There’s a frustration I hear from businesses that employ young staff. They put time into advertising, interviewing, choosing someone, getting them set up, showing them the basics, answering questions and trying to help them get started. Then, after a couple of months, the young person leaves, disappears, disengages or makes it clear they’re not planning to stay.

From the business side, that can feel like wasted effort. Recruitment takes time, training takes time, and managers are often already stretched. When a young person leaves before they’ve properly settled, it can feel like the business is constantly starting again.

But when this keeps happening, it’s worth asking a deeper question. Instead of only asking why young staff keep leaving, we also need to ask what they’re experiencing in those first 90 days. Because those early months are not just a probation period for the young person, they’re also the time where the young person decides whether the workplace is clear enough, safe enough and worth staying in.

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Probation works both ways

Most workplaces understand the first 90 days as a time to assess the new staff member. They’re looking at whether the person turns up, follows instructions, completes tasks, fits into the team and shows signs they can do the job. Those are fair questions because a business needs to know whether someone is suited to the role.

But young staff are also assessing the workplace. They’re noticing the manager’s style, how people speak to each other, how mistakes are handled, whether they feel included and whether the role fits with what they value. They may not always say these things out loud, but they’re often quietly working out whether this is somewhere they want to stay.

That’s the part workplaces can miss. Probation is usually framed as something the employer controls, but young staff are making their own judgement too. If the workplace feels confusing, cold, unsafe or directionless, the young person may decide very quickly that this isn’t a place they want to build a future.

Onboarding is more than admin

A lot of onboarding is built around what the workplace needs to get done. There are forms to complete, policies to read, payroll details to collect, passwords to create, uniforms to organise, rosters to explain and procedures to tick off. All of these things matter, because people need to be paid, safe and clear on the basic rules of the workplace.

The problem is that onboarding can become so administrative that we forget what the young person is actually experiencing. From the management or HR side, the process might feel complete because the forms are done and the checklist has been followed. But from the young person’s side, they may still feel unsure about where they fit, who they can ask for help and what good actually looks like in the role.

A young person can be technically onboarded and still feel completely lost. They might know where the staff room is, but not know when it’s okay to take a break. They might know who their supervisor is, but not know whether they’re allowed to interrupt them, and they might understand the formal rules without understanding the hidden rules that shape everyday workplace life.

Young staff are learning the workplace, not just the job

When a young person starts work, they’re not only learning tasks. They’re learning names, routines, communication styles, personalities, workplace politics, expectations, dress standards, break times and how people respond when things go wrong. That’s a lot to take in, especially when they’re also trying to look like they know what they’re doing.

Most adults forget how much is happening in those early days because we’ve already built up years of workplace experience. We know every workplace has its own culture, rhythm and unwritten rules. A young person may still be learning that workplaces don’t just run on policies, they also run on relationships, expectations and things people assume everyone understands.

This is why the first 90 days can feel overwhelming for young staff. They’re trying to work out whether they’re doing things right, whether they’re asking too many questions, whether they’re annoying people and whether they should already know things no one has actually explained. If that uncertainty isn’t supported well, it can quickly turn into self doubt.

Belonging comes before performance

Belonging can sound like a soft idea in a workplace conversation, but it’s deeply practical. If a young person doesn’t feel like they belong, a lot of their energy goes into self protection. They read the room, hold back questions, avoid mistakes, monitor how people respond to them and try to work out whether they’re safe.

That matters because performance doesn’t only come from skill. A young person can have potential, intelligence and a good attitude, but if they feel unclear, unwanted or unsafe, those qualities may not show up properly. They may become quiet, hesitant, overly cautious or disengaged, and then those behaviours can be misread as poor motivation.

Belonging doesn’t mean lowering expectations or avoiding accountability. It means creating enough safety, clarity and connection for learning to happen. Once a young person feels like they have a place, they’re more likely to ask questions, take feedback, recover from mistakes, show initiative and start imagining themselves staying.

What managers often misread

One of the biggest risks in the first 90 days is that managers misread what’s happening. Silence can look like confidence, when it may actually mean the young person doesn’t know what to ask. Over checking can look like neediness, when it may mean they don’t yet know their decision limits.

Hesitation can be misread too. A young person who doesn’t jump in straight away may not be lazy or unmotivated. They may be trying to understand what they’re allowed to do, what needs approval and whether taking initiative will be seen as helpful or overstepping.

Disengagement is often the final thing managers notice, but it usually starts much earlier. It might start when a young person feels embarrassed after a mistake, brushed off after a question or invisible in the team. By the time they look checked out, they may have already spent weeks deciding whether this workplace is somewhere they can succeed.

What helps young staff stay

Young staff are more likely to stay when they have clarity. That means they understand what good looks like, what matters most in the role, when to ask for help and what they’re allowed to decide on their own. Clear expectations reduce the guessing, and when young people don’t have to guess all the time, they have more energy to learn.

They also need connection. A young staff member needs to know who they can go to when they’re stuck, and they need permission to ask questions before something goes wrong. A simple check in at the end of a shift, the end of a week or after a new task can stop small confusion from turning into bigger disengagement.

They also need safe correction and some sense of future. Safe correction means mistakes are addressed clearly, but without humiliation. Future focus means the young person can see how they’re growing, what they’re improving at and where the role might take them. Together, these things help young staff feel clear, connected and confident enough to contribute.

The first 90 days are a retention strategy

The first 90 days shouldn’t be treated as a waiting period where the business simply watches to see whether the young person works out. It should be treated as an active retention strategy. This is the window where clarity, belonging, support and honest conversations matter most.

If young staff are leaving before they settle, the answer is not always to recruit better. Sometimes the answer is to onboard better, support better and notice earlier. Sometimes the workplace needs to ask whether it has created the conditions for a young person to grow into the role, rather than just expecting them to arrive fully confident.

That doesn’t remove responsibility from the young person. They still need to show up, listen, learn, take feedback and build their skills. But young staff are more likely to stay when the workplace helps them feel clear enough, connected enough and confident enough to contribute, and that doesn’t happen by accident.

Want my free 1 page Mentoring Program Business Plan template?

This Business plan will set your programs up for success.

It includes:

• Clear business case

• Goal and measurable objectives

• Eligibility rules for mentors and mentees plus roles and responsibilities

• A mentor training checklist

• A simple resourcing and budget planner

• A monthly measurement dashboard plus key risks and controls

• A next 7 days action plan to move from idea to launch

Download it here:

https://confidenceinmentoring.com

Subscribe now

About Confidence in Mentoring

Confidence in Mentoring helps organisations employ, support, and retain young staff through better mentoring, clearer supervision, and stronger workplace systems.

About the Author

I’m a qualified youth worker of 20 years and a workplace mentor with extensive experience supporting young people in workplaces and community organisations. I write about workplace mentoring, supervision, staff confidence, retention, and what helps young staff thrive at work.

You can contact me:

🌐 confidenceinmentoring.com

💼 Linkedin

When staff leave, underperform, or disengage, workplaces often start looking for someone to blame. It might be the manager, the supervisor, the HR team, the new staff member, or the generation entering the workforce. Someone must be responsible, so the organisation starts searching for the person who got it wrong.

But sometimes the problem is not one person. Sometimes the problem is the system everyone is working inside. If the workplace is confusing, inconsistent, poorly documented, reactive, or difficult to navigate, even good staff can struggle to do good work.

This matters even more when we are talking about young staff. Young workers are often still learning how workplaces operate, how to ask questions, how to follow procedures, and how to manage the social and professional expectations of work. If the system around them is unclear, we should not be surprised when they feel overwhelmed.

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Workplace systems are everywhere

When people hear the word “systems,” they often think about technology. They think about computers, software, databases, or that one finance platform everyone quietly hates but has somehow survived for 20 years. Anyone who works in IT knows how important these systems are, because when the computer system goes down, everyone suddenly becomes very interested in systems.

But workplace systems are much broader than software. They include the way people are onboarded, trained, supervised, supported, reviewed, communicated with, and held accountable. They include meetings, policies, procedures, decision-making processes, reporting lines, and the small everyday habits that shape how work actually gets done.

The trouble is that many of these systems are invisible until they stop working. When they work well, people get on with the job and barely notice them. When they work poorly, people spend half their energy trying to work around them.

Good systems reduce confusion

Imagine two young staff members starting in the same organisation.

The first person receives a structured induction. They know what their role is, who they report to, what they are expected to do, and who they can ask for help. They are given clear instructions, a buddy for the first few weeks, and regular check-ins with their supervisor.

The second person is shown to their desk, given a quick tour, and told, “You’ll pick it up as you go.”

Both might be capable. Both might be motivated. Both might want to do well. But only one has been given the conditions to settle, learn, and build confidence.

That is the simplest way to understand workplace systems. Good systems reduce confusion. Poor systems create confusion. And confusion, when it is left sitting in a workplace for too long, becomes exhausting.

The clunky software problem

Most of us have worked somewhere with a system that everyone knows is broken.

It might be outdated software, a confusing finance process, a messy filing system, or a procedure that only one person truly understands. Everyone complains about it. It comes up in staff surveys. It gets mentioned in exit interviews. Managers nod along and say, “Yes, we know it’s an issue,” but nothing changes.

The longer it is ignored, the worse it becomes.

New staff arrive and receive no real training on how to use it. They ask the person sitting closest to them, who explains their own way of doing things. The next day, they ask someone else, who shows them a completely different method. Eventually the new staff member is left with three different ways to do the same task and no idea which one is correct.

That is not a staff issue. That is a system issue.

And over time, people build their own workarounds. They create habits around a broken system because they need to survive the day. Then, when the organisation finally decides to fix it, everyone becomes frustrated because they are being asked to unlearn something they were forced to invent in the first place.

Managers should remove barriers

One of the mistakes managers can make is thinking their job is mainly to make staff work harder.

Of course performance matters. Of course accountability matters. Of course people need to do the work they are employed to do. But one of the most important responsibilities of a manager is to remove barriers so staff can do good work.

If staff are constantly confused, duplicating work, waiting for approvals, sitting in meetings with no outcomes, or trying to follow unclear procedures, simply telling them to “perform better” is not going to solve much.

A better question is this:

What is making it harder for my staff to do great work?

That question changes the conversation. It moves the focus away from blame and towards responsibility. It asks managers to look at the environment, the structures, and the everyday systems that shape how people work.

Exit interviews often point to systems

Exit interviews can be incredibly useful if organisations are willing to listen properly.

If staff keep saying there is no accountability, no one follows procedures, communication is poor, everything feels reactive, or no one knows what is going on, those are not just random complaints. They are describing how the workplace functions.

They are giving you information about the system.

The same applies when the same frustrations keep appearing in staff surveys, team meetings, supervision notes, or informal conversations. If different staff keep naming the same barriers, the issue is probably not one difficult employee. It is probably something built into the way the workplace operates.

This is where organisations need to be honest. If people keep telling you the same thing and nothing changes, eventually staff stop believing there is any point speaking up. That silence can look like acceptance, but often it is disengagement.

Trauma-informed practice is good management

One of the reasons I often talk about trauma-informed practice is because many of its principles are simply good management.

Predictability matters. People do better when they know what is expected, who is responsible, what is happening next, and where they can go for support. This is especially important for young staff, who may already be carrying uncertainty as they learn how workplaces operate.

Safety matters too. Staff need to feel comfortable asking questions, making mistakes, and asking for help without being shamed or dismissed. If people are scared of getting it wrong, they will hide mistakes, avoid questions, and spend more energy protecting themselves than improving their work.

Consistency also matters. When processes change depending on who is working, who is supervising, or what mood someone is in, staff lose trust. A consistent system allows people to relax into the work because they know what to expect.

Connection matters as well. Regular check-ins, mentoring, buddy systems, and supportive supervision all help staff feel less alone. When people feel connected, they are more likely to ask questions early, raise concerns, and stay engaged.

These are not just trauma-informed principles. They are the foundations of a healthy workplace.

Poor systems shape poor culture

Workplace culture is often talked about as if it is mainly about attitude.

People say they want a positive culture, a respectful culture, a high-performing culture, or a culture where people take initiative. Those are all good goals, but culture does not appear out of nowhere. It is shaped by the systems people experience every day.

If expectations are unclear, culture becomes tense.

If people receive different answers from different supervisors, culture becomes frustrating.

If no one follows procedures, culture becomes unpredictable.

If meetings never lead anywhere, culture becomes cynical.

If staff keep raising concerns and nothing changes, culture becomes resentful.

This is why workplace systems matter so much. Poor systems do not just slow people down. They affect trust, communication, motivation, confidence, and relationships.

Confusion is exhausting. When staff spend too much energy trying to work out what is happening, who is responsible, or whether they are doing the right thing, they have less energy left for the actual work. Over time, that affects morale and performance.

Young staff feel this quickly

Young staff can be especially affected by unclear systems.

They may not yet have the confidence to challenge poor processes or ask repeated questions. They may assume they are the problem when something does not make sense. They may stay quiet because they do not want to look incapable.

This is one of the reasons onboarding matters so much. A young staff member entering a confusing workplace may not have the experience to separate a poor system from their own ability. Instead of thinking, “This workplace has not explained this properly,” they may think, “I’m not good at this.”

That is a dangerous shift.

Once a young person starts believing they are failing, confidence drops quickly. They ask fewer questions. They take less initiative. They become more hesitant. Eventually, the organisation may start describing them as disengaged or not work ready.

But the workplace may have trained them into silence.

What managers can do when the wider system is slow to change

In larger organisations, managers may know a system is broken but feel powerless to change it quickly.

That can be frustrating. You may advocate up the chain, raise the issue repeatedly, and wait months or years for a proper fix. In the meantime, your staff still need to do their jobs.

This is where local leadership matters.

The first step is to listen and acknowledge the frustration. Staff usually know when something is not working. They do not need you to pretend everything is fine. They need to know you see the barrier and are willing to do what you can to reduce it.

The next step is to ask what can be improved inside your own team. Can you create a simple procedure? Can you agree on one way of doing a task? Can you build a checklist, offer short training, reduce unnecessary meetings, or make decisions clearer?

These small changes may not fix the whole organisation, but they can make the team environment more manageable.

Accountability matters too

There is no point creating procedures if no one uses them.

Many workplaces have documents that technically exist but are never followed. They sit in folders, drives, or policy systems while staff continue doing things however they have always done them. At that point, the procedure is not really a system. It is decoration.

Good systems require accountability.

If a team agrees to follow a process, managers need to make sure people actually follow it. If the process is not working, it should be reviewed. But allowing everyone to ignore agreed procedures creates confusion, especially for new staff.

Accountability is not about being harsh. It is about creating fairness and consistency. When everyone follows the same process, people know what is expected, and the workplace becomes easier to navigate.

The small question that can change a team

If you are a manager or supervisor, one useful question to ask is:

What is making it harder for my staff to do great work?

That question can open up a lot.

It may point to unclear expectations. It may reveal poor training. It may show that your team has too many meetings, duplicated tasks, inconsistent procedures, or decision-making bottlenecks. It may also reveal that staff have been quietly working around problems for a long time.

Once you know the answer, you can start somewhere.

You do not need to fix everything at once. Sometimes removing one barrier creates enough momentum for people to feel that change is possible. That matters because staff are far more likely to engage when they can see that concerns are being taken seriously.

A workplace system should help people do good work

At its best, a workplace system should make good work easier.

It should help people understand what is expected. It should make tasks clearer. It should create consistency, reduce unnecessary stress, and help staff know where to go when they need support.

When systems do that, people communicate better. They trust each other more. They spend less time second-guessing and more time doing the work they came to do.

That is when culture starts to improve.

The answer to poor performance, turnover, or disengagement is not always to push staff harder. Sometimes the better answer is to look at the system around them and ask whether it is helping or getting in the way.

If you work with young staff

If you manage, supervise, or employ young staff, I write and podcast about mentoring, supervision, retention, and workplace systems that help young people thrive at work.

Subscribe to Confidence in Mentoring for practical ideas on how to bring young staff into the workplace well.

Final thought

When staff are struggling, it is easy to look for a person to blame.

But before you decide the problem is motivation, attitude, performance, or a generational issue, look at the system they are working inside. Look at the onboarding, the training, the procedures, the communication, the accountability, and the everyday barriers that make good work harder than it needs to be.

Good staff can struggle in poor systems.

Young staff can lose confidence in unclear systems.

And workplaces can create poor culture when confusion is allowed to sit for too long.

So maybe the question is not, “Why won’t my staff do better?”

Maybe the better question is, “What are we making harder than it needs to be?”

Young staff do not just need jobs. They need workplaces that know how to support them well.

Want my free 1 page Mentoring Program Business Plan template?

This Business plan will set your programs up for success.

It includes:

• Clear business case

• Goal and measurable objectives

• Eligibility rules for mentors and mentees plus roles and responsibilities

• A mentor training checklist

• A simple resourcing and budget planner

• A monthly measurement dashboard plus key risks and controls

• A next 7 days action plan to move from idea to launch

Download it here:

https://confidenceinmentoring.com

About Confidence in Mentoring

Confidence in Mentoring helps organisations employ, support, and retain young staff through better mentoring, clearer supervision, and stronger workplace systems.

About the Author

I’m a qualified youth worker of 20 years and a workplace mentor with extensive experience supporting young people in workplaces and community organisations. I write about workplace mentoring, supervision, staff confidence, retention, and what helps young staff thrive at work.

Subscribe now

You can contact me:

🌐 confidenceinmentoring.com.au

💼 Linkedin

Most workplace mentoring programs don’t fail because people stop caring.

In fact, many mentoring programs begin with genuine enthusiasm. Senior leaders support the idea. Mentors volunteer. Mentees are interested. HR puts significant effort into getting everything organised.

Then, somewhere between the launch and six months later, things start to drift.

Meetings become less frequent. Mentors become harder to reach. Mentees stop initiating contact. The program still technically exists, but fewer and fewer people are actively participating in it.

Eventually, it becomes one of those workplace initiatives everyone remembers launching, but nobody is quite sure whether it still exists.

I’ve seen this happen often enough that I no longer think it’s surprising. In fact, I think most mentoring programs are vulnerable to exactly this outcome.

The question is not whether organisations care about mentoring.

The question is whether they have created the conditions for mentoring to survive.

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Good intentions is not a mentoring strategy

One of the biggest misconceptions about mentoring is that it should happen naturally.

The thinking usually sounds something like this:

“We have good people.”

“Our senior staff are supportive.”

“We care about developing people.”

All of those things are important, but none of them automatically create effective mentoring.

Mentoring is relationship-based work. Like any relationship-based work, it requires structure, support, and intentionality.

Most workplaces would never expect a leadership development program, onboarding process, or safety system to run entirely on goodwill. Yet many organisations expect mentoring to somehow sustain itself without dedicated time, training, or oversight.

That expectation creates problems from the beginning.

The launch is often the easy part

Launching a mentoring program feels productive.

There are meetings, announcements, registrations, and excitement. Everyone can see visible progress.

The harder part begins once the launch is over.

That is when the program has to compete with real workplace pressures.

Workloads increase.

Deadlines emerge.

Managers become busy.

Operational issues take priority.

The mentoring conversations that felt important three months ago suddenly become optional.

And optional activities are usually the first things to disappear when pressure increases.

This is why many mentoring programs slowly fade rather than abruptly fail. Nobody actively decides to stop mentoring. People simply stop making time for it.

Mentoring needs a clear purpose

One of the first questions I ask organisations is:

“What problem are you trying to solve?”

Surprisingly, many workplaces struggle to answer clearly.

Some want to improve retention.

Some want to support young staff.

Some want leadership development.

Others simply know mentoring sounds like a good idea.

The problem is that mentoring means different things depending on the outcome you are trying to achieve.

Without a clear purpose, mentoring quickly becomes vague. Meetings occur because they are scheduled, not because anyone understands what the relationship is intended to support.

The strongest mentoring programs usually have a very clear focus. Everyone involved understands why the program exists and what success looks like.

Relationships matter more than systems

Organisations often spend significant time designing matching processes, templates, reporting requirements, and program structures.

Those things matter.

But mentoring succeeds or fails through relationships.

A mentoring program is not successful because two people were matched together on a spreadsheet. It succeeds because trust develops between them.

Young staff, particularly those entering employment for the first time, are often carrying uncertainty that workplaces don’t always see. They are trying to understand expectations, navigate workplace culture, and work out where they fit.

A mentor cannot remove every challenge, but they can reduce the feeling of navigating those challenges alone.

That is often where the real value of mentoring sits.

Mentors need support too

Another reason mentoring programs struggle is because organisations focus heavily on supporting mentees while overlooking mentors.

Mentors need training.

They need boundaries.

They need clarity around expectations.

They need opportunities to discuss challenges and seek guidance themselves.

Without support, mentoring can become inconsistent, emotionally draining, or difficult to sustain alongside existing workloads.

The most successful mentoring programs recognise that both sides of the relationship require investment.

What successful mentoring programs understand

The workplaces that sustain mentoring over time usually understand something important.

Mentoring is not a workplace perk.

It is not a culture accessory.

And it is not something that survives purely through enthusiasm.

Good mentoring programs are supported systems.

They are resourced.

They are monitored.

They are championed by leadership.

Most importantly, they are embedded into workplace culture rather than operating on the fringes of it.

When mentoring becomes part of how an organisation supports, develops, and retains people, it has a much greater chance of surviving beyond the initial excitement.

Final thought

I don’t think mentoring programs quietly die because people don’t care.

More often, they die because organisations underestimate how much intentionality mentoring requires.

Good mentoring is not simply putting two people together and hoping for the best.

It is creating an environment where relationships, trust, learning, and support are valued enough to survive when workloads increase and priorities compete for attention.

Because mentoring is rarely tested when workplaces are calm.

It is tested when workplaces become busy.

And if a mentoring program can survive those periods, it usually becomes one of the most valuable development and retention tools an organisation has.

Want my free 1 page Mentoring Program Business Plan template?

This Business plan will set your programs up for success.

It includes:

• Clear business case

• Goal and measurable objectives

• Eligibility rules for mentors and mentees plus roles and responsibilities

• A mentor training checklist

• A simple resourcing and budget planner

• A monthly measurement dashboard plus key risks and controls

• A next 7 days action plan to move from idea to launch

Download it here: https://confidenceinmentoring.com.au

About Confidence in Mentoring

Confidence in Mentoring helps organisations employ, support, and retain young staff through better mentoring, clearer supervision, and stronger workplace systems.

About the Author

I’m a qualified youth worker of 20 years and a workplace mentor with extensive experience supporting young people in workplaces and community organisations. I write about workplace mentoring, supervision, staff confidence, retention, and what helps young staff thrive at work.

You can contact me:

🌐 confidenceinmentoring.com.au

💼 Linkedin

One of the reasons I started the Not Work Ready podcast was because I kept hearing the same concern from different businesses.

They were employing young staff, investing time into bringing them in, and then not long after, the young person would resign, disengage, or simply stop turning up. When this happens a few times, it’s easy for a business to start looking in the usual places for answers. Maybe the recruitment process is wrong. Maybe they hired the wrong person. Maybe young people just don’t want to work anymore.

But I don’t think that explains the whole picture.

In this episode, I wanted to explore a different question. What are the workplaces doing well when they actually keep young staff? What is happening in those environments that helps young people settle, build confidence, and want to come back?

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Young people are still developing

One of the first things we need to understand is that many young workers are still in a major stage of development.

If you’re employing someone between 15 and 25, they are still working through identity, confidence, values, friendships, family relationships, study, independence, and their place in the world. Then we add a workplace on top of all of that. A workplace can bring expectations, pressure, politics, unclear communication, difficult managers, social dynamics, mistakes, feedback, and the constant feeling of needing to prove yourself.

That’s a lot for anyone to manage.

Even adults who have been working for decades can struggle with workplaces. People struggle with office politics, unclear expectations, bullying, managing managers, workload, and feeling unsupported. So it should not surprise us that young people, who are still developing and still learning how adult environments work, can find employment overwhelming.

This does not mean young people are fragile or incapable. It means workplaces need to understand what stage of life they are in and bring them in with more thought, structure, and care.

Social connection matters more than many workplaces realise

One of the things I spoke about in the episode was my own experience working in environments with lots of young staff.

There was something different about the energy when young people worked together. The workplace became more social, more relaxed, and often more enjoyable. People joked around, talked about their lives, made plans, and created a sense of connection that made work feel less like something they had to survive and more like somewhere they wanted to be.

That social side of work is often underestimated.

For young people, work is not just a task environment. It is also a social environment. They are working out where they fit, who they connect with, whether they feel accepted, and whether they belong.

This doesn’t mean workplaces need to become social clubs. It means managers need to understand that connection is a retention issue.

If a young person feels isolated at work, if lunch breaks are awkward, if no one talks to them, or if they feel like they are always on the outside of the group, they may leave even if the job itself is fine.

Young staff are not only looking for employment. They are also looking for belonging.

Clarity reduces stress

Another major theme in the episode was clarity.

Young staff need to know what is expected of them. They need to understand the task, the steps involved, who to ask for help, and what good work looks like. Without that clarity, young people can spend a lot of energy guessing.

Guessing creates stress.

A workplace may think they have explained something clearly, but a young person may still be unsure what to do next. They may not want to ask again because they don’t want to look incapable. They may nod, say they understand, and then quietly carry the pressure of trying to work it out alone.

That pressure can quickly affect confidence.

One of the simplest things workplaces can do is make tasks clearer. Step-by-step procedures, checklists, examples, and regular check-ins all help reduce anxiety. They also give young staff a way to succeed without needing to constantly guess what the manager wants.

Clarity is not about micromanaging. It is about reducing unnecessary stress.

When young people understand what is expected, they are more likely to relax, ask better questions, build confidence, and take initiative.

Fairness is everything

The final theme I explored was fairness.

Young people are highly aware of fairness. They notice how people are treated. They notice whether rules apply equally. They notice whether managers say one thing and do another. They notice when some staff are expected to pick up the slack while others are protected from inconvenience.

Fairness matters because it builds trust.

If a young person feels that expectations are inconsistent, that feedback is unfair, or that their personal life is treated as less important than someone else’s, it can create resentment very quickly. They may not always raise it formally, but they will feel it.

This is especially important when it comes to rostering, leave, late-notice shifts, workload, and the way managers speak to staff.

Young people often have strong values around equality, respect, inclusion, and fairness. They want workplaces to live by the values they claim to hold. If a workplace says it values people but regularly treats staff unfairly, young people will see the gap.

And once trust drops, retention becomes much harder.

Confidence grows through support and repetition

One of the biggest mistakes workplaces make is expecting confidence to appear before support has been given.

Confidence usually grows through repetition, encouragement, clear expectations, and the chance to practise without being humiliated for making mistakes. Young staff need space to learn. They need accountability, but they also need mistakes to be treated as part of development.

If every mistake becomes embarrassment or punishment, young people stop taking risks. They stop asking questions. They stop trying new things.

But when a workplace creates room for learning, something different happens.

Young staff begin to build confidence. With confidence comes initiative. With initiative comes problem-solving, creativity, and stronger contribution to the workplace.

This is the part many organisations miss.

Young people can bring enormous energy, creativity, and fresh thinking into a workplace. But those strengths are much more likely to show up when the environment around them feels socially connected, clear, fair, and supportive.

Where mentoring fits in

Mentoring brings these pieces together.

A mentor gives a young person someone steady to go to. Someone who can explain the small things, check in regularly, help them understand expectations, and support them when something feels difficult or unclear.

Mentoring also helps young staff feel less alone.

That matters because so much workplace stress comes from carrying uncertainty by yourself. A young person may not know whether they are doing well, whether they are allowed to ask a question, or whether a mistake means they have failed. A mentor helps them make sense of those moments before they become bigger issues.

This is not about doing everything for young staff.

It is about helping them settle into the workplace well enough to grow.

When a young person feels supported, connected, and clear about what is expected, they are far more likely to stay long enough to become the kind of worker the organisation hoped they would be.

Final thought

If a business keeps losing young staff, it is worth looking beyond recruitment.

It may not just be about who you are hiring. It may also be about the environment you are bringing them into.

Do young staff feel socially connected? Do they understand what is expected of them? Do they experience the workplace as fair? Do they have someone steady to go to when they are unsure?

These questions matter.

Because young people do not just stay where the job exists. They stay where the environment helps them feel connected, capable, respected, and supported.

And that is where mentoring can make a real difference.

Young staff do not just need jobs. They need workplaces that know how to bring them in well.

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This article is based on my latest episode of the Not Work Ready podcast, where I explore whether it is young staff who are not work ready, or whether workplaces need to become more ready for young staff.

About Confidence in Mentoring

Confidence in Mentoring helps organisations employ, support, and retain young staff through better mentoring, clearer supervision, and stronger workplace systems.

About Jono Van Der Ploeg

Jono is a youth worker and mentor with extensive experience supporting young people in workplaces, mentoring programs, and community organisations. He writes and speaks about mentoring, supervision, confidence, retention, and what helps young staff thrive at work.

You can contact me:

🌐 confidenceinmentoring.com.au

💼 Linkedin

Available now on Substack, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube Podcasts.

Silence, Anxiety, and Young Staff

Some of the most overwhelmed young people I’ve worked with were also the quietest.

They weren’t disruptive. They weren’t rude. They weren’t refusing to work. In fact, many were trying incredibly hard to do the right thing.

They would sit quietly, wait to be told what to do, apologise constantly, avoid asking questions, and try not to attract attention to themselves. From the outside, it could easily look like low confidence, lack of initiative, or disengagement.

But often, what was really happening underneath was overwhelm.

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A lot of young people enter workplaces carrying uncertainty and anxiety long before they arrive on their first shift. They are trying to understand new systems, new expectations, new social dynamics, and unfamiliar workplace culture, all while trying not to embarrass themselves or get something wrong.

Many workplaces unintentionally misunderstand this silence.

Managers may think:
“They should just ask questions.”
“They need to show more initiative.”
“They don’t seem interested.”

But many young people are thinking:
“I don’t want to look stupid.”
“I don’t know who I’m supposed to ask.”
“I don’t want to annoy anyone.”
“I’m trying not to get in the way.”

Quietness is not always comfort. Sometimes it is self-protection.

One of the challenges for workplaces is that anxiety often does not present itself clearly. It shows up through behaviour. A young person may withdraw socially, avoid tasks they are unsure about, overthink simple decisions, hesitate to speak up, or become overly dependent on reassurance.

When this is misunderstood, workplaces often become reactive. Managers become frustrated that the young person is not speaking up, while the young person becomes more anxious because they feel like they are already failing.

This is where simple trauma-informed practices can make a significant difference.

Trauma-informed practice is not about turning workplaces into therapy rooms. It is about reducing unnecessary uncertainty and creating environments where people feel safe enough to participate, learn, and ask questions.

Sometimes the most supportive things are also the most practical.

Explaining what the day will look like. Making lunch breaks clear. Showing someone where things are. Explaining who they report to. Pairing them with someone supportive. Properly introducing them to the team. Checking in before problems escalate.

These things sound small, but predictability reduces anxiety. Clarity builds confidence. Connection helps people settle.

I also think workplaces underestimate the social side of employment for young people. Feeling accepted matters. Feeling included matters. Something as simple as an introduction morning tea or someone intentionally sitting with them during a break can significantly reduce stress during those early days.

For many young people, the workplace is not just about learning tasks. It is about learning whether they belong there.

This is one of the reasons mentoring can be so valuable.

A mentor gives the young person someone safe to ask questions, someone who can help them interpret workplace expectations, and someone who notices when they are starting to withdraw before things escalate into bigger problems.

Mentoring is not therapy. It is not performance management. But it can create the relationship that helps young people move from silence and uncertainty toward confidence and independence.

Initiative rarely appears first.

Usually, safety, clarity, confidence, and connection come before initiative.

And when workplaces understand that, young people are far more likely to stay, grow, and contribute well.

I explore this topic further in the latest episode of Not Work Ready:

🎧 Silence, Anxiety, and Young Staff

Available now on Substack, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube Podcasts.

Website:

https://confidenceinmentoring.com.au

LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathonvanderploeg/

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In this first episode of Not Work Ready, I talk about what happens when mental health starts affecting work, not from a clinical perspective, but from a practical workplace perspective.

I begin by looking at the scale of the issue, including the fact that 1 in 5 people experience mental health issues each year, and that 41% of staff say mental health was a reason for leaving their job.

From there, I unpack what managers and business owners might actually see when someone is struggling. Often, it doesn’t first appear as “mental health.” It may show up as lateness, withdrawal, poor communication, avoidance, emotional reactions, loss of confidence, repeated mistakes, or someone needing constant reassurance.

I also discuss the pressure this places on managers. Many managers are stuck between wanting to be supportive and needing the work done. They are not counsellors or therapists, but they are often the first people expected to respond when someone starts struggling at work.

I then share part of my own story, how mentoring changed the trajectory of my life during a period of poor mental health — and why that experience shaped the work I now do through Confidence in Mentoring.

The episode finishes by looking at why mentoring programs can be such a practical support structure in workplaces. Mentoring is not therapy, and it does not replace management or HR. But it can create an early layer of support, helping people feel seen, supported, and more confident before issues escalate into burnout, conflict, disengagement, or resignation.

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In this episode, I cover:

• Why mental health is already affecting workplaces

• How mental health issues can show up through behaviour and performance

• The common signs managers may notice when staff are struggling

• The pressure managers feel when they don’t know how to respond

• Why workplaces often become reactive instead of preventative

• How mentoring helped change the direction of my own life

• Why mentoring programs can reduce isolation, confusion, and overwhelm

• How mentoring can support both staff and managers

Key takeaway

Mental health at work is not just an individual issue. It is also shaped by workplace culture, expectations, systems, communication, and support.

A mentoring program does not fix everything, but it can create a practical support layer that helps people earlier — before stress tur

ns into disengagement, conflict, turnover, or crisis.

Connect

To learn more about mentoring, workplace support, and helping young staff succeed, visit Confidence in Mentoring

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