Do You Know It's National Mentoring Month?

January is National Mentoring Month - what does that mean for construction contractors?

January 3, 2019

Incorporating a mentoring program into your construction company can have benefits for both employees and the company as a whole.

It seems like every month, and nearly every day, there is a “special observance” – whether official or unofficial. And sometimes, these special observances seem to be getting out of hand – like national cheeseburger day, love a nerd day, hug your pet day, etc. You get the point.

So I decided to take a look at some of these official and unofficial special observances and see if I could find any that can apply to the construction industry, and that are worthy of celebrating or observing.

So throughout the upcoming year on this blog I’m going to pick one “special observance” – whether it be a day or the entire month – and focus on how those working in the construction industry could turn it into something actionable, beneficial or maybe just fun for their companies and employees.

National Mentoring Month

Turns out January is National Mentoring Month. Mentoring is something I’ve been hearing more and more about with the growing skilled labor shortage.

National Mentoring Month was started in 2002 by MENTOR: The National Mentoring Partnership and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. National Mentoring Month focuses on the need for mentors and celebrates mentoring and the positive effects in can have.

While National Mentoring Month isn’t specific to the construction industry, mentoring does have a place in the industry. Mentoring between coworkers – particularly those who have been in the industry a long time and those just starting out – can have a positive impact on both the individuals involved and your company.

Mentoring can be a great way to make sure the knowledge and skills your longer tenured workers have acquired gets passed down and remains in the company after these workers have retired. It can also be a good way to improve worker relations between the existing and the new to the workforce generations.

Plus, mentoring can have an impact on employee retention. Employees who feel engaged and valued (for example by a mentor) are more likely to successfully assimilate and hopefully remain with a company than a new employee left to fend for him or herself from the get go.

Mentoring in construction

Here are some additional resources on mentoring in the construction industry that have been featured on ForConstructionPros.com:

So whether you officially celebrate National Mentoring Month or not, take some time in January to consider how or if you incorporate mentors and mentoring into your construction company and the benefits you and your employees may reap from a mentorship program.

Just for fun

I can’t help but just mention some of the other “special observances” I came across for the month of January. Maybe you’ll find them a little absurd or maybe you’ll choose to go out and celebrate.