Mentorship matters. A staggering 87% of millennials believe learning and development in the workplace is important, according to Gallup. If you want to engage and retain your people, you need to help them grow – and offering mentoring is one way to do that. 

“Mentoring programs create opportunities for both mentors and mentees to build their leadership capabilities. They develop talent in an organization, maximizing the investment a company makes in its employees as they gain experience and increasingly perform at a higher level. They cultivate a sense of community that keeps employees connected and engaged—key outcomes that foster retention,” according to executive coach and management consultant  Karen Jaw-Madson. “From a hybrid work situation, mentoring helps employees become more enmeshed in the culture,” according to Rik Nemanick, mentoring expert and author of “The Mentor’s Way” 

Here are seven tips to help you create strong mentorship programs in the hybrid workplace, according to HR and management experts. 

Establish a meaningful purpose and desired outcomes 

Before designing any experience, it’s important to establish a meaningful purpose and desired outcomes for it, says Jaw-Madson. 

“These should serve as both the starting and reference point. Yes, mentoring is run like a program, but it should be designed, lived, and seen as an experience—whether it is delivered remotely, in a hybrid environment, or in person,” she says. “The content of the program should aim to foster learning, engagement, and development through a meaningful and positively impactful experience.” 

Jaw-Madson suggests using one of the 5E frameworks – an experiential learning model – as an inspiration. Answer the following questions before planning the logistics and implementation of your mentoring program: 

1. What Entices participants? 
2. How do they Enter and get oriented? 
3. What Engages them? 
4. How would they Exit the program and transition to being mentors themselves? 
5. What Extends the experience beyond the program as takeaways, learning, and memorable moments? 

Consider a peer mentoring model 

Elaina Zuker, a consultant, speaker and the author of “YOU X 2” – Peer Mentoring for Success,” is a big fan of peer mentoring models in a hybrid workplace. Instead of pairing senior mentors with proteges, consider peer mentoring, where employees with complementary skills and needs can pair up and commit to helping each other reach their individual goals. “This type of mentoring program can be greatly cost-effective, increase productivity and create a culture of peer empowerment and competency,” she says. “Participants feel valued; there are many untapped resources; skills, talents, contacts, etc. among peers.

So an individual who wants to benefit from another’s expertise can choose from a great ‘vault’ of resources. This is a proven method for workers (especially working remotely) to have an accountability partner.” 

She recommends following a six-step process to successfully implement a peer mentoring initiative. 

1. Education and Awareness: “Employees should be educated via a webinar, company-wide meeting or other form of communication. The process should be described, share how people might benefit from it, and include examples of success in other settings and organizations,” says Zuker. Make sure to gather feedback, questions and concerns from employees during this step. 
2. Buy-in: Once people are aware of the program and how it can benefit them, Zuker recommends offering them the opportunity to opt in for a designated trial period. 
3. Assessment: This step is all about creating an inventory of skills and resources. Ask employees to fill in a simple assessment about the skills and resources they possess and the ones they are interested in acquiring. 
4. Pairing: The next step is to pair participants based on skills and needs. “This requires a skilled facilitator,” says Zuker. 
5. More education: Now that the pairs are selected, share additional guidelines about the process moving forward. Things, like setting professional goals, creating a peer mentor contract for accountability, giving examples of questions to ask your mentor, and offering tips on monitoring and nurturing the relationship, should be included. 
6. Follow-up: Checking in regularly is also key. “How is it going? Are the partners’ contributions equal, equitable? What improvements can be made?” says Zuker. 

Facilitate in-person meetings when possible 

As you can see, implementing strong mentorship programs requires effort and intention. But even with a super tight process, nurturing relationships, which is what mentorship is all about, takes time. 

According to Nemanick, it’s key to facilitate some in-person meetings to strengthen the mentoring relationship – even in a hybrid or remote workforce. 

Turn cameras on and meet frequently 

“When mentoring is done at a distance, turn the cameras on. The ease in having video conferences has been a boon to distance mentoring,” he adds. “Also, meet frequently during a mentoring program (bi-weekly for the first three months) to build up the relationships.” 

Be mindful of time zones 

If you have employees in different time zones, be mindful of meeting times. “Try to match people within three time zones of each other. With some of the global programs with which I work, scheduling mentoring time becomes difficult if there is very little overlap in the participants’ work days,” says Nemanick. 

Choose the right tech 

Tech is obviously important in terms of implementing strong mentorship programs in a hybrid workplace. “Having everyone on a virtual platform (even those who might meet in person) puts everyone in the program on a level playing field and ensures everyone has access,” according to Nemanick. 

You’ll want to provide participants with the tools to succeed, but also allow for flexibility, says Jaw-Madson: “Practically speaking, the technology and resources should be provided to give mentors and mentees the autonomy and flexibility to choose what would work for their pairing at any given time. The key is to eliminate friction points and barriers to a smooth process and let them focus on what’s most important: the mentoring itself.”