The impact of mentoring in the workplace is clear: it strengthens employee development, saves time, increases profits and creates more opportunities for innovation.
Skills gaps are a significant issue for employers in the current business environment. As technology and economic landscapes evolve, many organizations are finding that their workforce’s skill sets are unable to meet the challenge. The impact of these skills gaps is clear: Trillions of dollarsof lost productivity and revenue across industries.
Here’s how workplace mentoring can help.
The Relationship Between Effective Mentoring Programs and Employee Development
Sixty-three percent of employers say that skills gaps are the biggest impediment to their growth and success, according to the World Economic Forum’sFuture of Jobs Survey. Unsurprisingly, 85% of respondents to that same survey said that upskilling their workforce was a top priority.
The impact of mentoring in the workplace includes boosting employee development by leveraging your workforce’s existing skill sets. Specifically,mentoring program benefits include increased employee engagement, productivity, innovation and profitability:
- Employee engagement: 9 in 10 surveyed workers who have a mentor say they’re happier in their current role (CNBC). Further, employees with mentors are twice as likely to be engaged at work as those who don’t have mentors (Gallup).
- Retention rates: 4 in 10 workers who don’t have a mentor say they’ve considered quitting their jobs in the past three months (CNBC).
- Higher revenue: In one case study, sales employees with mentors generated 19% more daily revenue than those without (Harvard Business Review). Also, data shows that more diverse leadership teams lead to significantly higher profits (McKinsey).
- Stronger leadership pipeline: 75% of executives say mentorship has been key to their professional development (American Society for Training and Development viaSHRM).
Formats for an Upskilled Workforce
Using mentoring to drive employee development is not a one-size-fits-all proposition. There are as many different kinds of formal mentorship programs as there are use cases for these tools. These are a few examples of the impact of mentoring in the workplace:
One-on-One Mentoring
When your employees think of mentoring, chances are they think of one-on-one mentoring. This is the traditional mentoring format: one mentor, a role model who has skills and experience to impart, and one mentee, who is (hopefully) eager to receive that wisdom.
This kind of mentoring has a lot to offer in the context of upskilling workers because it offers an opportunity for ongoing, personalized support. But to unlock the full benefits of one-on-one mentoring, you need tomatch mentors and mentees with intention and purpose. It’s also essential that you offer the right support in terms of training, feedback and structure.
Group Mentoring
Professional development is a prime use case forgroup mentoring, in which one mentor leads a group of mentees. For example, you might ask a highly skilled employee to lead a training class to upskill their colleagues in an emerging technology.
The impact of mentoring in the workplace goes beyond skills development, however. Mentor groups can help mentees connect with one another, forming deep networks of support. This kind of mentoring support and inclusion boosts employee engagement.
Reverse Mentoring
Another way to teach skills development, particularly to more seasoned employees, is to set up areverse mentoring program, where workers from younger generations mentor senior employees. It’s a great way to expose experienced staff to new perspectives, techniques and technology.
Plus, reverse mentoring encourages the development of professional relationships across generations, enhances diversity and inclusion and boosts retention of top talent. One financial services company saw a96% retention rate for millennial employees who participated in its reverse mentorship program.
Mentoring Across Departments
Mentoring programs can also take the form of cross-training, which creates mentoring relationships across departments. Such programs are beneficial for developing skills that aren’t directly in the employee’s wheelhouse but would benefit their work performance and employee satisfaction rating. Think of a sales rep paired with an engineer to get deep knowledge and insight into the company’s products and services.
These programs can also help break down departmental silos, encouraging open communication between teams.
Job Shadowing
Job shadowing is where one employee follows another as they go through their daily routine. Mentees might stay with mentors for an entire workday or strategically selected parts of their schedule such as client interactions or certain projects. This type of mentoring relationship can be used during the onboarding process or as part of an employee development program to reskill and upskill your workforce.
Leadership Development
The leadership training industry is big business with a market value of more than $36 billion in 2024, according toFortune Business Insights. Still, the majority of employees don’t have faith in leadership.Per Gallup, only 21% of U.S. employees say that they trust their organization’s leadership.
Leadership mentoring programs, which can include one-on-one coaching as well as group mentoring, can help solve this problem. The key is to develop a clear framework for success including clear, measurable goals.
It’s important to note thathigh-potential mentoring can help develop future leaders by identifying employees with the right mindset, aptitude and capabilities.
Mentoring for Inclusion
There’s a reason why 90% of Fortune 500 companies have employee affinity groups. Inclusive practices and other diversity initiatives aren’t just for the benefit of employees: they also drive business results. Analysis by Boston Consulting Group shows that companies with a more diverse organizational culture derive ahigher portion of their revenue from innovation (45%) than less diverse companies (26%).
Further, inclusion boosts employee retention, preventing the drain of skilled talent away from the organization and saving the time and expense of recruiting new hires. Think of it this way: would you want to stay at a company where you felt you didn’t belong in the workplace culture–or that others thought you didn’t?
Don’t assume your employees feel included.SHRM research shows that 26% of organizations say their workers have recently experienced bias based on being older, while 27% say that their employees have experienced bias based on race.
The impact of mentoring in the workplace includes closing the gap and ensuring that your talent feels included, supported and appreciated. Types ofmentorship programs that improve belonging include one-to-one diversity mentoring, reverse mentoring and mentoring circles.
Skills-Based Mentoring Circles
In some situations, employees may find it easier to learn from another experienced employee than from management. The stakes feel lower when the mentor doesn’t have the power to determine your next raise or whether you get a promotion.
Mentoring circles offer structured peer support and knowledge transfer, plus a chance to form connections with colleagues both within employees’ departments and outside the team. Ongoing programs provide the opportunity for continuous learning.
Flash Mentoring
Not everymentorship program needs to be a months-long commitment.Flash mentoring, in which participants meet on a one-time or short-term basis, can help mentees develop specific skills. For example, if you want to train your workforce to use a new technology or system, flash mentoring can help you do it in a supportive, structured environment.
This kind of mentoring in the workplace is also useful for strategic initiatives that involve bringing in stakeholders for limited interactions. Senior leaders can act as mentors and achieve a big impact with a small commitment of time and resources.
Starting Your Mentoring Program
Formal mentoring programs help employers close skills gaps that can cost thousands of dollars in lost productivity and revenue–plus, build job satisfaction, employee engagement and retention. Regardless of your organizational size or industry, leveraging your existing talent can provide the personal and professional development necessary to prepare your current workforce to meet future challenges.
Enterprise mentorship software can automate this process, helping you build a workplace mentoring program that’s strategic, measurable and effective. Best of all, you’ll be able to demonstrate ROI to stakeholders, participants and clients.
Chronus’s automated matching features make it easier than ever to increase successful matches while reducing admin time and achieving your goals. Whether you’re interested in one-on-one, group mentoring, peer-led or expert-driven, Chronus has the tools organizations need to drive success.
Schedule a meeting with the Chronus team to discover why top enterprise organizations rely on Chronus for their formal mentoring programs.
