A mentor is a counsellor for a less experienced worker (or mentee). Mentoring is a way for valuable, skilled employees to pass on knowledge to less experienced employees.

Employers can harness the experience of mature age workers by offering them the opportunity to mentor as part of a phased retirement or flexible working arrangement.

• Benefits to employers
• Benefits to employees
• Tips for implementing and managing a mentoring programme

Benefits to employers

A mentoring programme is an effective way of:

• extending the careers of experienced workers approaching retirement age,
• keeping valuable knowledge within your company,
• boosting staff morale as it may assist in fostering a supportive work environment.

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Benefits to employees

• Mentoring allows experienced staff an opportunity to share their valuable knowledge with, and support, less experienced staff.
• If used as part of a phased retirement/flexible working arrangement, it can allow staff flexibility to balance personal responsibilities with employment.

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Tips for implementing and managing a mentoring programme

A valuable step in setting up a mentoring programme is to draw up a mentoring agreement between the mentee and their mentor. Keep in mind that the purpose of the agreement is to:

• clarify the respective roles and expectations of mentors and mentees;
• provide a framework for how the relationship will work by setting expectations regarding the frequency of meetings, length of meetings, the duration of the programme and mentoring activities that will be covered;
• provide for a no-fault dissolution of the relationship by either party.

For smaller businesses, a more informal agreement could be more attractive as long as the terms of the arrangement are agreed upon by both parties.

Introduce the following factors into your mentoring programmes for greater success:

• accountability to meet expected results,
• careful matching of mentors and mentees,
• clearly thought-out objectives and communication,
• confidentiality,
• cross-functional exposure,
• support of senior management,
• training for both the mentor and mentee.

For further information on mentoring please go to Equal Opportunity in Public Employment . 

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