Hyundai Oilbank has introduced a “reverse mentoring” system to facilitate communication among all generations.

Reverse mentoring is a program in which younger employees of millennials and Generation Z are paired with executives to share new generation culture.

The program is a new communication method in which seniors learn the current world from younger employees, departing from the conventional mentoring system in which seniors teach juniors.

It is designed to raise the understanding of each other and create a younger generation corporate culture of work.

The first reverse mentoring class lasted about three months between October and December. Executives teamed up with junior employees and got together to conduct a variety of activities once or twice monthly.

Younger mentors with the average age of 27 coached curricula of current trends such as Instagram, latest SNS experiences, new generation buzzwords study, and the understanding of broadcasting and culture trends. 

An executive, a member of the class, said, “It is necessary for management leaders to learn trends from younger employees to proactively cope with changes, which are made in a rapid pace lately, and it’s a personal funny experience to learn new culture such as fad languages among those in their 20s.”

Hyundai Oilbank plans to regularize reverse mentoring, not a transient program, The company plans to implement a new reverse mentoring program connecting new employees in production and specialization sectors and site managers next year.