AAT members keen to be mentors and mentees – but opportunities are at a premium
10 June 2019
Members of AAT in full-time or part-time employment have failed to receive the same mentoring opportunities afforded to other industries – including that of the wider finance and accounting sector – according to new research published today.
AAT surveyed 212 members while also speaking to over 2,000 employees across all sectors in a wider study conducted by Opinium Research, and found that just 45% of members have ever been mentored during their career. This compares unfavourably with the 64% of workers across the finance and accounting industry as a whole, and the 81% from the advertising and marketing industry, the highest figure reported by the sectors surveyed.
Just 7% of AAT members reported that their organisation runs a formal mentoring programme. This was lower than any other industry, and in stark contrast to the 28% of finance and accounting workers reporting the same thing.
However, among AAT members there's a great deal of enthusiasm for mentoring schemes. Some 42% of members want to become a mentor, just behind the 43% from all finance and accounting workers, narrowly behind the 46% of people from financial services, the industry most wanting to do mentoring. Just 27% of government workers, in contrast, are keen to be a mentor in their own right.
Similarly there is strong appetite from members for their organisation to implement formal mentoring. 37% of AAT members support this idea, higher than the 32% from the wider finance and accounting industry and just 19% of workers in hotel and leisure.
Among those AAT members who have received mentoring in the past, 31% reported that it gave them more confidence, 27% said it gave them someone to talk to, and 26% of those surveyed said it gave them new skills.
AAT chief executive Mark Farrar said: “A company is only ever as good as the sum of its parts – which is why employers should be seeking to implement effective mentoring schemes that help to invest in staff and impact on their career pathways. Indeed, it’s a requirement of employers offering AAT accounting apprenticeships to provide mentors for each apprentice. However, it’s clear from our research that mentoring opportunities are not as prevalent as the desire from our members, and the onus is on the workplace to facilitate staff training in this way.
“Equally, members should consider the various benefits of being a mentor in their own right, both in their current place of employment and within their wider industry. Being a strong mentor makes you a better leader of people, and helps to pass on your own skills and insight to the business leaders of tomorrow.”
Sylvia Baldock, a talent dynamics performance consultant, said: “Companies that run mentoring programmes show a marked increase in engagement and a reduction in both staff turnover and absenteeism. Mentoring is a win-win all round, and the more you invest in people, the greater the returns.”
A white paper, Mentoring and Accountancy: Why be a mentor? is now available on the AAT website.
As part of its #AATPowerUp series, AAT is calling on workers to upskill and take training opportunities, including how to become an effective mentor. For more inspiring articles on how to power up your business skills, visit AAT Comment or watch Sylvia Baldock's Magic of Mentoring video ahead of this week's AAT Annual Conference.
AAT surveyed 212 members working in full-time or part-time employment via its Green Room facility, between Friday 19 and Tuesday 30 April 2019. Opinium Research surveyed 2,005 employees, 500 of whom worked in accountancy. Field work was undertaken between 15 and 26 April 2019. The survey was carried out online. The figures have been weighted and are nationally representative.
