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Traditional training programs may address skill gaps, but how can you truly grow employees, build leaders, and create a learning culture?
Findings from the World Happiness Foundation recognize mentorship as a key ingredient for boosting employee satisfaction, belonging, and performance. HR and L&D leaders are increasingly moving towards mentorship—a more effective way to connect people and grow talent than just offering courses and certifications.
But how do you build a mentorship program that delivers real results?
Read on to learn the key ingredients for success, explore different models for mentorship in the workplace, and get 16 best practices for running your own employee mentorship program.
👋 Want a deeper look at how to launch a high-impact mentoring program in your org? Book a quick demo to see how Together can help.
What is a workplace mentoring program?
A company mentoring program is a structured initiative that strategically pairs more experienced employees (mentors) with less experienced ones (mentees) to foster professional growth and development.
Typically driven by HR and L&D, these programs facilitate one-on-one or group relationships focused on knowledge transfer, skill-building, and career guidance.
Great employee mentoring programs spark honest, two-way conversations that directly help mentees chart their careers, boost their performance, and develop the mindsets they need to win long-term.
Some programs even flip the script with reverse mentoring, where junior talent shares fresh insights with senior leaders.
What makes mentorship programs in the workplace thrive?
With hundreds of programs running on Together's mentorship platform at any given time, we've gained unique insights into what drives success. So, what do the most effective employee mentoring programs have in common?
Let's explore three key elements.
They know their north star
Like any successful L&D initiative, a workplace mentoring program should have clear goals and expected outcomes before launching.
Mentoring programs with a clearly defined "north star"—a central, guiding purpose—are far more likely to succeed than those based on vague or anecdotal reasons.
Clear mentorship goals give your program focus. This makes it simpler to set up a program that benefits both the company and everyone involved.
A north star can include concrete objectives like:
- Increase retention rates by 30% within the next year
- Reduce the time needed to onboard new hires by 25%
- Improve employee engagement scores by 15 points within six months
They find relevant mentors for every employee
As a mentorship program manager, your top priority is this: find the best possible mentor for each employee. A great mentor-mentee match fuels meaningful conversations, happy employees, and (potentially) long-term bonds. On the other hand, a poor match can turn people off from mentorship permanently.
While manual matching feels simple, it demands serious time and effort to get right.
Smart mentoring program managers don't get bogged down in tedious manual matching. Instead, they use a mentor matching app (such as Together) to do the heavy lifting.
Our intelligent matching algorithm weighs factors such as:
- Skills
- Interests
- Experience
- Goals
Plus, we use detailed employee questionnaires to make sure every match is a winner.
They grow and support high-quality mentors
If you think any senior-level employee can be a mentor, think again.
The best mentors have more than just experience—they also have empathy, a passion for teaching, and a drive to help others. This powerful combination is what drives significant growth in their mentees' careers.
Unlike other L&D initiatives, mentoring programs at work require a significant amount of effort from mentors. That’s why leading organizations go the extra mile by investing in comprehensive mentor training programs and ongoing support.
These programs equip mentors with essential skills in active listening, providing constructive feedback, goal setting, and fostering inclusive conversations.
When you value, cultivate, and support your mentors, you create a group of excellent guides who can effectively empower their mentees.
Types of mentorship programs in the workplace
There’s more than one way to run a workplace mentorship program, and choosing the appropriate mentoring model depends on your goals.
Let's explore common program types and the situations where each would be most effective.
- 1-on-1: This is the most common form of mentoring, where a senior employee is paired with a junior employee. 1-on-1 mentoring is great for employee career development and leadership training for high-potential employees.
- Group: Group mentoring is useful for organizations that have unequal numbers of mentors and mentees. In this situation, you can pair several mentees with one or more mentors. This style is great for onboarding and manager training.
- Peer-to-peer: Match colleagues at similar levels in the company to exchange valuable insights and perspectives (such as through tools like Together’s Colleague Connect). Designed to complement traditional mentorship, peer-to-peer mentoring is great for knowledge sharing and remote workplace engagement.
- Reverse: Flip the traditional 1-on-1 model by letting junior employees mentor a leader or executive. Reverse mentoring is great for confidence building, leadership development, and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives.
- Employee resource groups (ERGs): This approach involves matching members from the same or different ERGs across the organization for a 1-on-1, group, or peer mentoring program. ERGs are great for supporting career development for diverse employee groups.
- Flash: Instead of having recurring sessions, mentors and mentees only meet once or twice (also called just-in-time mentoring). Flash mentoring is great for informal learning, remote workplace engagement, and as a supplement to formal training programs.
16 best practices for impactful mentorship programs in the workplace
Research consistently shows that lack of access to learning and growth are among the main reasons people leave their jobs. And according to a survey of 95 HR and L&D leaders, learning events and workshops (67%) and mentorship programs (66%) are the top choices for learning opportunities in 2025.
If you’re ready to boost employee engagement, development, and retention, here are 16 actionable best practices for launching an impactful employee mentorship program.
1. Set the structure from the beginning
A successful mentorship program starts with a strong foundation. While participation may be voluntary, a clear mentoring framework guarantees that everyone knows what to expect and how to contribute. This structure should include essential components such as a kick-off orientation, goal-setting sessions, communication guidelines, regular check-ins, and opportunities for mentees to connect as a group.
Equally important is aligning the program with your organization's broader objectives. Take time to define a high-level goal—whether it's fostering leadership development, boosting employee engagement, or supporting career growth. This north star will help guide mentoring activities and make it easier to measure success.
As author and mentorship expert Wendy Axelrod emphasizes, setting clear expectations early on helps participants understand their roles and the level of commitment required.
With the right structure and goals in place, you're more likely to create lasting, impactful mentoring relationships and avoid mismatched or under-supported pairings.
2. Make it easy to get involved
Employees in general love the idea of receiving mentoring to help them grow in their careers. But with so much on their plate, it's often hard to carve out time (especially if it means adopting yet another app or tool).
As a program admin, it’s your job to integrate mentoring into their normal daily workflows, rather than distracting from them. Don't make mentoring seem like a daunting task—choose a platform with easy registration, scheduling, and matching features.
For example, with Together for Microsoft Teams, your employee mentoring program is available right in the Teams environment, where employees are already present. Mentors and mentees can register, schedule, and dive right into their mentoring sessions without leaving the Teams app, making it barrier-free to engage in learning. They can even get mentoring alerts in their Teams DMs, so they never miss out on key updates.
When you bake mentoring into employee workflows and tools, you drive more participation and higher engagement.
3. Start registration early
Participants are the center of any successful corporate mentoring program. To start off on the right foot and encourage participation, kick off registration early.
Don’t wait until the last minute—initiate the call for mentors and mentees a few weeks before the program officially begins. This gives employees ample time to check out the program and decide if they want to participate.
Launching early builds anticipation and gets employees eager to connect as mentors or mentees.
4. Promote your program through multiple channels
Don't just send an email and hope for the best. You need to create serious buzz across multiple channels to make sure every employee knows about the mentorship program and its benefits.
The strength of your advertising campaign will make or break the program. To make your life easier, our mentorship platform includes email templates to help you get the word out internally. We encourage you, however, to think beyond the inbox: use internal newsletters, team meetings, company social channels, launch events, and even posters.
For new programs, initial interest is normal. Your real focus should be on actively converting that interest into actual sign-ups.
Consider expert strategies to promote your mentoring program, like: leaning on managers to encourage participation, share testimonials and success stories, or include mentoring during onboarding.
5. Encourage mentors to take on more than one mentee
A common problem when you're starting a mentoring program is having more people who want a mentor than people willing to be one. A simple fix is to ask your mentors if they'd be open to guiding more than one person. This can quickly increase the number of mentees your program can support.
However, asking mentors to take on more people can be a tough sell. They might say they don't have the time. The two most important things you can do to secure a “yes” are: first, reinforce the benefits of a company mentorship program, making sure they understand the good it can do. Second, give them the tools and training they need to feel comfortable guiding multiple people. If they believe in the value of mentoring and feel prepared, they'll be much more likely to say yes
Another solution to the “too many menteers, not enough mentors” problem is group mentoring—this format is more collaborative and is a great way to encourage peer learning and social development.
6. Sell senior leaders on being mentors
When a senior executive agrees to become a program mentor, it instantly boosts the program's credibility and makes it a magnet for other employees. Involvement of a high-level leader signals value, encouraging both junior and senior colleagues to join.
Additionally, senior leaders are likely to have the skills of great mentors, which is critical for success.
Training mentors is a separate topic. Gallup determined 70% of team engagement is determined by their leaders. So, instead of turning mentors into parents, make them feel like guides expected to help their students achieve advancement.
7. Encourage mentees to be proactive
The best mentoring relationships are when both parties get something from the arrangement. Mentors have a wealth of experience and knowledge to offer their mentees. But mentees also bring unique perspectives and skills to the table.
For the relationship to be truly beneficial, it is essential to encourage the mentee to take an active role. This doesn't mean mentors should relinquish all control—after all, they are the one with more experience. But it does mean giving the mentee some space to drive the relationship.
Allow mentees to set the agenda for meetings, propose relevant learning activities, and craft their own questions for mentors. By taking this approach, both parties feel more invested in the mentoring relationship—providing a more positive experience for everyone involved.
Our Co-Founder, Nathan Goldstein shares a rule of thumb for administrators pairing busy leaders with mentees:
“For any mentee who gets paired with an executive, a good takeaway [for admins] is to let them know that the mentees will have to drive the relationship and not be afraid of saying to their mentor, ‘Hey, I'm going to put time in the calendar with you.’ Otherwise, the executive won't necessarily reach out because they’re busy.”
8. Empower choice for both mentors and mentees
While program coordinators manage the logistics, the most successful mentoring programs give both mentees and mentors a say in who they’re matched with. For instance, if a mentee wants to work with a certain executive, it'll be discouraging for them to be paired with someone else.
A mentee-led matching approach, where individuals can request their preferred mentor, is a powerful way to drive program registration and engagement. As our Customer Success team at Together shares, avoid the temptation to assume you know best—let mentees guide their choices. “A mistake we sometimes see is that admins think they know better than their mentees and decide what mentor is right for them.”
At the same time, give mentors the power to review and approve (or decline) mentoring requests. This crucial step prevents mismatches, which are a major cause of program failure. Giving mentors this autonomy builds their confidence, respects their time, and fosters ownership, leading to more engaged and impactful guidance. This mutual selection process ensures both parties feel valued, encouraging enthusiastic participation and stronger mentoring relationships.
9. Encourage mentors to initiate contact post-match
Once a mentor and mentee have been matched, the mentor should reach out to the mentee and introduce themselves. By initiating contact, the mentor immediately shows their investment and establishes a positive foundation for the relationship.
Additionally, the mentor now has an opportunity to explain their expectations and answer any questions that the mentee may have.
Ideally, first contact should occur within a week of the match being made (or as soon as possible).
10. Act quickly if a mentor and mentee don't hit it off
You must prepare for situations where either the mentor or mentee isn't making significant progress. Instead of waiting for them to resolve their differences, we recommend you step in. Talent Strategy and Organizational Development Consultant at First Horizon Bank, Tiffany Futch, shares her approach in situations like these.
“If there’s one or a two [rating], I call them. I simply ask what happened. I’ll say, ‘Hey, I'm just checking the platform and saw you put in a 1-star for your pairing. Tell me what's going on.’ And every single time, they say, ‘I can't believe anyone reads that.”
This shows the organization cares about them and prevents the relationship from collapsing.
If the issue is beyond resolution, you can still have participants rematched with someone else in the program. Whatever decision you make, ensure it's done quickly.
11. Guarantee privacy for both mentors and mentees
Successful mentoring relationships are characterized by trust and vulnerability. Mentors and mentees need to feel comfortable sharing their thoughts and experience without fear of a breach.
One way to achieve this is by including confidentiality agreements as a clause in the program's contract. Educate your employees on the agreement, which safeguards their information and should encourage them to sign up.
12. Provide agendas to enrich sessions and ensure productivity
After getting matched, the first session is next on the blueprint. To make sure employees don't go into the discussions blind, equip them with the appropriate resources.
An agenda provides direction for the participants. To help you out with planning, we’ve compiled a sample mentor meeting agenda (with template) designed to provoke meaningful conversations.
13. Focus on continuous feedback
Data shows employee engagement increases 51% when organizations support leaders in implementing feedback—and this absolutely applies to your mentorship program.
Use regular check-ins and surveys to give you a sense of how the program's working, and offer support when necessary. Both positive and negative, gaining insights into your program—and using them to make adjustments—shows participants you care about their experience and growth.
14. Measure and report outcomes
Measurement and evaluation go hand-in-hand with collecting feedback. Use metrics like signups, goal completion, session feedback, and anecdotal input to track your program’s performance and align it with clear, measurable objectives.
Leadership will expect to see these outcomes, so make use of reporting tools to highlight business impact. Sharing testimonials from past participants can also bring the numbers to life—real stories of growth and success can both validate your program's value and inspire others to join.
15. Select mentees wisely
Arguably, all employees should have access to a workplace mentoring program. But if you’re starting out, it’s much easier to build momentum when you’re more selective about who can be a mentee.
This ensures only those with the qualifications, potential, and capacity to participate can take full advantage of the program.
Suppose you’re using mentorship to support leadership development in your organization. In that case, employees must meet requirements, such as having earned high-performance ratings for two consecutive years or showing outstanding leadership qualities.
16. Provide training to help mentors do their best
It's a common misconception that senior employees and leaders are naturally equipped to become mentors. The truth is, even the best managers will need training on how to be effective mentors and help their mentees reach their fullest potential.
Expert coaches can provide training on critical mentoring skills, such as:
- Asking thought-provoking questions
- Maintaining boundaries
- Getting them outside their comfort zone
- Giving constructive feedback
Aside from improving the mentorship experience for both parties, bringing in experienced and trained mentors adds credibility to your program and drives more mentee interest.
You’re in good shape if you plan on following the above best practices to build your workplace mentoring program. In doing so, mentorship will slowly become more ingrained in your culture.
Examples of organizations with a successful employee mentorship program
There are plenty of real-world examples of successful mentorship programs in the workplace. Here are three worth learning from.
Using mentorship to quickly train new engineers (Cruise Automation)
Cruise Automation is developing self-driving vehicles, with a team of engineers focused on cutting-edge technology. Their employee mentoring program plays a central role in driving innovation and growth.
They first ran a pilot mentoring program with a goal of supporting 200 engineers. They exceeded expectations and recruited nearly 300 for the workplace mentoring program. Now, Cruise Automation is scaling its workplace mentoring program to include over 1,000 engineers.
Managing hundreds of mentoring pairs is a challenge in and of itself. However, determining the matches' quality is another reason Cruise Automation relies on Together’s mentoring software.
Corporate mentoring programs help Cruise teams stay up-to-date on automated driving technology, and quickly get new hires up to speed.
Supporting diversity in the workplace through mentorship (King Games)
King Games is well-known for their blockbuster mobile video game Candy Crush. With over $1 billion in earnings, Candy Crush is one of the highest-grossing mobile games of all time—but keeping that edge in a competitive market can be challenging.
To foster creativity and better reflect their mobile video game audience, King focused on enhancing internal inclusivity. Based on internal feedback from employees, they launched a mentoring program for female and non-binary employees, dubbed Kicking Glass.
With the help of Together’s mentoring software, King matched over 250 employees. The mentoring program was a success with participants, most of whom rated it a 3.9 out of 4.
An employee mentorship program is a meaningful way to cultivate belonging among employees and promote diversity in the workplace. Mentorship programs give employees meaningful face-to-face time with leaders who can help them advance their careers.
Reducing ramp up time and strengthening company culture (Cooley)
Cooley is a global law firm with over 1,500 lawyers, where the complexity of legal work demands new attorneys hit the ground running.
Their Cooley Academy Mentoring Program (CAMP) speeds up onboarding for new employees by connecting them with more experienced individuals.
By providing them with a good support system, new employees become competent in their new roles faster. As part of the experience, they started a “Cooley mentoring competition” as a fun way to strengthen existing mentoring relationships and build new connections among colleagues. This not only reduced the time to productivity for new employees, it strengthened company culture as a whole.
Lean on easy-to-use mentorship software
Now that you’re familiar with the best practices for starting a mentoring program, you’re well-prepared to take the next step. And running a successful program is much easier with the right technology.
The steps we’ve outlined can be time-consuming and complex when done manually. Mentorship software streamlines these tasks, making them easier for program managers and more effective for participants. With Together, you get more than a mentoring platform, you get a partner to guide you through the entire mentoring journey.
Explore how Together’s mentoring software makes it simple to deploy best-practice mentoring programs in the workplace.
