As we move into 2023, the team at Pryme have been thinking about how to best ring in the new year. As leaders in the workplace safety sector, one of our primary functions lies in educating others. Because we know how important support and teaching are to the safety of every workplace, we’re focusing this month on International Mentoring Day – January 17.
The purpose of International Mentoring Day is to foster understanding across the globe about the practice of mentoring and to support the mentoring movement worldwide. Established in 2002 by MENTOR: The National Mentoring Partnership and Harvard TH School of Public Health, the international day is all about raising awareness of the need for more mentors in contemporary society, as well as encouraging more people to actively become mentors, particularly to young people.
Mentoring in the workplace
Mentoring can have a significant impact on a young person’s career. It’s a key factor in supporting workers new to the trade, giving them the social resources, education, and career guidance that they need in order to succeed in their roles.
Apprentices and new workers have a lot of technical knowledge and skill to learn when they’re new to trade workplaces. One of the best ways to ensure that they develop a comprehensive understanding of their role is mentoring: it not only involves technical training, but social and emotional support, which are critical in helping trainees to maintain a positive frame of mind that’s conducive to learning.
Where workers represent minorities in trade occupations, mentoring can help to navigate the social aspects of the workplaces, and contribute to building work systems and cultures that are inclusive and supportive of diversity.
Roles of a mentor
Mentors provide interpersonal support, and foster good relationships between site supervisors and managers, project teams, workers, suppliers and customers that become the backbone of an efficient and effective workplace.
Mentors are also a valuable source of information for new employees and apprentices, and can not only save considerable time in searching for answers, but provide access to information that isn’t formally documented anywhere else.
Mentors provide both formative and summative assessment of trainees’ work, giving valuable feedback to improve their practice, and reinforcing positive attitudes and skills acquisition to help their professional development.
Benefits of mentoring
Both mentors and mentees benefit from the practice of mentoring.
Besides learning technical skills, the benefits to trainees and apprentices of accessing professional mentoring in the workplace include:
- Increased chance of successfully completing their trade qualification, and lower rates of dropout
- Development of prosocial attitudes to the workplace, including teamwork and safe practice
- Improved employability
- Improved confidence and self-esteem
- Reduced risk of accident and injury
Mentors also benefit from being in a mentoring role. These benefits include:
- Helping to foster a positive attitude and teamwork in the workplace
- Improved communication and leadership skills that are required in high-level roles
- Refreshing and practicing skills they might not have used for some time
- Improved capacity to deliver feedback and listen actively
- Personal satisfaction from seeing their teaching expressed the trainee’s new skill sets.
Getting involved
There are lots of ways you can participate in International Mentoring Day in your workplace. On January 17, you could:
- Hold a lunch to encourage and celebrate the achievements of apprentices and new employees in your workplace
- Offer to mentor or peer support a new employee or apprentice
- Hold educational sessions and in-services to share important technical information with new workers who might not have had the opportunity to access it
- Donate to, volunteer with, or employ a mentoring organisation like Trades Women Australia (https://tradeswomenaus.com/tradeswomen/mentoring/) which provides professional development support for new trade workers.
One of the most effective ways you can contribute to mentoring in the workplace is to share this day on social media with #InternationalMentoringDay, and encourage other businesses to invest in professional mentoring.
At Pryme, we can help you to become a mentor in workplace safety. You’ll find instructional videos for many of our products throughout our catalogue at www.pryme.com.au/catalogue, which you can share later with your junior colleagues. For the full range of safety products, you can use to educate and protect your workmates in the workplace, visit our website at www.pryme.com.au or contact our friendly staff for more information.
