Mentor Everywhere is a professional mentoring program brought to you by Automattic, the makers of WordPress.com, WooCommerce, Jetpack, and more.

At Automattic, a fully-distributed company with no offices, we believe strongly in the power of remote working and how, no matter where you are in the world, you can be an equal participant in the work we do.

While we have our own internal mentorship programs that work for our remote structure, Mentor Everywhere is our way of bringing that same philosophy to traditional mentorship, giving both mentors and mentees the freedom to connect regardless of their physical location. Mentees will work with their mentors to determine the most valuable topics to discuss. We expect these might focus around career development, goal setting, skills development, challenges in the workplace (giving feedback, requesting stretch assignments, dealing with unsupportive colleagues), and networking, and less around non-work issues.

Mentor Everywhere isn’t aimed solely at remote workers as mentors or mentees, but we definitely feel those individuals have a lot to give and are usually unable to participate in traditional mentoring programs due to their physical locations or travel schedules. Rather than seeing long distances and timezones as obstacles, we want to bridge those gaps in communication using the lessons we’ve learned and tools we use while working remotely.

Photo from wocintechchat.com