How to Mentor New Staff

Educational guides for employers on organising workplace training — identifying needs, planning, delivering, recording and reviewing. Connected to workplace training, training records and workplace safety. Informational only — not legal advice, not certified training and not a substitute for legally required instruction; employers remain responsible for compliance.

What mentoring new staff involves

Mentoring gives a new starter a go-to colleague for everyday questions, guidance and encouragement during their early weeks and months. It supports — but does not replace — induction, instruction and any required training.

This page is an educational outline of how employers generally run mentoring. It does not certify anyone and is distinct from formal training or competence assessment, which remain the employer’s responsibility.

Why mentoring matters

• New starters settle faster when they have someone approachable to ask.
• A mentor passes on the unwritten ways the workplace really works.
• Early support reduces confusion, mistakes and early leavers.
• It frees supervisors from answering every routine question.

Before you start: what you need

• A clear idea of what mentoring should and should not cover.
• Willing, experienced colleagues who model good practice.
• Time set aside so mentoring is not squeezed out by the workload.
• A simple way to keep mentoring separate from formal assessment.

Step 1: Choose and brief mentors

• Pick people who are experienced, patient and follow the rules themselves.
• Explain what the mentor role covers and where it stops.
• Make clear that safety-critical instruction stays with trained trainers.
• Check the mentor is willing and has capacity to help.

Step 2: Set up the relationship

• Introduce mentor and new starter early, ideally during induction.
• Agree how and when they will check in over the first weeks.
• Set expectations on confidentiality and a respectful tone.
• Clarify that the mentor supports, while the supervisor manages.

Step 3: Support the early weeks

• Encourage regular, low-pressure conversations, not just at problems.
• Help the new starter find people, systems and answers.
• Reinforce site rules and safe ways of working by example.
• Flag any concerns about wellbeing or workload to the supervisor.

Involving supervisors and competent persons

Mentoring works alongside, not instead of, supervision and training. The supervisor still manages performance and the competent person still delivers any required instruction; the mentor adds day-to-day support and a friendly point of contact.

Keeping these roles distinct matters: a mentor’s encouragement is not a substitute for training, and the judgement that someone is competent remains the employer’s.

Documentation & records

• Keep mentoring light-touch — note that a pairing exists and when it began.
• Record any concerns the mentor raises through the proper channels.
• Keep formal training and competence records separate from mentoring notes.
• Anything you do keep can be held and shared as PDFs and treated confidentially.

How to review and improve

• Check in with both mentor and new starter on how it is going.
• Adjust the pairing if it is not working for either person.
• Ask what helped most and build that into future mentoring.
• Thank and support mentors so the role stays attractive.

Common mistakes to avoid

• Treating mentoring as a substitute for proper training or supervision.
• Choosing a mentor who is available rather than suitable.
• Giving no time for mentoring so it never really happens.
• Blurring the mentor and assessor roles, so support feels like judgement.

Who is responsible and your legal duties

The employer decides how mentoring fits alongside induction, training and supervision, and remains responsible for safety, training and competence decisions. This guide is an educational outline to help set up mentoring — it does not deliver training or certify anyone.

Mentoring does not satisfy any legal training requirement. Confirm your duties against the applicable law; this guide is not legal advice and following it does not make your workplace compliant.