Mentoring programs in large companies – 7 case studies and examples of mentoring outcomes

All articles published on the Mentiway blog are written by human mentoring consultants. AI systems are used solely for translation and image generation.

Corporate mentoring programs can serve many different purposes. For one organization, mentoring will be a tool supporting the development of future women and men leaders, for another a way to increase internal mobility, improve onboarding for new employees, or support the development of women in managerial positions.

The common denominator is similar, however: mentoring is increasingly rarely functioning as a standalone HR initiative detached from other activities. In large organizations it becomes part of broader processes related to talent development, succession, leadership development, diversity, or employee experience.

At Mentiway we see this every day as well. We have already supported over 100 mentoring programs, and thousands of female and male mentors and mentees have used the platform. We describe some of our implementations in the Mentiway mentoring case studies, although due to confidentiality we cannot publicly discuss all programs delivered with our support.

Some time ago we also prepared a compilation of case studies of corporate mentoring programs. This time we expand it with additional examples from international organizations. We are primarily looking at what mentoring is used for and what results organizations running such programs report.

In a nutshell

• Mentoring should be designed around a specific organizational goal rather than as a general HR initiative.
• For large programs processes and tools for recruitment, matching, and monitoring are necessary to ensure scalability.
• Program results should be measured over the long term, not only directly after the mentoring ends.

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• The Mentiway platform supports the entire program cycle: recruitment, pair matching, participant preparation, communication automation and reporting, which facilitates scaling programs and automates matching and monitoring Contact Mentiway

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• Read related articles:
  • How to measure mentoring effectiveness? KPIs, metrics and data that really matter
  • How does mentor and mentee matching really work? Matching in mentoring behind the scenes
  • Corporate mentoring program – how to design, implement and develop it? A practical HR guide

Mentoring in a company can achieve far more than a single objective

When talking about mentoring outcomes, it’s very easy to look for a single universal KPI. Does mentoring increase retention? Does it accelerate promotions? Does it develop leaders?

In practice, such questions are too general.

A mentoring program should be evaluated primarily in the context of the goal for which it was launched. If mentoring is part of onboarding, it’s worth analysing the experience of new employees, the speed of ramp‑up or early retention. If it’s an element of a talent program – competency development, internal mobility and promotions. If, on the other hand, it is intended to support diversity, the development pathways of specific employee groups may be important.

That’s exactly why the case studies below are so interesting. They show not one mentoring model, but several very different ways of using the same developmental method.

1. GM Financial: from a pilot to over 1,200 participants

GM Financial is a good example of how a small pilot can, over time, transform into a large, global mentoring program.

The company launched the program in 2016 with just 64 employees. A few years later the Global Mentoring Program already included more than 800 mentors and mentees. The organization noted that one of the program’s goals was to build relationships across silos and connect employees who in their day‑to‑day work would probably not have the opportunity to collaborate.

In 2023 the program’s scale grew even further. In the Global Mentoring Program 1,263 people participated, representing over 14% of the company’s workforce. The organization also reported that 155 program participants were promoted that year.

This is a good example for two reasons. First, it shows that a mentoring program can be scaled from several dozen to more than a thousand participants. Second — as scale increases, the way mentoring is managed changes. With a few or a dozen pairs, HR can still relatively easily coordinate the program manually. With more than a thousand participants, appropriate processes for recruitment, matching, communication, monitoring and reporting are already required.

Mentoring then ceases to be solely a relationship between two people. From the organizer’s perspective it becomes a fully fledged HR process.

2. International SOS – program results measured also after its completion

International SOS and the Empower Mentoring Programme, aimed at managerial staff, offer an interesting perspective.

According to the Sustainability Report 2025, 115 managerial employees have completed the program since its inception. However, the organization does not limit its effectiveness measurement to a satisfaction survey administered immediately after the mentoring concludes.

In FY23/24 the company maintained a 30% promotion rate among mentees within two years of completing the program. The latest edition simultaneously achieved a Mentee NPS of 50.

It is the method of measurement that is particularly interesting here. Many organizations evaluate a mentoring program immediately after the final session. They ask participants whether they were satisfied, whether they rated the mentor well, and whether they would recommend the program to others. These are valuable data points, but they do not always show long-term outcomes.

International SOS, however, also observes what happens to mentees after the program ends. This is good inspiration for HR: some effects of mentoring, particularly those related to career progression and professional development, may only become visible after a few or a dozen months.

3. Nippon Gases – mentoring as support for women’s development

Mentoring often features as an element of strategies aimed at women’s development within organizations.

Nippon Gases Europe launched the European female mentoring project as part of efforts to increase the representation of women in specialist and managerial roles. The company set a very specific goal for the program – achieving a 70% promotion rate to managerial positions among the project’s participants by fiscal year 2024.

The very design of the program demonstrates an interesting approach. Mentoring was not treated as a general development initiative ‘for everyone’, but as a solution targeted at a specific group and linked to one of the organization’s strategic objectives. This can be particularly valuable for companies that want to use mentoring within the leadership pipeline, succession planning, or initiatives supporting the development of women.

It is worth exercising caution when interpreting promotion data. If a program is aimed at individuals deliberately selected for their development potential, subsequent promotions may result both from the mentoring itself and from the characteristics of the participant group.

The most important lesson, then, is different: a mentoring program can be designed for a very specific organizational objective and then measured using indicators directly related to that objective.

4. Sodexo – mentoring during a major organizational change

Sodexo ran a formal IMPACT Mentoring Program, which was part of the broader Spirit of Mentoring initiative.

The program was intentionally designed to be cross-functional and cross-divisional. About 75% of mentoring pairs were cross-cultural, and 85% connected people working in different business segments. As a result, mentoring aimed not only to support individual development but also to break down silos and give participants exposure to other perspectives.

Sodexo also conducted an analysis of program participants from the 2013–2016 cohorts.

53% of mentees were promoted, and the organization indicated that this rate exceeded the comparison group’s result. At the same time 78% of participants remained with the organization, despite the company undergoing significant transformation during that period.

This case clearly shows that mentoring can serve several goals simultaneously. On one hand, it supports career development. On another, it helps build relationships between different parts of the organization. Third, it can be part of measures supporting employees during periods of significant change.

And this can be particularly important in large corporations, where access to knowledge and contacts outside one’s own team or organizational unit is often limited.

5. ATEN – mentoring as part of onboarding new employees

A mentoring program does not have to be aimed exclusively at high potentials, leaders, or people being prepared for promotion.

The technology company ATEN used mentoring as part of its new employee onboarding process.

As part of the Mentor-New Employee Mentoring Program, mentoring was combined with a structured 30/60/90-day learning plan, a training platform and regular contact between the new employee, their manager and their mentor. The goal was to speed up understanding of the department’s and organization’s functioning and to create a space for regularly raising onboarding-related needs.

In 2024 ATEN hired 79 new people. 68 of them remained with the organization, which corresponded to an 86.08% retention rate for new employees.

This does not, of course, mean that mentoring alone is responsible for that outcome. The program was part of the overall onboarding system and the data should be interpreted in that context.

The ATEN case, however, demonstrates something very practical: a mentor can provide a new hire with an additional point of reference beyond the manager, helping them understand the organization, ways of working, informal rules and the context that is difficult to learn solely from onboarding materials.

This is precisely why mentoring is increasingly being integrated with the process of employee onboarding.

6. TransDigm: mentoring in the development of future leaders

TransDigm shows another application of mentoring: integrating it into a larger leadership development system.

The organization’s Executive Development Program includes, among other things individual development plans, a tailored educational program, action learning projects and a formal mentoring program.

According to the company’s materials, the program has so far included four cohorts and over 100 participants, and the reported promotion rate was 50%.

However, we cannot say that mentoring by itself led to half of those promotions. The mentoring relationship was only one of several elements of the overall development pathway.

And that is precisely the most interesting part. In mature organizations, mentoring often does not operate alongside the talent development strategy but becomes part of it. Training provides knowledge, action learning allows its application, and mentoring creates space for reflection, discussions about real challenges and tapping into the experience of a more seasoned person.

This approach makes particular sense when preparing employees for new leadership roles that cannot be learned solely through training.

7. HEINEKEN – mentoring in the global talent and leadership development system

A similar approach can be seen in HEINEKEN’s most recent annual report.

The company describes a global talent and leadership development system whose objectives include, among other things, developing diverse talent pipelines and accelerating employees’ transition into more senior roles.

Participants receive tailored development support, including mentoring. HEINEKEN reports that the promotion rate of people participating in these initiatives is 2.5 times faster than the organizational average.

It should also be emphasized here: this is not the result of ‘mentoring alone’. The company refers to a whole set of development activities.

But from an HR perspective this case may be even more interesting than another example of a standalone program.

It shows that mentoring can be treated as one element of the talent development architecture, alongside other L&D. There is no need to choose between mentoring, training, leadership programs or development projects. Well-designed solutions can complement each other.

What do these case studies of mentoring programs show?

The seven examples described concern organizations operating in various industries, pursuing different objectives and running programs at different scales.

GM Financial uses mentoring, among other things, to build relationships across silos and support career development. International SOS observes promotions of mentees also over the longer term. Nippon Gases combined mentoring with women’s development. Sodexo used it in the context of talent development and transformation. ATEN incorporated mentoring into onboarding, whereas TransDigm and HEINEKEN embedded it in broader leadership and talent development systems.

This shows that the question: “Does mentoring work?” is not always the best question.

A much more useful question is: “What do we want to use mentoring for in our organization?”.

Only on that basis can you define the group of participants, how to prepare them, the matching model for pairs, and the KPIs that will actually indicate the program’s success.

Mentoring does not have to be a separate HR program

This is probably one of the most interesting conclusions from the examples above. In some organizations mentoring operates as a standalone program. In others it is only one element of a larger process.

It can support:

• onboarding of new employees,
• talent and high-potential programs,
• development of future female and male leaders,
• succession,
• internal mobility,
• women’s development and DEI initiatives,
• transfer of knowledge between teams.

As a result, mentoring can complement activities the organization already runs, rather than competing with them for participants’ attention and budget.

It is also a way to better connect the mentoring program to the business strategy. It is much easier to justify investment in mentoring when it is clear which specific organizational process it is meant to support and how we will recognize its outcomes.

The larger the program, the more important its structure becomes

The GM Financial case reveals another important challenge: scale. A program for 10 pairs and a program for more than 1,200 participants are based on the same mentor-mentee relationship idea, but from the organizer’s perspective they are completely different undertakings.

With a large number of participants, manual process management becomes increasingly difficult. You need to collect recruitment data, appropriately match female mentors, male mentors, and mentees, prepare them for the program, monitor activity, communicate with participants and finally collect data that allows evaluating the outcomes.

Matching is a particularly big challenge. The number of possible combinations grows very quickly with the number of participants, so for large corporate mentoring programs appropriate tools can significantly ease organizing the whole process. We’ve already written on the Mentiway blog about what the technical infrastructure behind the matching of mentoring pairs looks like.

How to measure the effectiveness of a mentoring program?

The examples described also show very different ways of evaluating programs. These include: promotions, retention, NPS, number of participants, leadership development or indicators related to onboarding.

Not all of these are equally strong evidence of mentoring’s impact. If a program participant was promoted, it does not automatically mean that the promotion was the result of the mentoring relationship itself. Still, such data are valuable. They allow observing whether the program is heading in a direction consistent with its objectives and whether it is worth continuing or modifying subsequent editions.

Therefore, already during program design it is good to specify what data will be collected and when it will be analyzed.International SOS shows, for example, that it can be sensible to observe results even two years after the mentoring ends. You can also find more on this topic in our article on measuring mentoring effectiveness and KPIs of mentoring programs.

Case studies are an inspiration. The program must suit your organization.

Examples from large companies are attractive because they show concrete numbers and solutions. However, this does not mean that the GM Financial, Sodexo or HEINEKEN program can simply be copied into another organization.

Effective mentoring should stem from a specific need.

If the problem is the loss of expert knowledge, we will select participants and objectives differently than for a program aimed at future leaders. If an organization wants to support onboarding, the process should start very early and be linked to the new employee’s experience. If mentoring is intended to support women in their career development, it’s also worth considering recruitment criteria and how to measure mobility.

The best case studies are therefore not ready-made instructions. They are more an answer to the question: “What else can we achieve with a well-designed mentoring program?”.

What does mentoring look like in programs supported by Mentiway?

International examples illustrate the diversity of mentoring applications. However, we also have our own experience from programs implemented in companies, foundations, industry organizations and universities.

At Mentiway we have already supported over 100 mentoring programs. We publicly describe some of them in our mentoring case studies, and we also regularly analyze participants’ experiences in our reports. We cannot speak publicly about all implementations due to the confidentiality of the collaboration.

The platform supports the entire process – from recruiting mentors and mentees, through matching pairs and preparing participants, to working on objectives, monitoring sessions and analyzing results.

This allows the program to be organized both for a dozen or so pairs and for a much larger number of pairs.

Summary: a mentoring program can support various business objectives

Case studies of GM Financial, International SOS, Nippon Gases, Sodexo, ATEN, TransDigm and HEINEKEN show that mentoring is difficult to reduce to a single application.

It can be part of onboarding. It can support the development of women. It can prepare future leaders, facilitate internal mobility, break down silos, or be part of a larger talent management system.

So the most important thing is not the mere implementation of mentoring, but the conscious design of the program around a specific objective. And then – collecting data that will make it possible to answer whether that objective was actually achieved.

If you are considering how to use mentoring in your organization, we can help choose the right program model and run it from participant recruitment through to evaluation of outcomes.

Contact us to discuss a mentoring program for your organization.

FAQ: mentoring programs and case studies

Which companies use mentoring programs?

Mentoring programs operate, among others, in global organizations such as GM Financial, Sodexo, International SOS, Nippon Gases, TransDigm and HEINEKEN. Companies use them for various purposes: from onboarding to talent development and future leaders.

What can be the outcomes of a mentoring program in a company?

Depending on the program design, you can analyze, among other things, skills development, promotions, internal mobility, retention, onboarding quality, achievement of development goals, and participant satisfaction.

Does a mentoring program increase the number of promotions?

Many organizations report high promotion rates among participants. International SOS reports a 30% promotion rate within two years of completing the program, and TransDigm’s leadership program reported a 50% promotion rate. However, this does not mean these results can be attributed solely to mentoring.

Can mentoring be used during onboarding?

Yes. ATEN combined mentoring with a 30/60/90-day onboarding plan, a development platform, and regular contact between the new hire, the mentor, and the manager.

Is mentoring effective in large corporations?

Yes. GM Financial is an example of a program that grew from a pilot involving 64 employees to 1,263 participants in 2023. At that scale, program structure, matching, monitoring, and appropriate technology become particularly important.

Can mentoring be part of talent management?

Yes. Examples from TransDigm and HEINEKEN show that mentoring can be one element of broader talent and leadership development programs, alongside training, individual development plans or practical projects.

How do you implement a mentoring program in your company?

It’s worth starting by defining the business objective and the participant group, then designing recruitment, preparing mentors (female and male) and mentees, matching, the process structure and the method for measuring outcomes. Mentiway can support the organization at all of these stages.