If your HR department pursues one major initiative this year, a great case can be made for either instituting or expanding your corporate mentoring program. Mentorship has become more than a contributor to American corporations’ success; it is now essential.

In these programs, mentors are typically matched with mentees using surveys that pair them up according to role, communication style, and aspirations. Participants meet consistently (monthly or weekly) in person or by phone. Mentors’ knowledge and experience supports the professional growth of mentees, while mentees desire to learn and grow invigorates mentors’ careers. Mentors are invaluable in onboarding new hires and tremendously effective in accelerating the development of all professionals toward greater levels of authority. These programs also provide a highly cost-effective form of corporate training and professional development.

Additional benefits of mentoring programs include:

• Greater employee engagement, growth, and retention
• Reduced turnover costs
• Employee goal setting and accountability
• Alignment of individual goals with business objectives
• Accelerated paths to leadership
• More promoting from within
• Greater companywide communication with a reduction in the “silo” mentality
• Support for diversity by creating cross-cultural relationships

Study after study has demonstrated that corporate mentorship is imperative for attracting, developing, and retaining talent and leaders. A strong mentoring program sends a message to all employees about their company’s leadership and culture. It demonstrates a commitment to employees’ professional development and personal satisfaction. Mentoring also results in higher engagement and satisfaction metrics—for both mentors and mentees. In fact, a recent study, “Career Benefits Associated with Mentoring for Mentors,” published in the Journal of Vocational Behavior, revealed that people who have the opportunity to serve as mentors experience greater job satisfaction and a higher commitment to their employer.”

Consider the statistics:

• 71 percent of Fortune 500 companies offer mentorship programs. (Investopedia)
• 77 percent of companies with a mentoring program indicate that it improved employee retention and job performance. (WeSpire)
• 75 percent of executives credit their mentors with helping them reach their current positions. (Commongood Careers)
• 80 percent of learning on the job takes place informally, and interactions between mentors and mentees provide a critical informal relationship for knowledge sharing. (Deloitte Bersin)
• Millennials intending to stay with their organization for more than five years are more than twice as likely to have a mentor (68 percent) as not (32 percent). (Deloitte)
• 61 percent of Millennials in the workforce are currently benefitting from mentoring and 94 percent of Millennial mentees say their mentor provides good advice. (Deloitte)

Benefits to Mentors Include:

• A sense of invigoration and greater engagement
• Satisfaction in helping a colleague’s career take off
• Gaining an ally whose career is on the rise
• Seeing work through another’s perspective
• Gaining insights that can aid personal development
• Learning about others in the company
• Satisfaction in benefitting the organization
• An opportunity to reflect on personal achievements
• Leaving a lasting legacy that can be paid forward by the mentee

Benefits to Mentees Include:

• Accelerated learning curve
• Boost in engagement and retention
• Improved odds of growing within the company
• Acquiring wisdom from a colleague’s experience
• Constructive advice in key areas of professional development
• Development of job-specific skills
• Learning how to prioritize tasks, projects, and objectives
• Developing a sharper focus on what matters most
• Understanding the structure, chain of command, unspoken rules, and company culture
• Recognition for strong performance
• Reduction of stress from having a friendly, helpful, and reliable ally
• Networking potential at higher levels of management

In 2017, as we observed, most successful DFW companies had a strong mentoring program. If you are intent on instituting or expanding your program in 2018, make sure that it becomes integral to your company culture. Promote mentoring as a benefit to candidates, during the recruitment process, and in job interviews. Integrate it into your onboarding and training, and market it continuously to all employees. With companywide buy-in, a mentoring program has the potential to be a key component in the achievement of every HR and business directive.