What Is Mentoring? Definition, Types and How It Works in 2026

Last Updated: 06 October 2026

Organisations that haven't yet invested in mentoring are leaving a proven, low-cost lever for engagement and retention on the table. For years, mentoring has been one of the few workplace initiatives that L&D and HR teams can point to with genuinely strong evidence behind it. If you're weighing up whether to start a mentoring program, this guide answers the basics first, then goes further: what mentoring actually is, how digital platforms have changed how it runs, what to look for in mentoring software, and how to get a program off the ground.

TL;DR

Mentoring is a voluntary, trust-based relationship in which a more experienced person helps a less experienced one build skills, confidence and career direction. It differs from coaching and training. In a 2019 CNBC/ SurveyMonkey survey, 91% of workers with a mentor were satisfied with their jobs, versus 79% without.

What Is Mentoring?

Mentoring is a voluntary, trust-based relationship in which a more experienced person (the mentor) shares knowledge, perspective and networks to help a less experienced person (the mentee) reach professional goals. At work it usually runs as a formal program with defined goals, a matching process and a set timeframe, or informally without structure.

Mentoring is neither coaching nor therapy. A mentor offers perspective from lived experience and helps the mentee clarify their own goals, rather than diagnosing a problem or prescribing a fix.

How Do Digital Mentoring Platforms Support Mentoring?

Digital mentoring platforms replace spreadsheet-based administration with software that handles matching, structure and measurement. Matching pairs participants on goals, skills and, on some platforms, personality and values. Structure comes from scheduling, prompts and goal tracking. Measurement comes from dashboards showing engagement and outcomes across the whole program.

Brancher's Core plan, for example, includes enrolment, matching on personality and values, mentor training, scheduling, goal tracking, surveys and a live admin dashboard.

Why Do Organisations Need Mentoring?

Surveys and one large corporate study link mentoring to higher retention, job satisfaction and career progression. In Sun Microsystems' five-year study of about 1,000 employees, 72% of mentees and 69% of mentors stayed, versus 49% of non-participants. In a 2019 CNBC/ SurveyMonkey poll, 91% of workers with a mentor were satisfied, versus 79% without.

• Satisfaction: In the CNBC/SurveyMonkey poll of 7,940 US workers (June 2019), 57% of workers with a mentor were "very satisfied", and 71% said their company offers good or excellent advancement opportunities, versus 47% of those without a mentor.
• Intent to quit: More than 4 in 10 workers without a mentor had considered quitting in the previous three months, versus 25% of those with one (same survey).
• Pay and promotion: In the Sun study, 25% of mentees and 28% of mentors had a salary-grade change, versus 5% of non-participants. Mentees were promoted five times more often and mentors six times more often.
• Cost: Sun estimated the higher retention saved US$6.7 million in avoided turnover costs.
• Adoption: Another report found that 98% of US Fortune 500 companies visibly offer a mentoring program (488 of 500). Broader samples show lower rates: 70% of companies in Fair360's 2023 survey (down from 74% in 2022), and about half of organisations in ATD's January 2023 report, with 42% of the rest planning one.

These findings are observational, and the Sun data is from 2006 at a single company. CNBC's analysts also note that simply being assigned a mentor likely isn't enough to change outcomes, which is why matching and support matter.

Real example: the Australasian Corrosion Association ran a four-month mentoring pilot with Brancher connecting early-career professionals with senior experts. It reported 100% match satisfaction, 100% of participants recommending the program, and 42% of mentees expecting a promotion. Read the ACA case study.

For more figures, see our articles on mentoring statistics and why organisations need mentoring.

What Are the Different Types of Mentoring?

Workplace mentoring runs in six common formats: one-on-one, peer, group, reverse, formal programs and informal relationships. In ATD's survey, in-person one-on-one was the most common format (78% of respondents), while virtual mentoring rose from 39% to 64% between 2017 and 2022. Choose the format that fits your program goal.

With a platform, an administrator can choose how matching happens:

1. Admin-driven: the administrator matches participants using the algorithm's recommendations.
2. User-driven: participants choose a mentor from a shortlist the algorithm recommends.
3. Hybrid: participants self-match during a set window, then the administrator pairs anyone left over by a deadline.

Brancher matches on personality and values alongside skills and goals, and has 98% match satisfaction for its matching algorithm. For matching in depth, see how to create effective mentoring program matches.

What Features Should I Look For in Mentoring Software?

Look for a genuine matching methodology, an admin dashboard with live reporting, built-in engagement tools, security options such as single sign-on, accessibility conformance, and a plan that scales from a pilot to an organisation-wide rollout. Compare plans, not just platforms: Brancher's Core plan is self-service, while Enterprise adds multiple programs and SAML 2.0 single sign-on.

Our Core plan includes a one-hour onboarding session with a mentoring expert. Enterprise adds multiple programs under one account, SAML 2.0 SSO and multi-factor authentication, custom matching logic, a dedicated customer success manager and an eight-week implementation. Ava AI is an optional add-on.

For a full breakdown, see mentoring software features or Brancher's mentoring software.

How Do You Start a Mentoring Program?

Start with one measurable goal and an executive sponsor, then design the format and matching criteria, test the sign-up and matching process, and launch with training and check-ins. Track outcomes against your goal from the first month. The steps below summarise the process, and the full guide covers each one in detail.

1. Define one measurable goal (retention, leadership pipeline, engagement or inclusion) and record today's baseline.
2. Secure an executive sponsor who will back the program.
3. Survey employees to find likely mentors and mentees.
4. Design the program: format, duration, matching method, mentor training and success measures.
5. Build the business case with published statistics and, ideally, a small pilot.
6. Launch, support the pairs and track results against the goal.

See the step-by-step launch guide for the detail, or book a demo to see how Brancher runs a program.

Frequently Asked Questions

What exactly is mentoring in a workplace context?

Mentoring is a voluntary, trust-based relationship in which a more experienced person shares knowledge, perspective and networks to help a less experienced person reach professional goals. At work it usually runs as a formal program with defined goals, a matching process and a set timeframe, or informally without structure.

Why should my organisation invest in a mentoring program?

Employees with a mentor report higher job satisfaction: 91% versus 79% in a 2019 CNBC/SurveyMonkey survey of 7,940 US workers. In Sun Microsystems' five-year study, 72% of mentees were retained versus 49% of non-participants. Both findings are observational, so set a baseline and measure the effect in your own program.

How is mentoring different from coaching or training?

Mentoring is a long-term relationship focused on career and professional growth, with the mentee setting the agenda. Coaching targets a specific skill or performance goal through structured questioning. Training delivers standardised content to many people at once. Mentors share lessons from real experience rather than a fixed framework.

Who benefits most from mentoring?

In the CNBC/SurveyMonkey survey, workers under 45 with a mentor were satisfied with their jobs by margins of up to 20 percentage points above same-age workers without one, and the benefit held across demographic groups. Mentors gain too: in Sun's study, 28% of mentors had a salary-grade change versus 5% of non-participants.

How can my organisation start a mentoring program?

Set one measurable goal, secure an executive sponsor, choose a format and matching method, test the sign-up and matching process, then launch with training and check-ins and track results against your goal. Brancher's step-by-step launch guide covers each step in detail.

Author Bio

Holly Brailsford is the Co-Founder and CEO of Brancher and a registered organisational psychologist. She works with organisations across government, enterprise and the not-for-profit sector to design mentoring programs.