In mid 2024, the Women @ MathWorks group piloted an internal mentoring scheme across our UK, Ireland, and Nordic offices.
The group’s mission includes fostering networking among members to support professional development. The mentoring scheme was a very natural fit for this goal. The motivation for this scheme was driven by data showing that mentored women in STEM often have 40–50% larger professional networks, directly correlating with greater career visibility, collaboration, and opportunities.
We started the scheme by surveying potential mentees to identify their goals, their mentor preferences, and the skills they would like to level up. Our mentee-driven scheme was designed to be completely flexible to their goals, including transition to leadership, networking, and technical skills. We asked potential mentors what skills they would like to share. All mentor/mentee pairings were created manually based on this information and our team’s knowledge of the personalities involved. We matched eight pairs of mentors and mentees across our locations, large enough to have data on its effectiveness, but small enough to be monitored by our four-person organising team. This system was successful: seven of the pairs went on to complete the full 6‑month pilot, with some continuing their mentoring relationship afterward.
Most pairings met once every two weeks for an hour, where they would discuss goals. Some pairings decided on objectives for the mentee to complete. Some identified future objectives, while others had lighter weight approaches by talking regularly about situations the mentee was facing. The scheme was supportive of whatever worked best for the mentors and mentees in a goal setting, which has been appreciated by participants.
Our survey showed in ratings that:
- 4.67/5 participants would recommend the scheme to a colleague or peer
- 4.08/5 said the mentorship relationship was effective in achieving professional goals
- 4.5/5 agreed the mentorship pilot facilitated the development of new skills and knowledge.
The cohort spanned many of our business areas, including development, user experience, sales, training, marketing, and more. The pairs were often intentionally paired across different roles, teams, and locations. Anecdotally, both mentors and mentees appreciated the different perspectives these pairings provided.
“I joined the mentorship program while I was moving into a leadership role, which was exciting but also a bit daunting,” said Deborah Ferreira, Software Engineering Manager, Natural Language Processing at MathWorks. “My mentor gave me such practical advice and reminded me to trust my instincts. Having someone who’d been through similar experiences made a real difference and helped me take on the transition with more confidence.”
Since our mentoring pilot, we have inspired more groups in the organisation to start their own, as well as having more Women @ MathWorks mentoring schemes in our other locations. Our Northern Europe team is midway through our second run of the scheme with a new cohort.
Based on recent results, the project is progressing well. Helen Watson, a revenue accounting & controls associate at MathWorks said, “I really appreciate the mentorship program and the support I’ve received from my mentor. Having someone to offer honest feedback and share their perspective has made a real difference in how I think about my career and the steps I want to take next.”
Looking to the future, we have open questions about scaling up, especially given our mentoring matching has been manual so far and benefitted from knowledge of the participants. The overall direction in the MathWorks diversity and inclusion space is an effort to further embed the work where we can. The goal is to rely less on HR-led initiatives and more on affinity groups and allies as well as business leaders.
