Do mentorship programs actually improve employee retention?

The evidence is mixed in quality. Deloitte's 2025 Gen Z and Millennial Survey reports that 86% of Gen Zs and 84% of millennials emphasized the need for mentorship and guidance. Demand is not the same as retention, and we do not cite a retention figure here that we could not verify at its source.

What is the ROI of a mentorship program?

Mentoring ROI depends on program cost, participation, relevant workforce outcomes, and the assumptions used to value any change. We do not quote a universal headline figure. Use your own baseline and comparison data with the ROI calculator, then label estimates, correlations, and directly measured program outputs separately.

How do mentorship programs help with diversity and inclusion?

Dobbin and Kalev reported that mentoring programs increased management representation for several underrepresented groups by 9% to 24% over five years. That is their research finding, not a MentorStack result or a guaranteed effect. MentorStack does not use demographic data for matching. Measure access and advancement in your own program.

Can mentoring help the people doing the mentoring?

Research from the University of Cambridge's Judge Business School found an association between mentoring and reduced anxiety among senior and junior staff in the population studied. That finding suggests a possible benefit for mentors as well as mentees. It does not establish that every program or participant will experience the same result.

The Undeniable Case for Mentorship Programs

Mentoring has some third-party evidence behind it, and we only quote what we could check at the source. Deloitte reports strong demand for mentorship among younger workers. Dobbin and Kalev report that mentoring programs raised management representation for specific groups. Cambridge researchers found reduced anxiety for mentors and mentees. These are other organizations' findings, not MentorStack results.

I'm generally allergic to articles titled "The Case for X." They tend to be 2,000 words of confirmation bias dressed up as analysis. The author already believes, and they cherry-pick stats until you do too.

So let me level with you: I already believe mentorship programs work. I run a company that sells mentorship software. You should factor that bias in as you read this. This version is shorter than an earlier one on purpose. I removed every figure I could not open at its source, and I flag where the evidence is thin.

What younger workers say they want

Deloitte's 2025 Gen Z and Millennial Survey (opens in new tab) reports that 86% of Gen Zs and 84% of millennials emphasized their need for mentorship and guidance. That is survey demand, not proof that mentoring changes retention. It does tell you that people are asking for it.

What mentoring does for the people involved

Mentoring is not only a benefit for the person being mentored. Articulating what you know, thinking through someone else's challenges, and building cross-level relationships can also develop the mentor. I have not found a mentor promotion figure I can verify at the source, so I am not quoting one.

Research from the University of Cambridge's Judge Business School found that mentoring relationships can help reduce anxiety (opens in new tab) among both senior and junior staff. The researchers describe mentoring as a context where people can discuss and normalise their concerns, share ideas for managing anxiety, and find more meaning in their work.

There is a plausible mechanism here that pizza parties don't have: mentoring gives people a human relationship focused on their growth. But correlation is not causation. People who seek mentors, or volunteer to be one, may already be more engaged.

On DEI: what the research does and does not show

Most DEI initiatives get criticized (sometimes fairly) for lacking measurable outcomes. Frank Dobbin and Alexandra Kalev's research (opens in new tab) in Harvard Business Review found that mentoring programs boosted the representation of Black, Hispanic, and Asian American women, and Hispanic and Asian American men, in management by 9% to 24% over five years. In the same research, after five years of required manager diversity training, there was no improvement in the share of white women, Black men, and Hispanics in management, and the share of Black women decreased.

Their explanation is about the mentors: people who sponsor a protege tend to come to believe the protege is deserving, which reinforces their commitment to advancing others. That is a finding about mentoring programs in the companies they studied. It is not a claim about any specific software or matching method. MentorStack matches on department, team, and function only. It does not use demographics, and we do not claim it produces this result.

For a deeper look at design, see our guide on DEI mentorship programs.

What is a mentoring program worth in dollars?

I won't quote a headline ROI. Most ROI calculations in this space are overcounted, and the figures I could not verify are gone from this post. See our piece on measuring mentoring ROI honestly. To work from your own numbers, use the ROI calculator: your program cost, your turnover, and your replacement cost.

The part most articles like this leave out

Here's where a typical "case for mentorship" piece ends, triumphant call to action, implied promise that launching a program will deliver results.

It won't. Not automatically.

A bad mentorship program is still a bad program. Programs go better when they train mentors on specific skills, match thoughtfully, and set clear goals with timelines. Good results do not come from sending a company-wide email and hoping.

The case is strong enough to try. The execution is where it gets hard. Start somewhere, even a pilot with a single team. But design the thing properly before you send the first invite.

Sources & References

Deloitte, 2025 Gen Z and Millennial Survey (opens in new tab).
Dobbin, F. & Kalev, A. (2016). "Why Diversity Programs Fail." (opens in new tab) Harvard Business Review, July-August 2016.
University of Cambridge Judge Business School, Mentoring to Reduce Anxiety (opens in new tab), 2018.