FAQ for Partners/Mentors
What is mentoring?
Mentoring Definition: The act or process of helping and guiding another person to support their personal development.
Mentoring is the act of supporting, advising and guiding another person, or people, for the purposes of personal growth. A mentor uses their knowledge and personal experience to help a mentee to develop.
What’s the goal of mentoring?
Mentoring is an important part of personal and professional development for both the mentee and the mentor. It’s a place where mentees can learn and grow with support from a trustworthy mentor
Mentoring has demonstrably shown a positive impact for both mentors and mentees in terms of career development, mental wellbeing, communication skills and self-confidence. It’s a great way to give back to the community while building your leadership skills and foster a more inclusive work environment.
Who will I be mentoring?
You will be matched with a GMG Fellow, age 18 and above. GMG Fellows are program alumni, college students, and young professionals at the early stages of their industry careers (less than 3 years experience). Fellows teach at our summer camps and workshops, and mentor our under 18 students as part of their year long “Fellowship” with GMG.
Please note the GMG Fellowship is open to all genders at this time.
Learn more here: https://www.girlsmakegames.com/gmg-fellowship
What type of mentorSHIP will the GMG x PlayStation program offer?
This program focuses on 1:1 mentoring. As a core component of GMG’s Fellowship program, you’ll be placed with one of GMG’s Fellows, among the brightest and best of up and coming talent in the games industry.
How much time do I have to commit?
The first cohort of the program will run for two months in 2023:
January 23 - March 17, 2023
We are currently seeking mentors for the January 2023 cohort for a total of 3 virtual mentoring sessions. Sessions are expected to last for 45 minutes to an hour maximum.
Mentors will receive an onboarding pack to support their mentoring and the opportunity to network online with mentees at dedicated event at the start of the cohort. We anticipate a total time commitment from mentors of 4-6 hours across the entire cohort.
Will I be given time in my working day to mentor, or does this come out of my personal time?
If a volunteer activity is to occur during regular work hours, the employee must request and receive permission from their manager to take time away from work to participate in the volunteer activity.
The duration of time spent at the volunteer activity will be paid so long as the time taken away from work has been approved by the employee’s manager.
Although managers are encouraged to allow employee attendance at volunteer activities, managers may deny the privilege of attendance at these events during work hours, or during periods where the employee is required to work based on business needs.
Unless otherwise required by law, any time paid for volunteer activities is not considered “hours worked” for the purposes of determining eligibility for overtime compensation or other terms or conditions of employment, as it is the employee’s choice to engage in the activity.
If an employee participates in a volunteer activity that occurs outside of regular work hours, the time spent on the volunteer activity will not be paid and will not be considered “hours worked” because of the voluntary nature of the employee’s participation.
Participation in volunteer activities may be denied if it is determined that the employee has abused the use of the volunteer program.
Participation (or non-participation) in such activities will not impact, and have no bearing on, employees’ continued employment with SIE, performance reviews, compensation, promotion, or any other terms or conditions of employment.
What if I have to withdraw?
We ask that when you commit to the mentorship program it is with the intention that you can support the mentee for the entirety of the program. We do appreciate, however, that situations and work pressures can lead to unexpected changes in your schedule. If you need to withdraw please let your HR Partner and GMG know so we can find a new match for the mentee.
What if there are problems with my mentee?
Mentoring is like any other kind of interpersonal relationship – sometimes it simply does not work. In that case, it is in the best interests of both you and your mentee for you to end the relationship. Make sure you do this tactfully and thank them for the time they have already given you.
While we make the best effort to pair mentors and mentees with the right match, on occasion these partnerships don’t work out. Mentors and mentees have the right to request a new mentor or mentee after the first session. This will allow us enough time within the cohort timeframe to allocate new pairings more suitable to you both.
Mentors and mentees have the right to a safe and secure mentoring environment.
For any complaints, please follow our complaints procedure. Your HR partner is also always on hand to support you at every stage of the mentorship program.