Buddies and mentoring programmes

It doesn’t matter if we are referring to mentoring, sponsoring or tandem – personal contact persons, sponsors and advocates are an important resource for many people in a new working and living environment and help with orientation. Especially in the context of the international recruitment of nurses, it’s a good idea to use these tools of personnel development.

Often all three models are used interchangeably, and conceptual differences are dismissed as being irrelevant in practice. Nevertheless, it is worth while knowing the different perspectives and scopes:

Tandem

The tandem is known as a language-learning method in which two native speakers teach each other their own language.

As internationally recruited nurses want and should continuously expand their German language level for professional practice in Germany, helpful and committed team members are a great asset. They play an important role with regard to the (specialist) language acquisition of internationally recruited nurses. However, tandems can also be formed for leisure activities outside working hours.

Buddy Models

Buddy models are useful during the induction training phase for new employees. Ideally the sponsors who are doing the induction training are in the same team as the new employee and at the same hierarchy level as the new nurse. The Buddy take on this task voluntarily and accompanies the new colleague from the first working day for at least six months – longer if necessary. The Buddy shows and explains the formal procedures and processes at the respective workplace and, where possible in the entire company. They help to integrate the new employee in the team and clarify informal rules.

Mentoring

This is about a relationship between a mentor and a mentee, and their connection back to the official mentoring programme. A mentoring programme focuses on certain topics. The mentors are prepared accordingly and the programme receives professional support. The benefits of a mentoring programme are not primarily meant to be for introducing and supporting everyday tasks. Rather, a mentor agrees to enter into a confidential and understanding dialogue with the mentee. This can involve topics that go beyond the usual dialogue between colleagues. In a mentoring programme for internationally recruited nurses, cultural, religious or ethnically understood differences may also be addressed.

No matter which model of personal support a company would like to use, it should definitely be combined with aspects of the other models. Other operational integration-promoting measures should also be incorporated into the model.

It is important to note here that there are two other jobs that are closely involved with the newly recruited nurses:

• • Integration management
    Via integration management – as a control centre for the entire project – the recruitment has already been processed. The employee who takes over the integration management can in smaller companies of course also be the mentor for example. In larger companies or if several internationally recruited nurses are new in the company, the job of integration management will be different from the job of sponsorship or mentoring.
  • Practice instructor
    Depending on the deficit assessment and the agreed compensation measure, practice instructors can be important contact persons for the recruited nurses in the first months after arrival in Germany.
    Of course, having five personal contact persons will make the situation confusing for everyone. The role of the host company is therefore to find good solutions for all parties involved, because as yet there are no standardised and proven constellations or universal solutions that suit every company.

Think conceptually about your personal support model for new employees.