Our union has only a few young members. With support of UOV the board has thought about options to make our union more attractive for this group. One of the initiatives is the development of a mentorship. As union we can stand out by the confidential nature without any information to the management.

If you want to develop something you have to start somewhere. We’ve looked at how other organizations tackled this and what the results were. In this way we con avoid a number of pitfalls. Recently we asked all members above 40 years if they were interested to become mentor. Some members have responded positively. It should be noticed that all of them are employed by Chemicals. Next a document was composed about the ideas around mentorship and the organization for comments. In this way the (potential) mentors were involved with the process and could suggest next steps.

Starting the new year we like to facilitate members to come into contact with a mentor. Examples of potential subjects are:

  • Leadership problems
  • Sustainable deployment
  • Social security and pensions
  • Flexible working and working abroad
  • Function rating and (changes in) labor contract
  • Useful contacts with colleagues inside AkzoNobel and with other members of VMHP AkzoNobel (Do you know anyone that …?)

If you have suggestions or like more information, send me a mail.

Theo van Lotringen
E-mail: Theo.vanLotringen@outlook.com