170,000 businesses get behind National Mentoring Day but UK economy needs more

Blue-chip organisations along with the government and local councils get behind the annual global event, as National Mentoring Day calls on all UK organisations to commit to ensuring every employee receives one hour of mentoring in 2023 to help solve the skills shortage and boost the economy.

The UK had its biggest National Mentoring Day on record, withmore than 170,000 organisations including the UK government, The Football Association (FA) and Google supporting the initiative on 27th October. But at a time of record job vacancies and skills shortages, particularly in key sectors such as tech, too many businesses are still missing out on the benefits of mentoring, which provide a way for individuals to gain knowledge in new areas and broaden employment options.

That’s why National Mentoring Day is calling on all organisations to commit to ensuring every employee receives one hour of mentoring in 2023, to help effect positive change across the UK and do their bit to help boost the economy.  

The ask echoes the findings of the government’s Mentoring Matters report, which launched on National Mentoring Day in conjunction with Enterprise Nation, Newable and the Association of Business Mentors. It uncovered that although mentoring is key to business growth, many of the UK’s 5.5 million SMEs are yet to engage with mentoring schemes. 

To encourage greater uptake of mentoring among businesses, many leading figures have lent quotes of support to National Mentoring Day, with Lord Dr Michael Hastings CBE saying: “I’m very keen on National Mentoring Day. I’m very keen that hundreds of thousands of people come forward to be mentors.”

While Lord David Young, who has been involved with the initiative since 2016, said: “I had a mentor when I started my first business and he saved me more than once. I hope that National Mentoring Day will encourage more people to act as a mentor.”

National Mentoring Day Founder and CEO Chelsey Baker said,

“Many businesses and individuals are currently facing challenging times as the economic situation intensifies.This is why as a nation we urgently need to embrace mentoring across all industries and help boost career prospects and the economy more widely. If every business committed to providing staff with one hour of mentoring in 2023, it will make a massive difference not just to individual employees and the organisation, but to the economy as a whole.” 

As a nod to the positive role of mentoring in the workplace, this year saw major initiatives introduced across all sectors. For the third year running, Google promoted its ‘Digital Garage’ training scheme, which sees experienced Googlers mentor individuals and small businesses in digital skills such as internet marketing and analytics.   

Tower Hamlets Council committed to a number of mentoring schemes including partnering with The Switch on a two-year mentoring programme, which will support students from ethnic minority backgrounds to help them realise their career potential. 

Leading hotel chain Marriott International took part in the global 24 hour mentorship festival organised by MentorCloud, National Mentoring Day’s official headline partner for 2023. Marriott International shared insights on its mentoring programme and how it has helped over 250 senior leaders to focus on personal growth and development, and also improve culture, diversity, equality, and inclusion in their teams. 

Speaking at the event from Northampton, UK, Bec Lambert,  Manager, L&D Operations, EMEA at Marriott International, said:

“We are committed to ensuring our employees have access to the right mentoring and support to ensure staff are able to perform to the best of their ability. Mentoring has been an integral resource to developing the future leaders of the company across Marriott’s hotel brands, and after seeing the benefits to our business, it’s something we will continue to invest in.”

Dr. Ravishankar Gundlapalli PHD, Founder of MentorCloud, added,

“Mentoring will drive fundamental transformation across organisations catalysing rich human connection and conversations. So, I’m excited for Marriott International. I’m excited for businesses to take up mentorship and harness the power of collective human wisdom for people development at scale.”

National Mentoring Day’s website offers free resources to educate, support and encourage mentoring for businesses and individuals. For more information or to download mentoring resources visit www.nationalmentoringday.org