For
Businesses
Mentoring….Overall Benefits to Employees, Businesses, and
Community
- Company
Benefits
- Improves
relationships with surrounding community
- Improves
public image
- Builds
a cohesive, motivated workforce
- Increases
employee performance and productivity
- Helps
establish and enhance corporate or brand reputation in new
or existing markets
- Employee
Benefits
- Improves
leadership and interpersonal skills
- Reduces
isolation and increases interaction with employees in other
segments and levels of company
- Adds
variety and fulfillment and increases sense of self worth
- Improves
the community services employees and their families use
-
Community Benefits
-
Provides new talent and energy by increasing number of volunteers
and pool of available skills
- Increases
understanding between businesses and nonprofit sector
- Supports
the quality of life in the community
- Gives
capacity to provide community services that otherwise might
be impossible
Source: The Center for Corporate Citizenship at Boston
College, 1999
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-
92 percent of corporate executives surveyed encouraged their employees
to become involved in community service
- 77
percent of companies surveyed agreed that volunteer programs benefit
corporate strategic goals
- Approximately
80 percent of volunteer programs improve employee retention and
enhance training
- Approximately
90 percent of volunteer programs build teamwork skills, improve
morale, and attract better employees
- 50
percent of respondents have made community service a part of their
companies mission statement
- 72
percent of the companies surveyed report ongoing endorsement of
volunteer programs by their CEO’s
- More
than 50 percent of the participants acknowledged connections between
corporate volunteer programs and profitability. Even a higher
percentage register stronger agreement to factors that affect
profitability (teamwork, morale, productivity).
*Source: Corporate Volunteer Programs: Benefits to Business.
Sponsored by the Conference
Board and the Points of Light Foundation, Report No. 1029.
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Get Involved…Become a Mentor!
According to the National Mentoring Partnership, the following are
ideas/strategies for your business/corporation to get involved in
mentoring. This list isn’t comprehensive, but a good place
to start!
-
Know your options. Mentoring comes in many forms. There’s
a program to suit everyone.
- Think
big, but start out small. No matter what size your organization,
you’ll want to start by setting realistic goals.
- Be
realistic in what you hope to accomplish. Mentoring is an invaluable
tool for helping young people find the best in themselves and
live up to their potential, but it does not "fix" personal
problems. This philosophy needs to be evident in all aspects of
your own mentoring program.
- Use
existing resources rather than trying to go it alone. Find
out
what mentoring opportunities and resources may already exist
in your community. Contact Shelley Prince, FCPS Mentoring Specialist,
at 571-423-1223 or Jay Garant, FCPS Coordinator of Business and Community Partnerships, at 571-423-1225.
- Think
of ways you can implement your program with minimum disruption
to your business. This might be as simple as deciding when volunteers
are available to mentor. For instance, you might try a lunch-time
mentoring program. Or, try an e-mentoring program – mentoring
through the exchange of e-mails.
- Join
an already established program rather than launching a brand-new
initiative. This approach can streamline your efforts, save heavy
start-up costs and allow your organization an easier entrance
to mentoring. By choosing to partner with an existing mentoring
program you’ll have the benefits of learning the ropes from
experienced program administrators.
- Be
creative in your approaches. For example, if your organization
is primarily made up of professionals, consider job-shadowing
programs. Bringing young people into an office environment can
give them a better idea of the demands of the workplace.
- Follow
your instincts. If you begin to feel overwhelmed, scale back.
This is a much better solution than giving up before you get your
program off the ground.
Source: The National Mentoring Partnership
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