Viaposte renews its mentoring programme to support career mobility.

At Viaposte, development of skills mainly leans on transmission and the sharing of experience. In addition to its apprenticeship initiatives and ongoing commitment to continuous learning, the company is renewing its mentoring programme for a second year.

This initiative is establishing itself as a long-term driver of career progression, talent development and corporate culture.

Overview of mentoring in France

A 2025 study on corporate mentoring, conducted by EMCC France in partnership with IESEG Conseil, reveals that 78% of companies assign mentoring a strategic objective: retaining employees, developing skills, encouraging cross-functional collaboration and strengthening company culture.

At Viaposte, these priorities are not theoretical. Employee retention and internal career mobility already shape our HR strategy. Mentoring therefore naturally fits in as a practical lever to support our talent and strengthen our company culture.

Another strong signal: the study shows that 58% of mentees wish to become mentors in turn. A virtuous circle we encourage in order to sustain knowledge sharing over time.

Mentoring: a strategic lever supporting internal mobility

“The aim of our Viaposte mentoring programme is to create mentor/mentee pairs to encourage the sharing of experience and perspective,” explains Maud Estivalet, Head of HR Development at Viaposte and programme lead.

“This is not a pair working on an operational topic; mentoring is a space for discussion to compare viewpoints, seek advice, and learn from one another.”

At Viaposte, pairs are not formed randomly. The company ensures a mix of roles, geographical locations (work sites), generations, seniority, career paths and gender balance in order to create genuine spaces for cross-learning.

This diversity is a deliberate structural choice: it favors openness and strengthens everyone’s internal professional network. The mentee also gains greater visibility on internal career pathways, refines their career plan and secures their development choices. 

Hence, mentoring turns into a strategic lever: “The whole challenge now lies in supporting internal mobility and developing managerial and behavioural skills,” adds Maud Estivalet.

2025 : A structuring first edition

With around ten mentors involved in the first year of the programme in 2025, the initiative relied on thorough preparation. The mentors benefited from two and a half days of training on the “coach” posture, complemented by individual coaching, explains Maud Estivalet.

However, like any HR innovation initiative, areas for improvement were identified following feedback gathered through workshops and anonymous questionnaires. Respondents highlighted difficulties linked to geographical distance and time management when building a strong relationship.

Mentoring from the field

Mentors from the 2025 edition acknowledge that the human dimension greatly contributes to the success of the programme : “This mentoring programme was above all a challenging experience for me in terms of adopting a listening and guiding posture, enabling the mentee to find their own answers. It was also an opportunity to get to know someone I had previously interacted little with - the Director of Financial Projects. I am delighted to renew the experience in 2026 and this time support someone from the transport sector seeking guidance on issues different from those of my first mentee,” says Henri Pires, Logistics Network Director at Viaposte.

Mentors therefore see mentoring as a way to help mentees find answers to their challenges and issues on their own. From the mentees’ perspective, mentoring is viewed as a lever for personal and professional development.  

It is in this spirit that, during the first two editions, mentoring was primarily offered to recently promoted employees, in order to support their transition into the role and guide them through this new stage of their career path.

2026 : Towards stronger pairings and closer connections

After the success of the programme’s first year, Viaposte chose to renew it for a second year. This type of initiative is best assessed over several years, as the mentees’ development is not immediate at the end of the mentoring period.

For this second edition, Viaposte is refining its approach. In 2026, 12 carefully selected pairs are being set up, identified during the annual people reviews conducted by managers to spot talent. The selection is then refined jointly by three internal sponsors, the HR department and the CEO, while the programme remains entirely voluntary and subject to the agreement of both mentor and mentee.

The framework remains based on freedom and confidentiality:

• Full confidentiality of exchanges between the mentor and the mentee, ensuring mutual trust and freedom of expression;
• Voluntary participation : both parties must be fully willing to join the programme;
• Freedom of organisation : the content and frequency of discussions are defined by the pair, with no formal requirements imposed by HR, which nevertheless remains supportive throughout the year.

HR support consists of regularly checking in with the pairs through informal touchpoints to ensure everything is running smoothly. A single questionnaire sent to mentees, along with a feedback workshop held with mentors at the end of the mentoring period, concludes the programme and serves as a review to identify successes and areas for improvement.

Mentoring programme outlook: new horizons by the end of the year

Viaposte’s ambition for mentoring does not stop with the current pairs. By the end of 2026, a new selection phase will be launched to recruit and train new mentors. The aim will be to include those wishing to repeat the experience while opening the programme to new profiles, in order to enrich the pool of internal coaches and support diversity in exchanges.

By sustaining this intergenerational and cross-functional dialogue, Viaposte continues to build an agile organisation ready to meet the challenges of tomorrow’s logistics.

To get to know us better :