Mentoring Statistics: The Research You Need to Know

For years, finding a mentor has been advocated as a career and personal development practice. In 2020, more individuals than ever want a mentor, and more organisations are trying to provide mentoring in the workplace as a learning and development initiative.

The benefits of mentoring are vast, for both the person being mentored, the person doing the mentoring, and the organisations they work at. Countless studies have been carried out on the positive effects mentoring can have, from confidence, to mental health, to promotion likelihood.

There’s a lot to read about mentoring on the internet. But if you want a summary of all the best mentoring statistics and research on its effects, we’ve done the reading for you and compiled it all in one place!

So whether you’re looking to learn more about mentoring, or need some killer stats to support your mentoring program at work, look no further…

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General Mentoring Statistics:

• 84% of Fortune 500 companies have mentoring programs, and 100% of Fortune 50 companies (Source)


• Of those with a mentor, 97% say they are valuable (Source)


• Yet only 37% of professionals have a mentor (Source)


• And 63% of women have never had a formal mentor (Source)


• 89% of those who have been mentored will also go on to mentor others (Source)

Mentoring for Career Development Statistics:

• 25% of employees who enrolled in a mentoring program had a salary-grade change, compared to only 5% of workers who did not participate (Source)


• Mentees are promoted 5 times more often than those without mentors (Source)


• And mentors themselves are 6 times more likely to be promoted (Source)


• 89% of those with mentors believe their colleagues value their work, compared with 75% who do not have mentors (Source)


• 87% of mentors and mentees feel empowered by their mentoring relationships and have developed greater confidence (Source)

Mentoring Millennials Statistics:

• 79% of millennials see mentoring as crucial to their career success (Source)


• But 63% of millennials say their leadership skills are not being fully developed (Source)


• 49% of millennials would, if they had a choice, quit their current jobs in the next two years (Source)


• And millennials will comprise more than 75% of the workforce by 2025 (Source)


• Millennials intending to stay with their organisation for more than 5 years are twice as likely to have a mentor than not (68% vs 32%) (Source)


• Top reasons for millennials wanting to quit are ‘Not enough opportunities to advance’ at 35% and ‘Lack of learning and development opportunities’ at 28% (Source)


• 91% of Millennials consider the potential for career progression as a top priority when choosing a new job (Source)


• 53% of Millennials have been disappointed by a lack of personal development training when starting a new job (Source)


• Less than 50% of Millennials say they’ve had opportunities at work to learn and grow within the past year (Source)


• Regardless of gender or geography, only 28% of Millennials feel that their current organisations are making ‘full use’ of the skills they currently have to offer (Source)


• Only 28% of Millennials would stay at their current job beyond 5 years (Source)


• 93% of millennials find skill development crucial for their career (Source)

Mentoring Gen Z Statistics:

• 76% of Gen Z see learning as the key to their advancement in their careers (Source)


• 83% of Gen Z want to learn skills to perform better in their current position (Source)


• 21% of Gen Z want their boss to have ‘mentoring ability’ (Source)


• 64% of Gen Z cited ‘opportunity for career growth’ as a top career priority (Source)


• 73% of Gen Z would like to be taught one on one (Source)


• 77% of Gen Z said that a company’s level of diversity affects their decision to work there (Source)


• 87% of Gen Z wants a job where they are able to learn a lot (Source)


• 82% say it is important that their supervisor helps them establish performance goals (Source)


• 83% of Gen Z wants their supervisors to care about their life (Source)

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Mentoring for Diversity Statistics:

• Mentoring programs boosted minority representation at the management level from 9% to 24% (Source)


• As well as promotion and retention rates for minorities and women from 15% to 38% as compared to non-mentored employees (Source)


• Women are more likely to have a mentor than men – 54% vs 48% (Source)


• 38% of female employees (in companies that have at least 30% women on their board) who have exposure to senior mentors believe they will make it to the board themselves, compared with 21% of women from companies under 30% target (Source)

Mentoring for Organisations Statistics:

• 67% of businesses reported an increase in productivity due to mentoring (Source)


• 55% of businesses felt that mentoring had a positive impact on their profits (Source)


• More than 4 in 10 workers who don’t have a mentor say they’ve considered quitting their job in the past three months (Source)


• 71% of people with a mentor say their company provides them with good opportunities to advance in their career, compared with 47% of those without a mentor (Source)


• 94% of employees said they would stay at a company longer if they were offered opportunities to learn and grow (Source)


• Retention rates were much higher for mentees (72%) and mentors (69%) than for employees who did not participate in the mentoring program (49%) (Source)


• Of employees who stay more than 5 years at a company: 68% agree that there is a lot of support for those who want to take on leadership roles. 68% agree that younger employees are actively encouraged to aim for leadership roles (Source)


• Of employees who leave within 2 years: 71% think that their leadership skills are not being fully developed. 57% feel that they are being overlooked for potential leadership positions (Source)


• Employees who are involved in mentoring programs have a 50% higher retention rate than those not involved (Source)