The NCEO recently conducted an employee survey for a medium-sized ESOP company as part of its Ownership Culture Surveys Networking Program. In preparation for their upcoming initiatives, the company had also registered several employees for the NCEO's Communications Committee Crash Course. The company clearly wanted to make some important changes and do positive work on behalf of their fellow employee-owners. When assessing some of the themes in the employee feedback, we found that there was a strong desire among employees with fewer than two years of service for guidance or a formal way for them to receive mentorship and help while growing into their career.

This theme was not only raised among the newest employees. A number of employees that had been with the company for more than ten years also highlighted the need for such initiatives, but there were concerns about whether or not they were asking too much of senior employees’ time and commitment with an already busy schedule, but this wasn’t a story we had heard for the first time. In fact, the need for clear and formal structures for one-on-one or group level mentoring has become more and more prevalent among the ESOPs and employee-owners we survey in general. Of all employees surveyed in the Ownership Culture Survey database, only 50% feel strongly that their companies provide adequate opportunities to learn about the business, and only 45% feel a strong sense of trust towards their supervisors.

Our job as part of committees or leadership teams is to identify ways to make learning and mentorship easier and less intimidating for both mentors and mentees, and when it comes to mentees, we should acknowledge that there may be some other obstacles that need addressing.

For more information about the company's employee feedback and their options for addressing some of their concerns, be sure to check out the NCEO's February newsletter! And for companies interested in or with questions about the NCEO's Ownership Culture Survey Network or Communications Committee Crash Course, be sure to send an email to [email protected]. I look forward to sharing more of this company's progress along with others' taking part in any of the NCEO's growing ESOP networking programs.