10 Top Companies Making the Most Out of Mentoring

Mentoring has long been favoured by major companies worldwide. In fact, 84% of Fortune 500 and 100% of Fortune 50 companies have mentoring programmes.

The reason? It creates a positive workspace—reducing stress, boosting confidence and satisfaction, and tailoring a custom learning experience for each individual.

And there are benefits to all parties involved. Mentors and mentees will develop skills, while organisations will see higher retention, productivity and satisfaction rates.

In this guide, we’ll go over why mentoring is essential, why big names incorporate mentorship programs in their HR and L&D strategies, and what you can learn from them. 

Why are major companies using mentoring?

Major global organisations are widely implementing mentorship programs because they create successful and long-lasting relationships between mentors and mentees and between the employees and the company. Relationships that are essential to learning and growth. 

Another factor proving to be crucial in companies making this decision is that 75% of the global workforce by 2025 will consist of millennials, and 79% of millennials consider mentoring vital to their growth and success. 

So as time passes, the demand for mentoring grows, and as any business would know—you give the customer what they want, and they’ll be happy. The same concept can also be applied to the employees—provide them with the space and the opportunities to learn and move forward in their careers, and they will give excellent results that will benefit the company long-term. 

10 companies thriving through mentoring

Let’s take a look at 10 global companies that are using mentoring in to power growth in their organisations:

1. Clyde & Co

In 2018, global law firm Clyde & Co started their mentoring program that included all business departments. The aim was to  create a more inclusive environment. Initially, it proved difficult as the system in place was manual—but in 2021, they moved to Guider’s mentoring software, streamlining the process. To date, they’ve seen great results. 

Using our smart platform, Clyde & Co employees now have easy access to mentors around the world and can match, talk, book meetings and track goals, all in one place. This means better communication, more substantial relationship building, provides help with employee career building and increases satisfaction. 

📖 Find out more about how Clyde & Co are transforming their people through mentoring here 📖

2. Marks & Spencer

With an impressive workforce of 75,000 employees, Marks & Spencer is a thriving British company but one that struggled to connect people across the company. As a result, there were gaps between employees and between departments, meaning that they focused on their individual goals while losing sight of the company goal as the big picture.

To deal with this, M&S implemented a Guider mentoring program that brought together different people from different departments with varying experiences inside and outside the company. 

This resulted in a strong understanding and bonding between the employees as they experienced what the “other side of the fence” looked like. People across the company are now connecting with ease and creating important relationships for learning and growth. 

📖 Find out more about M&S’s success with Guider 📖

3. Randstad

An HR firm with 46,000 employees worldwide—Randstad saw the importance of mentoring in any organisation and sought to implement it in their company to reap the benefits. 

They deployed two mentoring programs—one focused on pairing mentees with veteran employees to establish and polish leadership skills. At the same time, the other program was set in place to onboard new starters that helped create a comfortable environment in which everyone felt valued while creating a consistent experience. 

As a result, the company retained their skilled employees—increasing the retention rate and employee satisfaction. 

4. Mastercard

Looking to create a smooth onboarding process and match employees with similar interests—Mastercard deployed a mentoring program that brought together employees from different areas, and instead of using the usual approach of selecting mentors with more experience, they chose to pair employees with the same ambitions and outlooks. 

This created a better understanding between employees and departments and saw an overall boost in productivity. On top of that, the same concept was applied while assigning mentors to new hires as someone who shares the same passion could better understand and guide them through the company process and their career.

5. Avison Young

This Canadian-based company looked to create an inclusive and fair working space for all and focused on helping and training women to take more leadership roles. 

They employed the help of a mentoring system that paired more experienced individuals from different areas with specific employee groups, such as LGBTQ+ groups, to promote a balanced environment. 

Doing so saw an increase in employee satisfaction rate in these groups, and women saw more growth and learning opportunities. 

📖 Find out more about fostering diversity and inclusion through mentoring 📖

6. New York Life

New York Life has a workforce of 11,388 employees. They sought to form strong bonds with their employees from different backgrounds. As people from different walks of life bring with them different perspectives and experiences—and these factors can be an opportunity for learning like no other. 

They implemented a mentoring system that paired employees from opposite spectrums and saw a high success rate. Strong bonds between employees were made as they realised they had much in common despite coming from different backgrounds. For example, many saw that their peers experienced the same struggles they did, and they could relate to that. 

This made the work environment more cohesive and supportive for new and old employees, raising confidence and morale and encouraging them to perform at their best. 

7. Cooley Law

The world of law is fast-paced, and if you’re not on top of it, you’re at the bottom. Cooley Law understood this and wanted their new hires not to experience the short end of the stick, so they started a mentorship program to streamline the onboarding process but with a twist. 

They introduced friendly competition among the mentors and mentees that encouraged them to collaborate, discuss, experiment, and, most of all—have fun with the process. This combination of competition and fun saw great success because it eliminated the pressure and fear of failing and focused on positive learning. 

📖 Find out more about using mentoring in your onboarding program with Guider 📖

8. King 

One of the most popular mobile games ever made—Candy Crush—was a project of King. Keeping up with the popularity and demand for such a popular game requires a team of dedicated and skilled workforce. 

The company saw an opportunity to boost productivity and satisfaction rates by being more inclusive. They focused on mentoring minorities, LGBTQ+ employees, and women as they saw fewer opportunities available for these groups. 

The mentoring program paid off as mentors and mentees gave highly positive feedback. In addition, the mentees experienced a boost in confidence and how to avail opportunities better and plan for their careers. 

9. Cruise Automation

With 1,800 employees in the company—Cruise Automation looked to implement a mentoring system that helped new employees better understand the company’s inner workings and what it takes to power the creative process. 

They paired new hires with experienced employees that helped them understand their strengths and weaknesses and guided them in their career path accordingly. This also allowed the mentees to target specific issues they were facing due to the help provided by the mentors as they could relate. 

10. The Forum

The Canadian-based company focuses on helping women in business expand their operations by providing proper guidance and the right tools. The Forum sought to grow its venture to help more women by providing custom-tailored mentoring experiences, and the result was a massive success.

Using automated mentoring software, they grew their program exponentially and made pairings that gave excellent results. In addition, mentees reported having a clear vision towards their goal as they received feedback and advice from more experienced entrepreneurs that helped them grow their businesses. 

The verdict

Mentoring has proven success worldwide, and so far, every company employing a mentorship program or using a mentoring software has found an increase in the happiness rate of its employees, higher retention rate, and reports have shown that employees that have mentors are 68% more likely to stay with their current organisation and are more satisfied with their current jobs. 

If you’re looking for help setting up a mentorship program, talk to our expert team today.