Youth Mentoring, and Why Businesses Should Engage in It.

Youth mentoring is one of the best ways that a business can engage with its local community. This type of mentoring helps further the lives of adolescents and gives back to communities in a variety of other ways. Below are some reasons that businesses can benefit from this type of engagement.

How Businesses Benefit

Man at desk behind a computer screen. A business engaging in youth mentoring.

1. Employee Engagement and Retention

One of the ways that many workers feel engaged at their jobs is when they are giving back to their community. Joining a youth mentoring program is one way to help your employees feel engaged with their work, raise positivity levels, and also improve overall retention. It is a unique opportunity for employees to make a direct positive change in their communities. This opportunity could increase their happiness with the work they do overall.

This can also be seen as a positive when prospective job candidates look into your company. Many candidates coming out of college have experienced recent positive experiences with mentors of their own. They will see this type of mentoring opportunity as a chance to pay it forward.

2. Developing Talent of the Future

Youth mentoring allows you to directly engage with and train future talent. Mentored kids gain an appreciation for businesses, alongside learning valuable life skills. Helping to mold talented workers and creators of the future is not only great for your community but may also create your future employees.

This is especially true if your business has had issues finding job candidates with previous experience and passion for your field. Youth mentoring creates a pipeline for talented young people who may otherwise lack resources and opportunities to join your field.

3. Strengthening the Community

The strength of a community is an important part of the strength of a business. When educational and support systems in a community fail, this often means fewer customers for a business. Helping to ensure that a community stays strong, with opportunities for all, is essential to maintaining a long-term successful business strategy.