At a Regional Public Agency, Mentored Employees Are 1.5x as Likely to Be Promoted

At a glance

• Segment: Public sector, regional sanitation agency
• Industry: Government and public infrastructure
• Location: United States
• Employees: About 2,000
• Programs: Employee-led career mentoring, in cycles of about six months

The Challenge

Much of the agency's work happens away from a desk. Its 2,000 employees work across offices and field operations that run around the clock, and field staff have little time at a computer. A mentoring program announced on the intranet would miss many of the people the agency most needed to develop.

Reaching people was only the first barrier. The agency wanted employees to choose their own mentor, and that only works if they take the step. Some employees wanted to connect with senior colleagues but hesitated to ask.

Mentors had their own gap. In a program where mentees take the lead, some mentors asked for more materials and clearer direction on what to talk about. The team wanted conversations to follow each person's goals while giving both people a practical place to start.

Why Chronus

The agency chose Chronus because it asks little of employees and keeps their choice intact.

• Joining is simple. Single sign-on and an employee data feed fill in much of each profile, so participants have less to type.
• Mentees choose their mentor. Employees send requests to the mentors they want, rather than being assigned.
• A clear place to start. The team preferred interactive courses over a large content library that could leave employees unsure where to begin.
• Less admin work. The same employee data supports matching and reporting.

The Solution

Reaching office and field staff

Single sign-on and the employee data feed keep joining simple for people who rarely sit at a computer. The team supported launch with posters, intranet slides and separate outreach to mentors and to mentees.

Helping employees take the first step

Letting people choose a mentor was only half the job. The other half was helping them take the first step. In one case, the team helped an early-career engineer send a request to a senior leader, and the engineer was thrilled when it was accepted. The engineer was later promoted to supervisor.

Giving mentors a starting point

For the second cycle, the team added Guided Conversations, because mentors had asked for structure. The guides help both people prepare and decide what to talk about. The team chose a flexible agenda that pairs adapt to their own interests, rather than topics set by administrators.

Guided conversations show our people where to steer, and then they make it their own.

Workforce development program coordinator

Training when people can use it

Rather than front-load training, the team times it. Participants get a short preview of the features at the start, then Guided Conversations training once they have a match and are deciding what to discuss. Each new cohort enrolls separately and follows a simple structure: an introductory meeting guide, goal setting, a midpoint check and closing reminders.

The Impact

Mentored employees move up and stay

• 1.5x as likely to be promoted as nonparticipants, in the program's early reporting
• 96% retention among participants, against 90% among nonparticipants: participants left at less than half the rate

Employees took the first step, and senior staff said yes

• 250+ people signed up in the first round, about 150 of them mentors: more people volunteered to mentor than to be mentored
• 9 in 10 mentees who sent a request had it accepted

Conversations mentors could use

• Every meeting-feedback response in the latest cycle, more than 100 in all, rated the conversation helpful or better
• 94% of mentoring connections were active in the latest cycle

Each cycle now starts with a fresh opt-in, so the latest cycle counts only people who chose to take part again: more than 100 participants were connected in pairs.