Mentoring has long been a staple programme in the workplace across all manner of industries, allowing employees to garner advice outside of any formal appraisal system or review with a line manager.

Through one-to-one guidance with a peer, mentors can become fundamental in ensuring employees are provided with access to the correct tools to grow their professional careers, and in an industry that is increasingly growing in specialisms, mentoring schemes within the property sector may now be more relevant than ever.

However, with today’s workplaces developing at pace, and with the generational shift resulting in probably the most diverse workforce we’ve seen to date, we believe that it’s time for businesses to ensure that any mentoring scheme they have in place is still fit to meet the needs of a modern business. In other words, it might be time to say goodbye to the traditional senior manager to junior employee mentoring style.

Savills has adopted a flat, rather than hierarchical, mentoring scheme for many years, allowing both mentor and mentee to benefit from their involvement. A recent trial within the business has also seen employees matched with colleagues in the same division, who are just slightly further along in their careers, to allow for similar experiences to be shared. From this, mentees better understand the areas that they need to develop in order to progress, through having direct conversation with a mentor who has only recently gone through the very same process.

In addition, there has also been recent research that has shown the benefits that reverse mentoring can have on employees, suggesting that it creates both a happier and more productive workforce. Reverse mentoring involves mentors equally benefiting from their mentee, by gaining an understanding of the perceptions of the business from someone at a different stage within their career and any issues that may be surfacing. Reverse mentoring can also assist the mentor in shaping their own managerial skill set, particularly if they are not yet a line manager themselves.

As businesses continue to grow and develop, we believe that mentoring will continue to play an important role in employee development and career progression, and we at Savills are seeing increasing demand from employees wishing to be involved in our mentoring scheme, either as mentor or mentee.

However, as workplaces become more diverse, accommodating for up to five different generations within one business, it is vital to ensure that any mentoring scheme that is in place is fit to suit the needs and wants of today’s workers. This can then in turn help nurture a better connected business and a more satisfied and fulfilled workforce.

Further information

Contact Savills Careers