Mentoring Pilot and Mentoring Circles

Challenge

Milliken is a 150+ year old Textile, Chemical and Carpet Manufacturer in the South East. Given the history of our industry, there is a challenge to attract and retain Women and Minorities to the organization.

Actions

One of the four components of our Diversity & Inclusion Strategy focuses on “Mentoring & Development.” We approached this area with two key initiatives. In September 2018, we launched a Mentoring Pilot program for new hires that were two years or less with the Company. We asked them to complete a survey that would be used to pair them with an appropriate mentor. The expectation was that they would commit to a year long partnership and meet once a month to share their career experiences, offer career coaching and guidance and become a resource to help their mentor build their internal network.

Within our Women’s Network we also launched Mentoring Circles. Mentoring circles are vehicles for like-minded women to have the opportunity to have mentoring relationships with key leaders to discuss issues of mutual concern around effective leadership, balancing work and home life, and other aspects of the workplace. Each group contains about 10-12 women per circle and the circles are led by both a senior female and male within our organization.

Outcomes

We have 16 pairs in our Mentoring Pilot with 100% customer satisfaction so far. Our Mentoring Circles have 181 participants that signed up. We have a total of 17 circles and are looking to expand to our Lagrange manufacturing locations and offering a remote option. The feedback has been very positive.

Contact

Ricaye Harris

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