The value of mentoring has been popularized in many cultural contexts: apprenticeships, films, literature, business relationships, and the list goes on. According to a recent article published in the Economist, workplace mentoring—by design—may have many benefits for both companies and their employees.

What is a workplace mentor? It is typically a more experienced employee who gives a less experienced one work-related help and advice over time. According to the article, a successful mentor-mentee relationship requires some degree of chemistry and a high regard for the person giving the advice—irrespective of age gaps or backgrounds. Forced pairings may not produce desired results. And the conversations should be confidential and encourage frank discussion about workplace topics.

Workplace mentoring—like most relationships—works best in person. Citing data from Nicholas Bloom at Stanford University, the article notes that mentoring of new hires was a key reason for many companies to bring employees back to the workplace two or three days a week. For workforces resistant to return in person, companies may opt to make this reason explicit—and prioritize it.

Successful workplace mentoring can improve corporate culture and foster employee loyalty. A new employee may get a sense of a company’s culture from its public messaging and branding. But an experienced mentor can offer insider knowledge about the company’s values and ethos, and how the mentee can successfully fit in and thrive, likely leading to that employee remaining with the company for a longer period of time.

Workplace mentoring may also help get new hires up to speed quicker and underperformers back on track. Face-to-face mentoring presents an opportunity for a mentee to “learn by osmosis” or “by proxy”—the concept that being exposed to someone can naturally achieve an unconscious assimilation of that person’s ideas, knowledge, and skills. Some professions and positions may benefit more from this type of learning than others, but across professions top performers typically display traits difficult to teach directly—think “soft skills” such as communication style, personal presence, professionalism and other skills that are difficult if not impossible to teach in a formal manner. By shadowing a top performer, and developing a mentor-mentee relationship, a new hire may acquire skills and knowledge that benefit both the employee’s trajectory and the company’s bottom line. The same could be true for the underperformer who might be paired with a mentor who excels at the traits the mentee lacks to get the employee’s performance back on track sooner than later.      

The value of strategic workplace mentoring may also contribute to positive mental health in the workplace and bridge generational gaps. Workplace mentoring can offer employees a sense of belonging and knowing that they can turn to their mentor for difficult work situations for advice. This may help alleviate employee’s feeling overwhelmed at work and mitigate potential crises, which are a detriment to the employee (from a psychological sense) and the employer (from a cost perspective). Workplace mentoring also provides an opportunity for different generations within a workforce to understand one another and learn from each other, fostering a more cohesive culture in the process.