overwhelming stress that hindered their ability to work.
• According to a report by HBR, employee well-being increases sales by 37%, team creativity by 55%, productivity by 31%, and decreases errors by 19%.
• Companies with poor or no employee well-being programs have to pay 20 times more yearly than those who do. 

Examples of occupational wellbeing:

1. Acknowledge employees

Appreciating employees for their efforts and rewarding them accordingly massively boosts their confidence and encourages them to perform at the same level or go even further beyond. Confident employees are more likely to be satisfied with their work and organisation, increasing the company’s chances of retaining employees. 

2. Remote or hybrid working models

Introducing or encouraging employees to opt for different working models according to their preferences will create a sense of comfort and security. It will also boost diversity as the company can hire people worldwide. Their perspectives and experiences will be valuable in creating an enriched working environment. 

📖 Find out more about supporting remote workers through mentoring with Guider 📖

3. Wellness tools

Applications and tools that help individuals manage and focus their emotions and energy with the help of exercise or meditation can be an excellent option to promote wellness in the organisation. Providing employees with subscriptions to these applications will help them better manage stress and burnout at their own pace without any financial repercussions. 

📖 Read more on wellbeing areas to focus on in our guide 📖

6 ways to embed occupational wellness in your organisation

• According to research by Zippia:
• 52% of U.S. companies have occupational wellness programs,
• 72% of companies decreased their healthcare costs,
• and 80% of employees reported enjoying their work more. 

These statistics clearly show how important occupational wellness is for an organisation and its employees—and embedding wellness programs into your organisation will only improve the culture, environment, profits, employee satisfaction, and retention rates. 

Here are 6 ways to embed occupational wellness in your organisation: 

1. Open communication 

Employees should feel heard and valued in any organisation to be efficient and do their best work. Incorporating and encouraging a culture where open communication takes priority will provide employees with a safe space to speak their minds, share their troubles, and ask for help and guidance to work through them. 

2. Workshops 

By providing employees with internal, external, and remote opportunities to learn and grow their skillset, they will feel encouraged to pursue their interests and better themselves for their current positions.

This will create a sense of support from the organisation, and employees will have a higher sense of security, confidence, and satisfaction. 

3. Group workouts

On-site group workouts are an excellent strategy for promoting wellness in the organisation. Group workouts can be physical and mental, and providing different options to employees to take care of their stress and issues however they deem fit will increase morale, dedication, and overall efficiency as they will have a sense of gratification from their work and feel happy about it if they’re free of stress. 

4. Destress zones

Many organisations have adopted the strategy of providing their employees with dedicated zones where they can retreat to destress, collect, sleep, and reinvigorate themselves. 

Employees like these zones as they don’t have to travel much to access peace and can return to work quickly once fully charged. This also provides employees with space to catch up with their co-workers, engage in recreational activities, etc. 

5. On-site healthcare

According to a study—organisations that provided healthcare saw a 60% increase in productivity. This shows the value of healthcare for employees in a company. Adding to their convenience by providing on-site checkups and vaccinations will increase employee satisfaction. It will motivate them to provide high-quality work for the organisation that cares for them. 

6. Mentoring and coaching

Providing mentoring and coaching programs can support mental health and occupational wellbeing throughout your organisation. These development tools are great ways to build the quality of people’s relationships, helping them to feel seen and heard. They can also have a huge benefit for employee mental health.

📖 Find out more in our guide to mentoring for mental health 📖

Final thoughts 

Organisations catering to their employees’ well-being see a significant increase in productivity, profits, and retention rates, allowing them to compete at the highest level in the market. Mentoring is also an excellent option to help the workforce deal with their issues, learn from experienced employees, and have a support system. So, what are you waiting for? It’s time to embed occupational wellness in your organisation – the benefits could be huge. 

Read more on employee wellbeing with Guider:

How to Improve Employee Wellbeing Through Mentoring 

10 Top Companies Thriving Through Mentoring 

How to Build a People Development Strategy That Actually Works

5 Employee Retention Strategies You Can Action Today

4 Example Mentoring Program Goals To Steal 

The What, Why and How of Returnship Programs

The Powerful Benefits of Mentoring Explained 

Every business knows the key to success lies in the ability to plan ahead. Especially when it comes to planning for key employees leaving the business and how to manage their exit. 

This is why succession planning is so critical, as it ensures processes are in place to fill key roles and maintain institutional knowledge. 

When used correctly, succession planning can ensure a smooth transition of leadership and facilitate the development and training of qualified individuals to step into specific roles immediately. 

Most organisations rely on various tools and strategies to effectively implement succession planning—but which tools are best? Find out in our complete guide. 

What is succession planning?

First up, let’s look at what succession planning really is.

When an employee leaves your business, it’s the HR department’s job to fill that position quickly, and the replacement needs to fit seamlessly into the company. 

For every employee that leaves, there will be a loss of institutional knowledge and expertise. There will also be time where essential work that employee normally takes care of, will need to be covered by others.

Succession planning’s main objective is to ensure a smooth transition between people leaving roles and top talent entering them. This should aim to prevent essential work slipping, other employees being overloaded and prevent a loss of knowledge. 

Why is succession planning important?

Succession planning is important because preparing for vacancies in key roles such as leadership means companies can achieve organisational stability and mitigate the risks of sudden departures or unforeseen events. 

Establishing strong processes allows organisations to maintain continuity, preserve institutional knowledge, and sustain performance levels.

However, while this might sound easy, studies show that’s not always the case. According to Employer News, around 71% of boards and 75% of CEOs don’t actively participate in – or support – succession planning sessions. 

What are the four stages of succession planning?

Succession planning involves four steps that are integral to the process. Failing to follow each stage means HR teams might fail to identify top talent and ensure a smooth transition between roles. 

Step one: Identifying key positions and roles

The first step in succession planning is identifying the key positions, such as leadership roles or jobs that require specialist skills and knowledge.

Identifying these positions allows organisations to focus on succession planning and ensure a smooth transition when these positions become vacant.

Step two: Assessing current talent

The next step is to assess the current talent within the organisation by evaluating each employee’s performance, skills, experience, and potential for growth. 

The goal is to identify individuals who can fill the key positions in the future.

Step three: Developing talent

HR departments must also focus on developing top employees and giving them the skills and capabilities required for future leadership roles.

 Training and development programmes, mentoring, and job rotations can give talented employees confidence and ensure they’re ready to step up when needed. 

Step four: Implementing and evaluating the plan

The final step involves assigning individuals to specific development activities, regularly reviewing progress, and adjusting the plan. 

Doing this ensures the succession planning strategy works and can identify any gaps or areas for improvement.

4 Succession planning tools you need today 

So, now you know more about succession planning, it’s time to reveal which tools are best. These tools simplify processes and give HR departments the information they need to make informed decisions. 

1. Guider – Mentoring software 

Mentoring is one of the best ways to plan your employees for the future, and mentoring software makes it easy for businesses to monitor their mentoring programmes and change things if needed. 

With Guider, HR departments can enjoy a fully customisable experience and tailor the software to their unique needs and training programmes. 

Better still, employees and mentors can use the platform to arrange sessions, track progress and match people using advanced criteria. 

With so many features and an easy-to-navigate platform, Guider is paving the way for companies of all sizes to develop a mentoring programme that works. 

2. Motivosity – Leader Development Software

When it comes to dedicated leader development software, Motiovosity has a suite full of valuable features. 

Not only does it help HR departments create bespoke succession plans, but it also facilitates employee rewards and recognition. 

HR teams and senior managers can identify and monitor high-performing management members and create learning paths to give them the necessary skills. 

Overall, Motivosity offers a seamless experience and makes succession planning a breeze. 

3. Cornerstone OnDemand – HCM Platform 

Cornerstone OnDemand is a cloud-based talent management software company that provides a comprehensive suite of solutions designed to assist organisations in managing their human resources and optimising employee performance. 

Using a visual-based data system, HR teams and external stakeholders can assess a range of ‘What If’ scenarios and run through them to evaluate different alterations. 

What makes Cornerstone so great is its scenario feature, which simplifies succession planning, but you’ll have to install integrations using the API, so there are some drawbacks. 

4. PerformYard – HR Performance Software 

PerformYard is another software solution that aims to help HR teams develop succession plans by generating valuable data. The great thing about this software is it’s fully customisable and has different reporting features. 

For example, you can choose a variety of performance management reports, including continuous feedback, project-based reviews, rating scales and 360-degree reviews. 

The cascading goals can also turn into long-term career plans, which allow senior management and HR teams to evaluate each employee. 

Things to remember about succession planning

Succession planning is an intricate process that requires a lot of dedication and commitment. The key to creating development plans that work is to continually monitor management members and put solid strategies in place early on. 

Our top tips for succession planning include the following: 

• Prioritising the most critical roles first. 
• Let your employees know your plans and encourage loyalty. 
• Ensure you have good training and mentoring plans in place. 
• Be willing to adapt to the changes that will naturally occur. 

📖 If you found these tips helpful, check out our full post with five top tips for succession planning 📖

The bottom line 

Succession planning should be at the top of every company’s priority list, and following the tips in this post will help you create a bespoke plan that works for your company’s unique needs. 

With so many software solutions available, you can combine systems to get the most out of your planning strategy. Guider is a top-rated mentoring solution that offers endless benefits and makes matching mentors with mentees a stress-free experience. 

If you’re interested in seeing how Guider can work for you, book a free demo today. 

Returning to work after a break can be tough. Whether it’s a sabbatical, parental leave, sick leave or time off for any other reason – re-integrating to office life can be a difficult transition.

That’s where returnships come in. 

A returnship is a program that’s used to train, support and readjust your people to work life and culture.

But what are returnships, and how can they be implemented in your organisation?

This article answers all your questions and more! Read on and learn all you need to know about returnships and how to take the first steps to implement them.

So, what is a returnship?

A returnship is like an internship, except it comes in the form of return to work program later on in your career. It’s a nice play on words, as you can see, but it’s also a beneficial strategy for companies to undertake, as it can ease your employees back into work gradually and with dedicated support. 

Furthermore, returnships can be formal and paid like an internship, or part of your re-onboarding process. It all depends on the nature of your company, how you choose to reinforce learning, and also, what your team’s needs are, which one you choose. 

What are the benefits of a returnship?

There are countless benefits, not the least of which is that you, the employer, are shown to understand that not everyone has the same career trajectory. Some people go on paternity or maternity leave and become more heavily focused on family life. Others have different commitments or are forced to go on sick leave. Maintaining a good relationship with your talented employees through life’s ups and downs is an essential part of long-term retention. 

For your people a returnship means that they can catch up on changes and not feel overwhelmed. A lot may have changed in their absence; There are technological changes, practices, and new operating procedures, as well as the changing of policies, culture, and communication techniques.

Otherwise, your team can use the returnship to learn new skills, rediscover their love of the workplace, and transition into a full-time position without getting overwhelmed. Plus, it is important to be supportive and create an invaluable network for that purpose, especially when the circumstances around the employee in question’s absence particularly call for it.

Who can a returnship support?

As we’ve mentioned above, there are lots of people that a returnship can support. These include:

1. New parents returning to work

Going on parental leave as a new parent is an exciting and at times daunting experience. Welcoming a new baby into the world can be physically, mentally and emotionally overwhelming. And going back to work afterwards, now with a newborn to care for, requires extra support as you learn to manage caring for your child with your working life. 

Remember, new parents of all genders need support. As well as people that have adopted or fostered a child, so make sure your returnship is inclusive!

2. Someone returning from sick leave

People don’t choose to go on sick leave, it’s often a stressful experience in which the support of our networks is needed to get through. In some cases, the returning party might have been away a long time with a serious condition, and additional needs to help them work effectively again. Make sure you recognise their new situation and support them to reintegrate into their role. 

3. Anyone returning from sabbatical

Particularly for employees that have been with a company for years, sabbaticals can be a fantastic way of offering flexibility to your people while keeping the door open for them to return. 

Whether someone needs a career break to travel, care for someone else or to prevent burnout, a returnship is a terrific way to bring them gradually back.

4. Colleagues that have taken a career break

The same goes for those who simply need a break from their careers. Perhaps they have gone on a two-year-long travel spree, or time away from the office has helped them to realign their work/life balance. A returnship is a way to show them that you value their skills and appreciate them back.

How do I set up an effective return to work program?

Here are our top tips for setting up a returnship to support your people:

1. Implement a mentoring program

Mentoring is a vital aspect of returnships as it allows the returning employee to communicate their needs, and also collaborate with their mentor on their goals, and daily objectives. It simply adds that extra level of one on one support that will allow them to thrive even more upon their official return. 

2. Figure out the logistics

Figuring out how to implement it starts with logistics. Firstly, determine it’s parameters. Generally, a returnship should apply to employees who have been away for a minimum of a year, but there are cases where it could be 5 or 10 years. Then, you might wish to implement a more long-term returnship plan. Either way, this step is all about determining the duration of the program and what it entails.

3. Communicate the returnship well

You may want to write a job description for the role, after deciding which employees wish to take part in the program. You will need to identify the role concisely like with any job so that there is clarity on what the program entails and how the person will transition back into their role. 

4. Keep a balanced scheme

When you launch your scheme, you will want it to be thorough as well as diverse, so make sure that it trains returning staff on all of the key skills including communication skills, technical training, networking, and orientation. Networking is particularly important as it facilitates knowledge-sharing. This will make the scheme beneficial beyond its immediate function and is something that your team can put on their CV. The more recognised your returnship becomes, the greater the benefits in this regard.

The verdict

Returnships are a great program to add to your organisation’s overall package and they have many benefits for your company and its employees. They return with autonomy, feeling fresh and authentic, and generally many moons better about their position in your company than before. This has some positive effects for your company too such as higher productivity, a more positive workplace culture, and greater collaboration between team members.

Check out our other guides below for more information on supporting and developing your people effectively: 

How to Create a Mentoring Culture in Your Workplace

How to Supercharge Your Career Progression

How to Take Responsibility for Your Personal Development

5 Employee Retention Strategies You Can Action Today

Build a People Development Strategy That Works For You

The Power of Knowledge Sharing 

The Cost of Not Doing Mentoring is Too Great to Ignore

The way we work has been flipped on its head in recent years. Following the pandemic, hybrid working models have become the predominant way of managing offices.

In fact, some have predicted that 39% of workers will undertake hybrid roles by the end of 2023. It has its advantages and disadvantages, but as employers, it’s important that to make the effort to make sure your mentoring program is accessible to your people, wherever they are working. 

In this article, we’ll address 5 ways that mentoring can work for hybrid workers so you can make the most out of mentoring. 

What is a hybrid job?

A hybrid role is a job where an employee is able to work both from home and in person. The ratio of in-person to remote days is often subject to the preferences of the employee, and the needs of the organisation, but a hybrid model normally follows a 2-3 split between office and home working. 

Like many organisation-based decisions, hybrid working is a mixed bag for business leaders. Whether it works for your business is down to the nature of the work and whether you need to meet in-person to work effectively. As well as how well you’ve been able to pivot your working model to support remote working. 

What are the advantages of hybrid work?

There are many advantages to hybrid working, including:

• More autonomy and flexibility
• Better work-life balance
• Leading to better retention and productivity
• Increased morale in the workplace
• Reduced travel costs and better financial wellbeing

For the right person, hybrid working can be a great thing. It allows people that live further away from your office to work for you and can be a fantastic way to support employees that have caring responsibilities or other needs.

For many, the switch to remote working in 2020 has changed the way they view work completely – making hybrid working a must-have for forward-thinking businesses. In fact, it’s now something that Gen-Z expect from employers.

📖 Find out more about attracting and retaining Gen Z employees here 📖

What are the disadvantages of hybrid work?

OK, so there are always downsides. While many people love working hybrid – there are always some people or organisations that it won’t work for.

If leaders don’t make the mental switch to embracing hybrid working, there can be issues. For example, a culture of presenteeism may present itself. Meaning people that are able to be in the office more are seen more favourably.

On top of this, more channels are needed to keep workers aligned, communicating and collaborating when working remotely. This requires more effort and processes in place to ensure people working from home still feel included in workplace culture.

How can mentoring support people in hybrid jobs?

We know the benefits of mentoring for career development, supporting mental health and breaking down company siloes – but did you know that hybrid and remote teams can still enjoy these benefits?

Mentoring is useful for people in hybrid jobs because it maintains that level of communication and connection to employees, increases motivation and opens up networks, even from home. 

Also, mentoring provides a consistent, structured framework that will improve the employee’s ability to hit important milestones. Not to mention the levels of personal development and professional enhancement that mentoring builds in and of itself, hybrid, remote, or in-house which can lead to higher employee retention rates.

📖 Find out more about using virtual mentoring to support remote teams here 📖

5 tips for making mentoring work for a hybrid role

1. Invest in mentoring software

Mentoring software makes virtual mentoring programmes a whole lot easier to manage. In one intuitive platform you can match and meet with people in-person and virtually.

And with software like Guider, it’s simple to switch between the 2 without losing momentum. Our in-built video meeting tech means you don’t need to leave the platform to benefit from mentoring.

📖 Find out more about how Guider works for hybrid working 📖

2. Make virtual introductions

It’s important to make sure mentoring in a hybrid environment doesn’t become siloed. A great benefit of mentoring is that mentors can introduce their mentees to their networks and make connections that otherwise wouldn’t happen. 

To make sure this keeps happening in hybrid mentoring, makes sure your mentors and mentees are encouraged to meet in person, at networking events or to make introductions virtually to relevant people.

3. Be flexible

As the hybrid role is a flexible one, so too should hybrid mentoring. To be clear, just because hybrid working involves remote work, that doesn’t mean the entire experience should be.

It is important to meet up in person when possible, which is important for establishing a deeper relationship that is ultimately more fruitful for the mentee. Why not meet for coffee once a month to break up the number of virtual sessions? 

4. Stay focused

The prime intention of mentoring is to support, help and gain an advantage for the mentee in one way or another. Make sure that whether your mentoring sessions are in person or virtual, you’re keeping track of your goals and progress. This way, the mentee will benefit greatly from the experience, and more so than in an office-based environment.

5. Be inclusive and enjoy the process!

Mentoring is a great opportunity for companies to promote inclusivity, as it is a way to encourage previously unheard employees to advance in new directions and solve business issues in an innovative way. Also, as a mentor, it’s important to enjoy the process as much as possible, as this will make the experience more impactful for the mentees.

The verdict

Hybrid mentoring is an effective, practical development tool that helps hybrid employees to excel professionally. Plus, it can become even greater if you remain focused, build a rich relationship with mentees, and even introduce them to other industry professionals who can assist their development even further.

If you want to know more about making mentoring work for hybrid team, speak with our expert team today. 

Mentoring program goals are a crucial part of developing any successful mentoring program. They give your business and your participants clear direction and something to work towards.

The best mentoring program goals align with your wider business objectives, as well as support the individuals involved towards their personal goals.

Everyone knows there’s loads of benefits to mentoring, so it’s easy to fall into the trap of not setting goals thinking it will have a positive impact regardless.

While this may be true, mentoring programs without goals are going to be harder to promote, measure, maintain momentum, and prove ROI. As with anything you want people to get behind, there needs to be a clear purpose and therefore a goal.

In this article we suggest 4 examples of mentoring program goals and how you can achieve them. Let’s dig in!

1. Mentoring Program Goal: ‘Create a Leadership Pipeline’

Getting the right, high-potential employees into leadership should be a priority for any forward thinking business. Making this an essential mentoring program goal.

Your goal should be clearly defined and based on tangible outcomes. For example, you may want to create a multi-year graduate to leadership pipeline that puts mentoring at its core to develop new graduates.

Mentoring is a great way to identify and support these employees, developing their communication and leadership skills as well as opening up their networks. It also reduces the hiring costs accrued when searching for leadership talent externally.

📖 Read more on why leaders need mentoring and coaching here 📖

Example Program Objective

The objective of the mentoring program is to develop and nurture a the next generation of leaders who possess the skills, knowledge, and mindset necessary to effectively lead our business.

The program aims to equip mentees with the essential leadership capabilities, encourage personal growth, and inspire them to make a positive impact on their teams. 

2. Mentoring Program Goal: ‘Increase Employee Retention’

You’ve noticed that a number of employees have been leaving the company for things like higher pay or further opportunities, but with that comes a loss of productivity and knowledge.

To increase employee retention you need reasons for employees to remain and mentoring can work as part of this plan. Mentoring is an investment into employee development, helping them learn more about their role and helping them reach their potential. It aids in creating a positive company culture where employees feel valued.

As statistics show, 37% of employees have a mentor, largely centred across Fortune 500 companies as 84% of fortune 500 companies have a mentoring programme. These companies understand the importance of further developing their own talent to reduce external hiring costs and knowledge retention.

Mentoring improves cross team communication, decreases isolation and improves confidence and gives the mentor a trusted point of contact to help them in dealing with workplace or confidence issues. Where you reduce the risk of employees feeling isolated, you reduce the risk of them falling to the wayside, increased stress and early exits.

Example Program Objective

The objective of the mentoring program is to enhance employee retention rates by providing personalised support, guidance, and professional development opportunities to employees. The program aims to foster strong relationships between mentors and mentees, promote a sense of belonging and engagement, and empower employees to achieve their full potential within the organisation.

3. Mentoring Program Goal: ‘Increase Onboarding Efficiency’

Not only can mentoring increase the retention rate of old employees but new employees too. 33% of new hires quit within the first 6 months. This number can be higher for some companies and teams than others, and knowing that hiring can be very expensive and time consuming we want to reduce the risks of this occurring.

This is why you should embed mentoring into your onboarding program and make it your primary program goal.

Mentoring decreases time to competency by giving employees guidance on understanding the company functions, the variety of roles and an insight into the company culture. Mentors also help new employees understand the landscape of their new company. Through creating this connection between mentor and mentee, you reduce the chances of losing employees early into onboarding.

📖 Find out more about implementing mentoring for onboarding here 📖

Example Program Objective

The objective of the mentoring program is to provide comprehensive support to new hires during their onboarding process, facilitating their smooth integration into the organisation and maximising their productivity and engagement from the start.

The program will pair new employees with experienced mentors who can provide guidance, share knowledge, and foster a sense of belonging and connection within the organisation. By focusing on the onboarding experience, the program aims to accelerate new hires’ learning, enhance their job satisfaction, and contribute to their long-term success within the organisation.

4. Mentoring Program Goal: ‘Increase Diverse Representation in Leadership’

Mentoring can support DE&I initiatives in a number of ways, a key one being increasing representation in leadership and supporting a future pipeline of diverse employees with the potential to lead.

Take our client, LVMH for example, it set a goal to increase its number of women leaders, aiming for 50/50 women in leadership. One of the ways it planned to do this was through mentoring. They already had a pool of talent in their company and a senior leader with knowledge to be shared – making it the perfect environment to create a mentoring program aimed at getting that talent into leadership roles.

The best part is, through initiatives such as reverse mentoring, you can get you employees mentoring leadership showing them first hand what they’re capable of. This is a great way to open up senior leaders to new perspectives, increase cultural competency and understanding and develop the skills of your mentors.

Example Program Objective

The objective of the women in leadership mentoring program is to identify and support potential female leaders into leadership roles. The goal is to increase female representation in leadership by X% in 2025. 

By providing mentorship, guidance, and opportunities for skill development, the program aims to inspire and equip women with the tools and confidence necessary to succeed in leadership positions. 

There we have it, 4 example mentoring program goals for you to use, today! Mentoring ensures that all employees have access to training and can get help in developing and defining their goals and aspirations. In order to do this effectively, you need to set your program goals from the start. These are just 4 examples of how you can use mentoring to empower your people.

To find out more, check out our further resources: 

The Benefits of Coaching and Mentoring 

Remove the Admin Burden of Mentoring

5 Employee Retention Strategies That You Can Action Today

How Mentoring Makes Great Managers

10 Top Companies Making the Most Out of Mentoring

Mentorship vs. Sponsorship: The More is Better Approach to Personal Development

The What, Why and How of Returnship Programs