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As there is a growing interest in experienced workers mentoring co‐workers in workplace settings, it is necessary to understand its impact on those who are nominated as mentors. Here, data from eight mentors who participated in a year‐long trial of guided learning in a workplace are used to illuminate the demands upon and benefits for workplace mentors. In the study, all mentors noted the efficacy of guiding learning in the workplace. However, guiding the learning of others made considerable demands on these individuals. Finding time for mentoring and the low level of support by management were reported as making the mentors’ work intense. Moreover, although workplace mentoring was found to have the capacity to improve learning, much of that improvement was centred on the mentors’ actions and energies. For some mentors, it was a worthwhile and enriching experience. For others, the demands were not adequately offset by benefits that they experience in assisting co‐workers to learn.

Mentor secure-base support, characterized as mentor availability, noninterference and encouragement of growth, has important implications for newcomer socialization. Drawing on attachment theory, this paper aims to examine the relationship between mentor secure-base support and newcomers' workplace courage.

Data were collected at three time points with a new police officer sample (n = 124). A cross-lagged panel design was used to test the hypotheses.

Mentor secure-base support is causally precedent to newcomers' workplace courage, whereas the reverse relationship from workplace courage to mentor secure-base support was not held.

To help newcomers integrate into their organization and enhance their workplace courage, organizations should actively promote and foster mentoring relationships in which mentors can provide a secure base for mentees.

The authors' findings support that newcomers' workplace courage can be cultivated by mentor secure-base support. It provides insight for organizations to explore workplace courage development for newcomers.

The purpose of this paper is to present a case for the importance of mentoring programs in addressing the disadvantage of minority groups in the workforce. Also, to report on a workplace mentoring program conducted for indigenous Australians at the University of Newcastle, Australia.

Interviews with program participants.

Indigenous Australians are marginalised in the Australian workforce. Governments have developed many special labour market programs for indigenous Australians, the majority of which are based on public sector employment. There is potential for more extensive private sector participation in developing workplace programs to support indigenous Australians. Workplace mentoring, especially through indigenous mentors, is important in assisting indigenous employees sustain employment and enhance workforce attachment. The case study demonstrated how culturally appropriate mentoring programs can be successful in attracting, training and placing indigenous Australians into employment.

Confined to a single case study organisation, but the findings are in keeping with North American research on mentoring indigenous workers.

Mentoring has a strong role to play in assisting disadvantaged minorities improve labour market outcomes.

There has been no previous research in the Australian context on mentoring indigenous workers.

This chapter critically examines a Pakistani initiative on youth mentoring at workplace, namely the National Internship Program (NIP), which aims to increase fresh graduates' capability and employability. Through a situational analysis of prevalent education systems, occupational choices and job-related tendencies of Pakistani youth in the backdrop of mega economic activities like the China–Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), this chapter brings forth virtues and limitations of NIP. Further, an elaborative appraisal of the key features, design and process of NIP through an illustrative cycle, a conceptual model has been designed which may fulfil the mentoring needs of developing countries. This conceptual model of youth mentoring at workplace proposes a cycle of six activities: planning, engaging, performing, appraising, ensuing and reflecting.

Reports and discusses the findings of an investigation that examined the efficacy of guided learning in the workplace. The investigation comprised the trialing of guided learning strategies and an analysis of the learning occurring in five workplaces over a period of six months. The guided learning strategies selected for investigation were questioning dialogues, the use of diagrams and analogies within an approach to workplace learning emphasising modelling and coaching. Throughout the investigation, critical incident interviews were conducted to identify the contributions to learning that had occurred during these periods, including those provided by the guided learning. As anticipated, it was found that participation in everyday work activities (the learning curriculum) was most valued and reported as making effective contributions to learning in the workplace. However, there was also correlation between reports of the frequency of guided learning interactions and their efficacy in resolving novel workplace tasks, and therefore learning. It is postulated that some of these learning outcomes could not have been secured by everyday participation in the workplace alone. Further, factors associated with the readiness of enterprise and those within it were identified as influencing the likely effectiveness of guided learning at work.

The purpose of this paper is to review a range of mechanisms used by universities to support employers to facilitate effective “on the job learning” for apprentices. It reflects on how these mechanisms can be used to address some of the challenges, reported in the literature that employers face to in supporting apprentices in the workplace.

A short questionnaire administered to colleagues prior to attendance at a workshop, identified a range of activities, at various stages of engagement with employers that were used by universities to facilitate effective workplace learning and also to address some of the challenges faced by employers. These activities were then discussed and explored within the workshop to identify areas of best practice from the HEI sector to promote effective workplace learning.

Engagement with employers needs to occur from the outset of the development of the apprenticeship. Embedding the on the job learning within the design of the academic programme, with explicit links between the theoretical learning (knowledge element of the apprenticeship standard) and practical application of learning (skills and behaviours within the apprenticeship standard). Regular interactions with a range of staff within the employer ensure that there is a clear understanding throughout the apprentice’s journey, of how to promote an effective learning environment for the apprentice within the context of the organisation. The role of the workplace facilitator/mentor key. A range of approaches to providing training and ongoing support for facilitators/mentors was identified.

The study was limited to the participants within the workshop at the conference, a self-selecting group from a relatively small number of HE providers. The HEIs represented provided apprenticeships in a range of subject areas, working with both public sector and private sector providers. Further studies are required to encompass a broader range of providers, including drawing on best practice from the FE and independent sector, and applying principles used there in the context of HE.

Engagement with employers from an early stage of the development of the apprenticeship is imperative, viewing the apprenticeship holistically, rather than as an academic programme with some work-based activities. Resources need to be devoted to regular and frequent contact with a range of personnel within the employer organisation, so that a partnership approach to supporting learning is developed. Training and ongoing support for work-based mentors/facilitators continues to be a key success factor. This needs to be managed to balance the learning needs of the mentors with the potential impact on workplace productivity.

The paper identifies a range of approaches that will enhance the effectiveness of learning in the workplace. This will both enhance the apprentice’s learning experience and ensure that higher and degree apprenticeships are developed holistically, meeting the academic requirements of the university and the workplace needs of the employer. This, in turn, will enhance success rates and reduce attrition rates from apprenticeships, which, in turn, may encourage more employers to engage with higher and degree apprenticeships.

The paper collates a range of best practice from the sector to promote effective workplace learning.

Although studies have improved understanding of the relation between external career mentoring and mentor work outcomes, an important question remains regarding whether this mentoring function influences mentor turnover intentions. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of career mentoring outside the workplace on mentor turnover intentions.

Data were collected from 101 working business professionals in the southeastern USA at two points in time who provided career mentoring to business student protégés in an eight-month university sponsored mentoring program.

As hypothesized, moderated mediation analysis indicated that amount of external career mentoring negatively related to mentor turnover intentions and that the indirect effect of external career mentoring on mentor turnover intentions via mentor work engagement was stronger when both mentor protégé satisfaction and meeting frequency were high vs low. A two-way interaction revealed that mentors reporting higher protégé satisfaction had lower turnover intentions when meeting frequency was high vs low.

The findings help clarify the external career mentoring and mentor turnover intentions relation and have valuable theoretical implications for research on the benefits external mentoring can provide mentors. They also have practical implications for using external mentoring to enhance mentor work engagement and reduce mentor turnover intentions.

The article examines the thought and practice relating to mentoring in Australia. Beginning with facilitated mentoring, two case studies are provided. A second view, guided learning is also explored. The article concludes with a consideration of future trends.

The “hypercompetitive environment” within which businesses are now operating demands that organizations look for ways to continually improve their competitiveness if they are to remain viable and successful. This paper integrates ideas on competitive strategies and effective mentoring to demonstrate the link between employee mentoring and organizational competitiveness. It is proposed that mentoring can offer a unique opportunity to enhance competitiveness through a carefully designed and structured program that both supports and drives an organization’s business strategy.

As the youngest generation – Generation Z (Gen Z) – enters the workplace, there is a growing interest in this cohort's career needs and expectations. This paper explores the under-researched topic of Gen Z project management (Gen Z PM) professionals. In addition to shedding light on the factors that positively affect Gen Z PM professionals' early career-development phase, this research aims to identify specific organization-led practices that can foster sustainable early PM careers and so achieve greater workforce sustainability.

Through the lens of the resource-based view (RBV), Gen Z PM professionals are considered critical resources that can help ensure workforce sustainability in project-based organizations (PBOs). Semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted with 25 Gen Z PM professionals in Australia to explore the professionals' early career experiences and the organizational-support initiatives that facilitate positive experiences. The results were analyzed using thematic analysis.

The results revealed that most Gen Z PMs experienced many challenges and a lack of support during their early career phase: Gen Z value (1) mentoring, (2) time for training and development, (3) showing support and guidance, (4) understand skill-gaps and (5) reasonable workloads. Through catering to these needs, PBOs can ensure better career sustainability for their young Gen Z talent and, therefore, greater workforce sustainability for the project profession.

According to the career sustainability lens, PBOs play a significant role in ensuring that their valuable young PM talent are supported and retained in the profession. This research sheds light on what Gen Z PM professionals value in their early careers, which guided recommendations to better support this new generation of project professionals.