Mentoring Young Employees at Work

Remember when you started work for the first time? Do you remember how it felt and who helped you get up to speed?

On leaving school, my first job was as a clerk in a building society in Johannesburg. I was inducted into a bustling, old-wood office, run by middle-aged, Glaswegian managers who took no prisoners. They were strict, competent, and practical as well as patient and brusquely kind. Fortunately, they also had a sense of humour and a great team spirit of their own. They set us newbies up well for our future working lives by encouraging our skills development and confidence through shared hands-on training and mentoring. I remember them fondly and I’m forever grateful for their gentle ministrations.

Helping young people navigate the workplace requires a somewhat broad and holistic approach. They may come with any number of challenges and may initially struggle with timekeeping, transport, dress code, conduct, focus or communication. Considering their unique backgrounds, personalised and insightful input can be really effective. Having recourse to mature, emotionally intelligent mentors is a boon, both to the young person and to the organisation.

Beside the stresses of learning a new job, young employees may be grappling with personal or social issues. They may have learning or physical disabilities, be young carers or care leavers, struggle with language, cultural or housing issues, have gaps in their education or have complex personal lives. Being able to get the job done under any of these circumstances is a remarkable achievement.

Sensible onboarding strategies

Joining an organisation is often an overwhelming and stressful experience for anyone. Young employees may feel eager but nervous, excited but uncertain, so easing their transition using these strategies can have immediate and long-term benefits:

• Introduce a ‘buddy system’ by pairing new employees with more experienced colleagues who can provide day-to-day support and guidance.
• Give them access to experienced mentors to help them navigate the workplace and guide their career progression, conduct and safety.
• Establish clear lines of communication so they know who to report to or who to ask for help.
• Provide technology training to reduce unnecessary stress. (Don’t leave onboarding to automated HR processes and don’t assume they understand acronyms or jargon).
• Set clear expectations about roles, responsibilities and rules of conduct to reduce misunderstanding and conflict.
• Provide opportunities for career progression through achievable goals.
• Have frequent, meaningful conversations to build trust and clarity.
• Allow some autonomy and involve them in decision-making to demonstrate how things work.
• Encourage questions and input without fear of censure. This will foster confidence and engagement.
• Provide regular feedback to reinforce positive behaviours and drive motivation.
• Explain the organisational culture or social mission so that people understand why things are done in a certain way.
• Treat mistakes as learning opportunities rather than reasons for reprimand as this will spur growth and improvement.
• Be clear about what success and failure looks like and establish boundaries and routes to progression.
• Emphasise the importance of self-care both in and out of the workplace to help establish a sustainable work/life pattern.
• Promote task variety to create interest, engagement and retention.
• Advise on how to manage workloads and fluctuations in workloads to promote resilience and reduce stress.
• Incorporate wellbeing into daily conversations to normalise a culture of care.
• Provide clarity around the roles and access routes to Mental Health First Aid and Employee Assistance Programs to reduce the fear around confidentiality and job security.
• Get to know your employees and establish the key human connections necessary for good working relations.
• Develop a positive workplace culture by being approachable, maintaining a sense calm and exercising a flexible perspective,  

Think like a tribal elder.

Preparing young people for the job at hand and a life of work, gives them the confidence to expand, learn and develop. Other organisations might ultimately reap the rewards of your effort, but as a social, business and economic community, we can’t afford to neglect our collective future

Ensuring young employees have the tools to function as best they can, is the least we can do. As the workplace is a microcosm of society, enabling people to contribute meaningfully is in everyone’s interest. Instilling confidence in their own abilities and in the people around them are fundamental to success.

Like my old mentors, we can leave a lifelong, positive influence on those we are tasked to guide. However, we mustn’t forget to look after the mentors and give them the time and resources they need to minimise the strain and enjoy the process. Sharing the responsibility among team members protects everyone’s wellbeing.

Hopefully the next generation will thrive and take their valuable experiences and lessons into their working lives. Along the way we mentors might discover a whole raft of new ideas, research and trends that bring us up to speed too.

Sonia x