More than 1,000 customers have implemented the intelligent mentoring offering within the SAP SuccessFactors Succession & Development solution.
Mentoring has been proven an effective method to foster a culture of continuous learning and development, increase diversity, inclusion, and belonging, and improve employee engagement–all of which are critical to organizational success. The need to reskill and adapt is accelerating as companies face unprecedented change to their business and workforce.
Now more than ever, it is essential that all employees, especially those who are underrepresented, have equal opportunities to advance their careers. Mentoring programs provide democratization across organizations for employees to learn new skills on an ongoing basis, build relationships across departments, and progress into leadership positions.
As part of the SAP SuccessFactors Human Experience Management (HXM) Suite, the intelligent mentoring offering helps empower employees to take control of their development and future-proof their careers. It enables human resources (HR) departments to create successful mentoring programs without the manual and time-consuming administrative work required to match mentors and mentees.
Powered by an intelligent algorithm, the mentoring offering provides immediate recommendations based on factors such as skills, competencies, job title, department, manager, location, and the personal preferences and focus areas of mentors and mentees–instantly performing a task that can take up to three weeks. In addition, the rich data gathered through these programs can be used for reporting and as insights to analyze and improve mentoring and other talent strategies.
Terex builds equipment for construction, infrastructure, transportation, energy, utilities, mining, and more. The company is using the SAP SuccessFactors offering for intelligent mentoring to increase diversity within its workforce.
Angela Suriano, senior manager of HR and Talent Management at Terex, said, “Workforces need to reflect the world today, which is why diversity and inclusion programs are so important, especially in male-dominated industries like manufacturing. Mentorship is a key strategy to advancing the careers of women and underrepresented talent. The SAP SuccessFactors mentoring offering has enabled us to match team members based on information in their talent profile, instead of just location or department. Instead of a top-down approach from HR, we are empowering team members and managers to actively get involved and view mentoring as part of their professional development plan.”
SAP has seen positive results since launching a global coaching and mentoring program to connect people based on skills and competencies.
“We are always looking to create a better employee experience and foster cross-organizational agility,” said Franziska Weis, global peer learning program lead for Global HR at SAP. “Since implementing the intelligent mentoring offering from SAP SuccessFactors, we have been able to create a balanced pool of coaches and mentors of all ages, races, and genders, to reflect the diversity of our workforce. Since launching, more than 1,200 mentoring relationships have been established and more than 550 coaches have been certified by the International Coach Federation.”
In times of change, a flexible, versatile workforce is what will help businesses overcome challenges and prepare for the future. Accessible and adaptable mentoring programs not only help individuals advance their careers, they can help teams be more cohesive and organizations more strategic.
Learn more about SAP SuccessFactors intelligent mentoring offering within SAP SuccessFactors Succession & Development.
Amy Wilson is senior vice president of Products and Design at SAP SuccessFactors.