The value of having a mentor during the course of an employee’s career can be invaluable to both career growth and potential longevity in the organization. In the past, relocation services company Cartus informally provided mentors to employees who asked for that type of developmental relationship. The informality of the process, however, left the full potential of mentorship unrealized and untapped—given the lack of a formal structure, any mentoring milestones were inconsistent, and many mentees (and mentors) reported being unsatisfied with the experience.
Cartus came to recognize that exposure to mentors and leaders in the organization accounts for roughly 20 percent of professional development, so it sought a more formalized way of addressing this need. In fourth quarter 2013, in partnership with the other business units from its parent company, Realogy Holdings Corp., Cartus introduced an online mentor system for employees. This system allows employees to apply to be a mentor or a mentee, therefore providing development opportunities to employees at all levels. (Most mentors are of the manager or above level.)
Program Details
Applicants complete a brief profile about their experience and interests, and the system runs an algorithm to match similar interests and expertise between mentors and mentees. This automated process is not restricted by business unit, so it provides access to greater experience, expertise, and perspective through cross-functional, cross-business unit relationship-building and networking.
Once matched, the mentee and mentor make contact and establish a common schedule for meeting. Throughout the six-month relationship, the system triggers articles, tasks, and worksheets specific to the following four milestones:
- Preparing for the Partnership
- Building Relationship/Goals
- Working Toward the Goal
- Last Meeting
Participants can track their actions and accomplishments, as well as post mentoring-related resources for their fellow mentors/mentees in a wiki-type format, receiving system-generated reminders throughout the process.
Results
The demand to be a part of the inaugural cohort of the mentor matching system was so great that application submission was closed within the first 24 hours and yielded 98 participants across all Realogy business units, 25 percent of which were Cartus employees. After the six-month timeframe, 90 percent of participants surveyed indicated that they would recommend the program to colleagues, and 77 percent felt they had achieved the goals they set out to accomplish. Development opportunities like this help to increase employee engagement and contribute to the current 90 percent employee retention rate organizationally. Some 94 percent of the participants in the inaugural cohort of this mentor system remain with the organization today.
As a result of feedback from this initial group, improvements were made to the training and preparation of both mentees and mentors to emphasizing better goal setting in the most recent group of participants. Additionally, applicants from global offices were included in the pool of mentors and mentees, increasing the global and cultural perspective in development.
