The importance of mentoring from within

While well-established events such as Halloween and Bonfire Night are just around the corner, most people will be unaware that today (October 27) is National Mentoring Day.

Founded by Chelsey Baker, an award-winning business mentor, the day is designed to “raise awareness of the invaluable and rewarding contribution that mentoring makes which has a huge impact on not only our economy but also our society”.

As a senior HR professional, I wholeheartedly support the implementation of mentoring programmes across all businesses, as they deliver a host of benefits, not just for the mentees but also for the mentors.

Those people on the receiving end are provided with neutral advice and support, they can enjoy an uplifting relationship with a senior colleague, as well as being provided with assistance when problem solving.

As a result, you’ll often find that those team members enjoy increased self-confidence and improved performance, leading to greater employee engagement and a lower staff turnover rate.

Nurturing relationships

However, the benefits provided to the mentor are often overlooked, but I believe they are equally as important.

This includes the perfect opportunity to further nurture professional relationships across the business, to engage more frequently with junior colleagues, to enhance your overall understanding of the business and how it operates, as well as improving your interpersonal skills.

At Hermes, mentoring – and the positive effect it has upon employee engagement and development – continues to play a key role in how we shape our business for the future, especially in terms of our succession model.

“At Hermes, mentoring continues to play a key role in how we shape our business for the future”

We are rolling out a succession framework that not only examines what we will need across our senior management team, but also the entire organisation – which is incredibly important when you consider the competitive nature of our industry.

Supporting the development of exciting new talent is a top priority for Hermes, as it provides our team with a better understanding of what we are going to need over the next 12 to 18 months, as well as the next three to five years.

Consequently, mentoring, appraisals and coaching is widespread across the whole business and we make sure that anybody who wants mentoring can enjoy that benefit, including our graduates.

In conclusion, we are incredibly proud that a large majority of our employees are appointed from within, and it is important to us that this trend continues over the years to come. Therefore, it is essential that we give our employees the right tools, advice and encouragement they need to flourish.

• Jill Maples is HR director of Hermes