Saab Mentorship Program Supports Long-Term Employee Career Development
At Saab, we're dedicated to creating a workplace filled with development opportunities for our outstanding employees! Saab’s Employee Mentorship Program supports our employees’ personal and professional development. Learn more about this program from Rachelle Russell, integration and test engineering manager, and her mentor, Robert Ulibarri, vice president and general manager.
Saab is dedicated to helping employees succeed both in and out of the workplace. That’s why, in 2022, the company launched the Employee Mentorship Program, connecting colleagues at different career stages to share advice, best practices and critical knowledge that only comes with experience. Saab launched this program with success in mind, knowing that the benefits of a mentoring program are vast, and may include things like increased goal setting, higher compensation, more opportunities for advancement and promotions and increased career satisfaction.
Currently, 14 pairs of mentors and protégés are participating in the year-long program, which includes regular in-person or virtual meetings and shadowing opportunities. At the beginning of the program, short- and long-term goals are established, and each pair works together to achieve success.
One such pairing is Rachelle Russell, manager, Integration and Test Engineering, and her mentor, Robert Ulibarri, vice president and general manager.
“Being connected with Robert through the Saab mentorship program has been an incredible, invaluable opportunity. Through our year of mentorship, he has shared so much knowledge, insight, resources, leadership skills and networking connections. I spent a week job shadowing with Robert in West Lafayette this past September; it’s incredible to see the work he and his team have accomplished at their site,” said Russell.
Mentor and protégé pairs are curated based upon the quality of submitted application, the ability to satisfy the program goals, as well as the anticipated success of meeting the professional goals of both the mentor and the protégé. The pairing process is a collaboration between Human Resources and the Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Council.
“I was honored to be selected as a mentor this past year and working with Rachelle has been so rewarding. Her passion for development and innovation really resonates in all that she does. Together we created a two-way street of benchmarking best practices, new techniques, that was educational for us both,” said Ulibarri. “The Employee Mentorship Program is a great program to support employees as they develop their short- and long-term professional goals and I would encourage other leaders to consider volunteering. Mentors often have a broader understanding of the work different groups do across Saab and can provide perspective based on our experience in the industry and at Saab.”
Saab is dedicated to fostering collaboration and creating development opportunities for employees. The Employee Mentorship Program is just one example of how that dedication is being put into action across the company.