Socrates mentored Plato. Oprah Winfrey had Maya Angelou. Even Luke Skywalker had Yoda.

While informal mentoring is nothing new, companies are increasingly making it more ingrained in their workplace culture.

At Fortune 500 companies, 92% now offer mentoring programs, up from 84% in 2022, according to MentorcliQ.

“Companies are realizing that mentoring allows people to learn from one another, providing a path to skill and knowledge transfer, as well as offering practical support and guidance,” says Anne-Lyse Raoul, EMEA Head of Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI) at JLL.

A big driver behind the shift: today’s workforces are motivated by more than just salary. They’re interested in experimenting with diverse career paths and building networks, JLL research shows. Professional social networking platform LinkedIn says Gen Z, born between 1995 and 2010, are its fastest growing user demographic.

“As younger generations come up through the ranks, they’re looking for connections that enrich their experience - mentoring is that bridge,” says Matthieu Girault, JLL’s Chief Operating Officer for EMEA Work Dynamics.

Another benefit is learning how to navigate large, complex organizations.

“Mentoring helps new employees quickly understand a business and opens doors to colleagues outside their immediate team,” Girault says. “I found it immensely valuable when I first started my career and it creates a virtuous circle, with those who are successfully mentored becoming keen to mentor others.” 

Girault agrees. “Hearing about other people’s experiences and difficulties helps mentors gain diversity of thought and new perspectives, which can lead to new ways of approaching challenges,” he says.

For those higher up the ladder, Girault says mentoring helps them keep a finger on the pulse of their organization, highlighting barriers that may be hindering diversity or issues that need addressing.

For companies with a keen eye on their bottom line, mentoring provides low-cost, high-quality learning based on personal experiences.

“Often mentors have already participated in years of learning and development, so can quickly pass practical application of their knowledge on to their mentees,” says Raoul. “It boosts the ROI of formal training schemes, while helping junior employees to upskill faster.”

The financial impact is not to be underestimated. MentorcliQ’s 2023 Mentoring Impact Report found median profits from Fortune 500 companies with mentorship schemes were three times that of those without mentoring strategies.

In part, this could be down to the associated productivity benefits, illustrated by research from the Association for Talent Development, which showed managers who were mentored improved productivity by 88%, compared to just 24% for those who only received training.

Better engagement and higher staff retention are more signs of mentoring success.

There are cost saving attributes to mentoring too. A Gartner study of 1,000 employees in a mentorship scheme at technology firm Sun Microsystems found that over several years, mentored staff retention rates were 20% higher, saving the firm $6.7 million.