At a glance
7% vs 10%
turnover among program participants against the wider workforce
2x
program reach, from under 1 in 10 employees to close to 1 in 5
97%
of meeting-feedback responses rated the meeting helpful
- Segment: National real estate company, with on-site property teams in many states
- Industry: Real estate
- Location: United States
- Employees: More than 15,000, with thousands of new hires a year
- Programs: Role-based peer mentoring for new hires and people new to a role
The Challenge
A national real estate company hires thousands of people a year, and classroom onboarding could only take them so far. Weekly classes bring together close to 200 new colleagues from across the country to learn the company's culture. Then each new hire leaves for a property and starts the job.
That is where the risk sits. A new leasing professional or property manager faces practical questions that a class cannot answer, and needs someone who has done the job to turn to. Without that person, a slow start can become a new hire who leaves.
Training added pressure. With teams spread across many states, training the whole organization was hard, and experienced colleagues were expected to cover some of it even though they are not trainers.
The program team also heard about problems too late. Waiting for a midpoint survey meant discovering a slow start halfway through the relationship, with little time left to help.
Why Chronus
The company moved to Chronus from another mentoring platform, and data was one of the biggest reasons.
- Reports for every audience. Quarterly reports feed mentor presentations, discussions of what is working, and the program newsletter. When leaders ask about participation, the team has the numbers.
- Early warning on stalled pairs. A daily report flags mentors who have gone quiet or left the company, so administrators can contact the new hires affected before they are left waiting.
- Room for hands-on administration. Dashboards and views of each relationship let administrators manage individual pairs, not just totals.
Our mentors aren't trainers, but there is an expectation that some training happens, and the mentoring program has been a real help with that.
Learning and development lead
The Solution
Matching around the work
The program pairs peers by role. New hires can join in their first weeks, and mentors need several months in the role plus mentor training before they take on a mentee. Administrators review each match: they check availability and matching history, give new mentors a chance rather than going back to the same few, and look at practical fit, such as the property management system a site runs on and whether it is newly opened or well established. A nightly HR data feed keeps employee information current.
A clear rhythm for every pair
Pairs meet weekly for about three months. Mentors make the first move: they reach out within a couple of days, share the company's onboarding guide and suggest times, aiming for a first meeting in the first week or two. Partners often work in different states, so pairs meet on video calls and use Chronus for scheduling and tracking. Live sessions open to more than 800 eligible mentors cover scheduling, notes, goals and resources, and the team plans to run them about twice a year.
A check-in at two weeks
Two weeks into each relationship, the mentee gets a short check-in: has the mentor made contact, has the first meeting happened, is another one scheduled, and how satisfied are they so far, on a scale of 1 to 10? Reminders follow if it goes unanswered, and a low score opens a comment box so the mentee can say what they need. Administrators read the answers daily and contact both people when a score signals a poor start. Comments on the closing survey are now required too, so the team hears the story behind every rating.
The Impact
Participants stay
- 7% vs 10% turnover among program participants, against the wider workforce, a gap that has held across successive reviews
One new hire wrote that they had been questioning the decision to join and were close to leaving, until an outstanding mentor changed the experience.
Slow starts caught at two weeks, not halfway
The survey has made a huge difference. I check it every day, and if somebody isn't happy, I reach out to them immediately. Two weeks is the right time to ask.
Learning and development lead
Meetings participants value
- 97% of meeting-feedback responses rated the meeting helpful, and more than 4 in 10 called it a breakthrough
- 93% of mentees finishing the program would recommend it
- Mid-70s Net Promoter Score among participants
A program that keeps growing
- 2x reach, from under 1 in 10 employees to close to 1 in 5
- 4,000+ mentoring meetings scheduled in the program's first six months
