Mentoring - an exit in the conditions of ageing experienced employees

Russian workers are getting older: in 2024, their average age reached 42.5 years against 40.6 years in 2015. According to the calculations of RBC based on Rosstat data, for 2024 the number of employed under 35 years decreased by 837 thousand, to 20.4 million people. At the same time, the share of workers aged 55 and over rose to 18.2 percent. Such a change in the age structure makes the transfer of experience an independent task for the employer: you need to prepare a shift before the key specialist leaves. Mentoring helps organize this transfer of knowledge in daily work.

The dependence on accumulated experience is especially noticeable where everyone is used to turning to one master for an answer. His vacation, transfer to another position or departure from the company reveals the dependence of the whole site on the knowledge of one person. It is necessary to transfer such experience in advance, while there is an opportunity to observe the work of a specialist, ask questions and analyze specific situations.

The transfer of industrial knowledge is one of the directions of the first city competition “Best Practices of Mentoring in Moscow”, the acceptance of applications for which continues until December 15, 2026. In a separate nomination, organizations can present programs for training employees, preserving professional competencies and improving the quality of work.

An example of a combination of personal training and digital materials is the Moskabelmet group of companies. In September 2026, the company talked about its training system: beginners work with a mentor, study technology and equipment, work out skills in production. Training materials and video instructions are available in the Motivity corporate knowledge base, and QR codes on the lines allow you to open the instructions for the desired operation right at the workplace.

The training is conducted by the group’s own training center. According to the company, in 2025, 114 employees received a new working profession, another 132 were upgraded or retrained. It is part of a broader human resources system in which training involves the transfer of experience and the participation of workers in the development of production.

The mentor and knowledge base in such a system have different tasks. The material can be reopened, return to the desired step and check the sequence of actions. When working together, it is possible to see how the student applies the instructions: what he understood, where he doubts and is able to explain his choice. This observation provides the basis for the next lesson.

The preservation of experience requires the participation of the master himself. When a specialist explains a habitual action, he has to highlight what once seemed obvious: what to look at, what to check, where error occurs more often. These explanations can be included in training materials, supplementing them after reviewing new working situations. So the knowledge base remains connected to the practice of the site.

This approach allows you to set a more meaningful goal for training: the employee must understand the process so that he notices problems and reasonably suggests solutions.

Organizations registered in Moscow can submit their decisions in the nomination “Mentoring in production”. In the application, you can show how the training is arranged and what results it gives, attach cases, instructions and other confirming materials. The operator of the competition is ANO “Mosstrategy”. Details and application form are posted on the contest website.