Competition for skilled workers is ferocious in tech, a sector notorious for its high degree of turnaround. This scramble has companies vying for employees — or trying to keep them — with promises of more flexibility, increased pay, and robust benefits.
It should be a sound strategy; after all, a 2022 global EDB poll of more than 1,400 tech workers found that when it came to employee satisfaction, pay and benefits ranked No. 1.
However, EDB’s findings suggested there’s another, more holistic factor that helps keep tech workers from eyeing the door: almost 40 percent of respondents said they would consider another job opportunity if it included better mentorship opportunities.
And when it came to mentorship programs and employee satisfaction, EDB’s polling reflected that one is likely to impact the other.
“Those who were most satisfied with their current employer said their organization rolled out a mentoring program in the last 12 months (21%),” EDB’s report read, “whereas those who were dissatisfied (43%) said they did not introduce any remote training and mentoring this year.”
Here are a few key reasons why mentorship programs are so important to tech workers, and in turn, important to tech companies.
New tech workers benefit from mentorship programs
A mentor can be a tremendous help to any professional, the Forbes technology council wrote in Oct. 2020, “but especially to new tech professionals, who are coming into an industry that operates at high speed and changes quickly.”
The council continues: “A fellow industry professional with a few more years under their belt can have experience and insights that are invaluable to someone just starting.”
The right mentor can help young talent in tech navigate unfamiliar territory, they explain, and get careers off to a stronger start.
Startups are sometimes apprehensive to hire new grads because they anticipate more resources will be allocated to train them, explains BetaKit’s Stefan Palios.
However, Palios reported in January that this is a misconception. Regardless of existing experience, it is how employees are onboarded and trained that is critical to their success.
He cited European information services company Dialectica — which has been ranked one of Canada’s Top 100 Employers — as an example of a startup that hires new talent for entry-level positions, before using mentorship and check-ins to foster that talent.
Ultimately, the experience seems to allow for what Indeed identified as an important aspect of mentorship: it helps employees get comfortable in their position more quickly, which benefits businesses, too.
Mentorship helps experienced tech workers keep their skills sharp
LinkedIn’s 2023 Workforce Learning Report found that in addition to compensation and flexibility, “three of the top five factors that drive people to pursue new jobs reflect their desire to stretch, grow, and develop new skills.”
It means employees will leave companies because they aren’t learning, the report said — and mentorship ranked No. 1 in the program areas it identified for learning and development.
“Empowering employees with career development tools … engages learners and expands workforce skills,” the report said in part.
In tech, workers have an important reason to highly prioritize their continued learning and development.
“[They] know they’ll fall behind if they don’t stay up-to-date on the latest tech,” EDB’s report said.
In a sector that is constantly evolving, that means its workers have to stay on top of their day-to-day assignments while also keeping their skills current, software engineer Kaleb McKelvey wrote for analytics company LogRocket.
Mentors help mentees learn, he said, while providing valuable perspective.
“Not only do we need to stay updated on the technologies we’re working on, but we are also constantly learning new best practices that lead to better development flows,” McKelvey said.
“Mentors can help ensure mentees are continuously learning over time and keeping skills relevant by sharing tips and valuable resources, and by making sure they understand it’s impossible to know everything.”
Mentorship can create healthier workplaces for employees of colour
A 2019 Catalyst report showed that in Canada, workers who identify as Black, South Asian, or East Asian experience levels of “emotional tax” that lead them to consider quitting their jobs at rates that are “dangerously high.”
That tax is described as “the combination of feeling different from peers at work because of gender, race, and/or ethnicity, being on guard to experiences of bias, and the associated effects on health, well-being, and ability to thrive at work.”
“People of colour are an engine of Canada’s economy, yet they continue to face some of the workplace’s most entrenched hurdles, such as near invisibility in top leadership roles, pay inequities, and discrimination,” said Tanya van Biesen, executive director of Canada at Catalyst.
However, the report said leaders who create empowering work environments that support employees of colour can drive their intent to stay.
Those environments are cultivated by equipping people of colour with the tools they need to thrive, the report said, and that includes ensuring employees feel they have allies in leadership and access to the supportive resources they need to excel.
And mentorship programs can help professionals who are minorities to feel an increased sense of support in the workplace, Jacob Johnson wrote for Codeacademy in February.
“A good mentor can open the door to many opportunities, especially for Black (and other minority) professionals who navigate homogenous work environments, microaggressions, and harmful stereotypes throughout their careers,” Johnson said.
“[Mentors] can offer a source of support and empathy as they provide professional guidance and help accelerate your career growth.”
But it’s important to note that in general, EDB reported that mentorship programs need to be genuine to be effective, report says
“It is not enough for an organization to claim they have such programs,” it said.
“They must be properly implemented, and employees must be given consistent encouragement and space to invest their time in these programs.”
