Mentorship for idea development in work, creativity assistance from expert in organization concept. Big hand turning electric wire of idea light bulb into stairway for businessman stepping up.

For over a year now, a trend in many sectors of business dubbed “The Great Resignation” has proven detrimental to not only the amount of quality employees leaving business, but the inability to recruit and retain worthy replacements — and the cleaning industry is certainly no different. There’s any number of reasons why people struggle to keep good candidates in the early stages of hiring; it can be asking the wrong questions during an interview and green lighting a bad fit, having a misleading job description or otherwise. 

One method that can improve a company’s chances of better retention, however, is a strong mentorship presence for new employees. To help shed some light on the subject, CFO outlined applicable tips to improve mentorship skills as a manager. 

1. Understand the difference managing and mentoring. While management can have the connotation of being strictly-business with a clear hierarchy to stick to, mentorship is more relationship-based. To be a strong mentor, have conversations about employee interests — and from there, utilize what you know to develop trust. If an employee feels like these efforts are inauthentic, a true partnership won’t get off the ground. 

2. Judgement-free zone. It’s easy to give a pat on the back when things go well and a new employee is succeeding, but when they inevitably suffer their first setback or make their first mistake, it’s easy for them to doubt themselves. In these moments, a mentor should step in to not only let them know a mistake is ok, but to lay out a plan on how they can improve for the future. An informal lunch setting is a great example of where to initiate this conversation. 

3. The 'Extra Mile' to communicate. Especially in today’s environment of either hybrid or completely remote work, it’s a lot more difficult to check in on an employee by walking across the hall. In remote environments, it’s very easy to get monotonous in when meetings are scheduled, and soon mentors may find they aren’t communicating with employees nearly enough. Scheduling calls just to talk about how they’re feeling within the confines of the job can go a long way, or encourage them to stop into the office every once in a while when feasible. 

Hiring struggles don’t appear to be going away anytime soon, whether it’s a frontline cleaning team member or a distributor office position. For additional tips including job descriptions, interviewing and more, check out this recent feature from Sanitary Maintenance.