Reverse Mentoring at Umicore N.V.

When Umicore rolled out the digital workplace initiative a few months before the spread of COVID-19, we didn't realize how perfect the timing would be. Embracing new digital tools meant changing the work culture among our colleagues and installing a new digital culture at senior and executive management. To reach these high-level colleagues, we flipped a classic playbook. The usual top-down mentoring programs had already been a success at Umicore, so why not try reverse mentoring instead?

People often think that age and years of experience in an organization are linked to knowledge – the longer you work, the more you know and the less you need to learn. However, younger employees bring fresh perspectives often with new knowledge, skills and expertise that can be shared with more established colleagues. In Umicore’s first reverse mentoring program, a younger ‘digital hero’ was paired with an executive or senior manager. The mentors guided their mentees in the use of new digital tools that enable collaboration from anywhere in the world.  

Reverse mentoring can be done at any level within the organization, breaking the traditional format, creating an inclusive workplace, closing generational and skills gaps, and creating opportunities to learn. Ultimately, this initiative broke new ground at Umicore, increasing our organizational resilience by developing new more agile ways of working responding to the COVID threat and new diverse relationships among staff.