One of the most notable studies available about the financial impact of mentorship programs was highlighted by The Wharton School at University of Pennsylvania and conducted by Gartner. The study found that employees who participated in a mentorship program (mentors and mentees alike) were more likely to be promoted and/or receive salary increases and were more likely to remain with their employer long term. What’s the ROI of your program?
According to this study and others like it, there’s no question that mentorship programs have the potential to yield a high return on investment (ROI) for organizations that implement them. But how will you know if your mentorship programs themselves are yielding a decent ROI?
Here’s how to determine the ROI of your own mentorship programs.
Steady and Increasing Number of Registrants and Participants
When a mentorship program allows employees to excel professionally, they’ll tell their coworkers and bosses about it—who will then want to participate in the program, too. And over time, more and more employees will want to participate in the program and experience the benefits it offers. So, if your program is truly yielding a positive ROI, you’ll see an increase in the number of individuals registering for it. While it’s unlikely that you’ll have 100% of your employees participate in your mentorship program at any given time, you’ll still want to see its number of registrants steadily increase over time after it’s first implemented.
High Number of Action Plan Goals Completed
If you have your participants keep track of their professional action plans and goals as they progress through their mentorship programs, you’ll want to verify that they’re also completing and reaching their goals. For instance, if sales representatives are trying to reach a certain goal or acquire a new skill, were they able to do so because of their mentoring program? Are your mentors reaching their goals, too? If most of your participants can’t reach the goals and action plans they’ve established, your program is most likely not yielding a high ROI.
Greater Retention Rates and Length of Participant Involvement
Not only will employees stay at their companies longer when they participate in successful mentorship programs but also they’ll stay in their mentorship programs. A high retention rate in the programs themselves means that employees are finding them useful. The longer a participant wants to be involved in the program, the higher the ROI of the program itself.
Better Employee Engagement and Productivity Levels
Overall, if your mentorship program yields a high ROI, your employees will be more productive at work and more engaged. Projects will get finished faster and more efficiently, and there won’t be as many sick days on the books. You’ll also see more of your participants get promoted and earn other achievements and awards (i.e., “salesperson of the year”).
Survey and Poll Responses
If it’s hard to access or determine any of the information listed above, you can always just ask participants to anonymously submit survey and poll responses about your program. Allow them to tell you what they like and don’t like about the program and whether it’s helped them at all.
To keep your mentorship programs from falling to the wayside, use the tips above to continually gauge whether they’re successfully yielding a high ROI.