Enterprise mentoring – advantages and benefits for employees and the organization

Mentoring, as demonstrated by our report, is undeniably gaining popularity in Europe. More and more enterprises, universities, but also various industry organizations are beginning to take advantage of this form of development. Still, corporate decision-makers may wonder whether it is worth the time and resources to implement this form of development. 

I have already touched on the advantages and barriers of mentoring in one of previous articles. However, the topic is so important that I decided to describe in detail each of the most frequently mentioned advantages. In addition, in the second part of the article I will also address the specific benefits that mentoring has not only for Mentees, but also for Mentors. 

Advantages of implementing mentoring for the enterprise

The chart below is from a report on mentoring that we completed in the second half of 2023. One of the questions asked to representatives of HR teams was one relating specifically to the benefits that were perceived by respondents. 

See also the article in which we collected the most interesting case studies on the implementation of mentoring in a company.

In the first part of this article I will touch on the first three benefits mentioned here, and in the next part I will refer to the benefits for Mentees and Mentors and Mentorees. 

Building relationships within the enterprise

The first most frequently reported benefit of mentoring in a company by HR team representatives is relationship building. Nearly half of respondents indicated this benefit. 

And no wonder, mentoring at its very core has relationship building. In general, for a mentoring process to be effective, trust and rapport are necessary, built gradually as the process progresses. Mentoring, as a result, creates dozens of pairs – people who trust each other and are willing to share their own knowledge and insights. The relationship often persists beyond the mentoring process itself, and the participants have a place to talk frankly and get support, not to mention the sheer psychological benefit of a healthy and lasting relationship. 

Increase motivation and commitment of enterprise employees 

Second among the cited benefits of mentoring is improved motivation and commitment of company employees – participants in mentoring processes. There are many studies on this subject – indicating a positive correlation between participation in mentoring and motivation and satisfaction (example). 

What is the reason for this? 

Probably in part from the fact that the Mentee during the mentoring process receives knowledge and has access to consultation often on his or her responsibilities at work. As a result, she receives the resources she needs to better, more effectively discharge those responsibilities. 

Similarly, on the other hand – Mentors gain access to a broader perspective that often influences their thinking and their work. 

In addition, just building and participating in a relationship triggers positive feelings, endorphins, and a better mood is associated with greater effectiveness at work. 

This all leads to increased motivation, greater commitment and ultimately greater effectiveness in employees by implementing mentoring in the enterprise.  

Knowledge transfer in the organization 

On par with the increase in employee motivation and commitment, representatives of HR teams cited knowledge transfer within the organization as a benefit of mentoring.  

Again – this is a benefit that stems directly from the nature of the mentoring process, in which the person with more experience shares his or her knowledge and guidance with the Mentee. It should also be noted that this benefit, in turn, affects several other areas that may be relevant from the employer’s point of view: 

• Take advantage of internal knowledge – thanks to the fact that Mentors and Mentors are enterprise employees, there is no need to hire outsiders to conduct individual coaching or consulting processes. 
• Succession support – mentoring is an excellent tool to introduce employees to new positions and help maintain continuity of job promotion. 
• Knowledge retention within the organization – this is a benefit that is particularly important when you have the longest-serving people in the company, with extremely valuable experience. It is worth retaining such knowledge within the organization – precisely by mentoring younger people by the most experienced employees. 
• Faster Promotion of Employees – Mentoring significantly affects the speed of promotion – and both Mentees – to senior specialist positions, and Mentors – to managerial positions. According to research (link), the time from promotion to promotion can be reduced by up to 30-50%. 

Mentoring supports employer branding 

At the end of the section on the benefits of mentoring for enterprises, I decided to add one more, not mentioned in the report and perhaps not so directly associated with mentoring. This is employer branding, or building a company’s image as a good, valuable employer. 

On the one hand, mentoring can be seen as an employee benefit – especially for Mentees. Along with onboarding and training packages, it provides great support especially for new employees. Studies unequivocally show that people from new generations (for example, Generation Z) feel lonely, need more empathy, individual appreciation and individual development. Mentoring accomplishes all these goals and can be successfully used both to reduce employee turnover and improve employee well-being, but also as a benefit communicated at the recruitment level. 

On the other hand, participation in mentoring represents a distinction for Mentors, which they are eager to brag about to the outside world. Proper communication of mentoring can, on the very practical side, bring a lot of posts and communication about the employer on Linkedin, for example. This further supports employer branding and the company’s image as a good employer. 

See also our guide – how to implement effective mentoring in a company and a video with a summary of the benefits of mentoring programs in companies on YouTube.

Advantages of mentoring in the company for employees 

Mentoring programs in enterprises have benefits not only for the employer, but also for the employees – and for Mentees as well as Mentors and Mentorees. 

Benefits to Mentees 

We have already presented the benefits of mentoring for Mentees in one of our previous articles. 

This main – the most obvious benefit is, of course, acquiring knowledge and experience and getting support in the field being mentored. The mentor, having more experience during the process, shares it by giving the Mentee his/her insights and showing how he/she solved / solved the problems that the mentored person is currently facing. 

But the benefits don’t stop there. Mentoring is a process in which transfer of knowledge is only part of the whole. In mentoring, an important role is played by the relationship itself and the formula of the process, which in its assumptions is more similar to coaching than to actual training. The mentor helps the Mentee learn about their own strengths, their own expectations and aspirations. He helps solve the problem, rather than solving it for the Mentee.  

As a result, mentoring for Mentees can have the following benefits: 

• Increased confidence through support and relationship building 
• Increase self-confidence  
• Regularly received support  
• A sense of being recognized and valued  
• Greater clarity of professional and personal goals  
• Receive assistance in career development  
• Increase chances of promotion  
• Development of selected skills and competencies  
• Learning new skills and competencies  
• Increased self-awareness and insight  
• Receive many useful tools for your own work  
• Helping you find time just for yourself 

As you can see, these areas go significantly beyond pure domain knowledge. 

Benefits for Mentors 

The benefits for Mentors, in turn, are described in an article on motivating Mentors to participate in a mentoring program. 

Being a Mentor is an opportunity to achieve the next step on the path of development, to go in the direction of leadership, management, and great satisfaction from the relationship itself, but also from the progress that the mentee achieves. 

Everyone has a slightly different motivation for mentoring and brings slightly different benefits to themselves, but most often they touch on areas such as: 

• The satisfaction of sharing knowledge.  
• Improving as a Mentor, accreditation.  
• The satisfaction of participating in the development of another person.  
• Improve own leadership competencies such as: 
  • Active listening,   
  • providing feedback,   
  • Communication skills,   
  • goal setting,   
  • asking questions.
• Taking inspiration from the experiences of others, broadening perspective.  
• The satisfaction of returning the favor for help received earlier.  
• Meeting other Mentors and sharing experiences with them.  
• Increasing self-awareness.

As you can see, it is not only Mentees who benefit from the mentoring process. Mentors also gain a great deal, although in slightly different areas.