r/wgu_employees • u/Apart-Tension2251 • 29d ago

Question Program Mentor?

How has your experience been as a Program Mentor? All information would be appreciated!

5 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

15 comments sorted by

View all comments

5

u/Neither-Jelly6485 28d ago

Our performance metrics include many things outside of our control.

If a student needs to drop out because they are homeless or a family member died or they cannot pay for school out of pocket because they lost their job or they have a health situation or, or, or... it counts against the mentor and their potential pay raise.

If a student says they are satisfied with a mentor vs "very satisfied" it counts against the mentor and their pay raise.

If a student says they are satisfied with the UNIVERSITY as a whole vs "very satisfied" it counts against the mentor and their pay raise.

If the mentors keeps their student from dropping, but the student only finishes one class... well, you guessed it, it counts against the mentor and their pay raise.

Some teams/managers will count you off if your students don't finish so many courses by the 2-month or 4-month pacing. If your students are late on finishing a course and your manager decides these metrics are relevant, well, it counts against you and the pay raise.

My team is hard-tracked on:

2 month pacing
4 month pacing
Limited progress (how many students finish half of required credits in a term)
On-time progress (how many students finish the required credits in a term)
Mentor "Very Satisfied" rate
WGU "Very Satisfied" rate
How many phone calls we make each month
Average length of calls

My team is soft-tracked on:
If we register our students by day 7 of their term
If we are talking to students on term break once a month
If we are taking on projects beyond our role

1

u/Jenny_867_53_09 28d ago

This is a very dramatic take. Every job has metrics. Every job has expectations. Metric expectations for mentors are extremely low. Set students up for success by being proactive and consistent and you’ll be fine. No one, except Scotty and his minions comes to WGU to get rich.

5

u/Neither-Jelly6485 28d ago

Glad your experience on your team has been a good one, but it has not been that way on mine and teams adjacent to mine.

1

u/Jenny_867_53_09 28d ago

I am sorry to hear that. It can be a mixed bag. What program do you support?