How UG2 Tailors Our Efforts to Our Employees’ Needs
National Mentoring Month is as good a time as any to reflect on the wide range of needs individual employees bring to the workplace and the tremendous return on investment companies like ours see when we take the time to understand and honor those differences and meet those varying needs.
From our very first days, UG2 has prioritized formal and informal mentoring relationships to support and bring up the next generation of talent. After all, our founders brought skills and expertise they had developed over decades working closely with the industry pros who paved their way. As Gen Z and Millennials have entered the workforce, particularly as we all grapple with the ripple effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, our team leaders and hiring managers have taken a fresh look at mentoring best practices to ensure we are tailoring our programs to the need, just as we do with our partners and customers.
Our mentoring commitment and philosophy have evolved through our understanding that strong interpersonal connections are of tremendous importance to Gen Z and Millennials. According to experts at the Leeds Professional Mentorship Program, young people “are looking for more than professional advice from their mentors; they are looking for a true, authentic relationship” and they “gravitate toward opportunities where they can build genuine professional relationships with co-workers and supervisors.”
This approach is increasingly important in an industry that one prides itself on bringing in people of such diverse backgrounds, ages, and abilities, and two, is facing a talent war as retiring employees outpace the number of new recruits entering the trades.
UG2 has found tremendous success in our efforts with a range of initiatives and offerings, but certain values and priorities serve as a throughline that ties together our approach and makes for a lasting impact.
Communication is key to every relationship—personal and professional. Those who succeed at UG2 are skilled at conveying ideas, but also willing to truly listen. Allowing for feedback and acting on critiques is essential to building a culture where every employee can excel.
Transparency is integral because it engenders trust. Because we prize honesty and openness, we can be more effective and strategic when it comes to problem-solving and responding to individuals’ and teams’ questions and concerns.
Connection and authentic relationship-building are at the heart of our success when it comes to retaining talent, developing future leaders, and creating a culture where we prioritize promoting from within. We make space for formal and informal two-way mentoring relationships from an employee’s first days with UG2, because we have remained leaders in the industry by deeply listening to and learning from the new generation of talent.
Career coaching and professional development are important to the new generation of talent, who want to begin envisioning their career path from the outset. Seeing opportunities to build skills beyond the requirements of their immediate position is key. Through partnerships with educational institutions and encouragement of continuing education and outside learning opportunities, we support our employees (and potential future employees) in pursuing all the knowledge that puts them on a path to success.
Day-to-day working relationships with successful peers, formal and informal mentoring relationships, and best-in-class training and professional development are all parts of the equation when it comes to supporting the industry’s future leaders. But, as the young people themselves remind us, it all comes down to relationships. That is why we are so thrilled to be part of a company that treats employees as family—and why we take deep personal pride in seeing one another succeed.