“I was involved in this programme a few years ago and found it really rewarding. Some days, I left the mentoring session feeling like we have had a really great session. I could see that my mentee was walking away with a smile on her face, as I have listened to her and provided her with some well needed reassurances. But some days I felt sad as I had heard about the challenges she has to deal with in and out of school. These difficult days really encouraged me to focus our sessions on coping strategies and more effective communication.”
Paula Coffey, Head of Claims, Rehabilitation and Medical Services, Unum.
“Unum is a leading employee benefits provider offering financial protection through the workplace including: Income Protection, Life insurance, Critical Illness, and Dental cover.
Our Income Protection customers have access to medical and vocational rehabilitation expertise designed to help people stay in work and return to work following illness and injury. Unum LifeWorks, our Employee Assistance Programme, provides help and advice on a range of work/life issues.
With education and supporting employability skills in young people being focus areas for our Corporate Social Responsibility programme, we were looking to find a new educational charity partner to work with in the Basingstoke community and EBP South ticked every box for us. We worked with them to design a mentoring programme with a local school that would provide great volunteering and development opportunities for our own employees, whilst making a difference to the lives of local young people through a powerful 1:1 mentoring experience.”
Susan Sanderson, Senior Manager, Corporate Sustainability & CSR
“Our experiences over the last 6 years partnering with EBP South have been overwhelmingly positive. The team make the process extremely slick and well coordinated, and the training that our employees receive about how to be a good mentor has been best in class. Many of our participants have said how their participation in the programme has supported their own career path, for example supporting in the development of coaching and line management skills.
It was important to us that we partnered with an organisation that delivered real impact in the local community of one of our major offices and the depth of EBP South’s offering to support young people with their employability skills was a major draw and certainly delivered on all of our needs.
Being a small in-house team, we needed to work with an organisation that already had the strong links with a local school so that they could manage a lot of the logistical arrangements of setting up the scheme for us. As well as the training and ongoing support being outstanding, we’ve been able to complement the programme with other ad hoc volunteering opportunities for our employees that the charity offer, such as mock interviews and employability workshops.”
Susan Sanderson, Senior Manager, Corporate Sustainability & CSR
