What does internal mobility mean?
An organization’s success hinges on its internal mobility, which promotes the free flow of talent and ideas, keeps people engaged, and helps them advance in their careers. However, before you start thinking about how to build an internal mobility program, you need to define internal mobility and understand why it’s necessary.
The term “internal mobility” describes a worker’s ability to advance their careers (both vertically and laterally) within their current employer. Everything from job swaps to mentorships to cross-team or extra projects to promotions to demotions to new positions falls under this category.
Businesses can save a lot of money and time by promoting from within. This is because internal mobility increases employee retention, which in turn boosts innovation and diversity. In the end, this has a favorable effect on the bottom line, which we shall talk about more below.
Employees’ short- and long-term career goals can be advanced through internal mobility opportunities that provide them with diverse experiences, career advancement, and skill sets.
Facilitating internal mobility is a critical function of human resources experts. They achieve this by analyzing the company’s needs and individuals’ strengths, and then developing a system that effectively links personnel to different internal opportunities.
Examples of internal mobility
Internal mobility comes in several forms, as we’ve already established. Here are a few illustrations.
- Promotions: It’s standard procedure to select an internal applicant from your current pool when a higher job, such as team lead or manager, becomes available inside the organization. Internal mobility can take various forms; one of the most prevalent is the horizontal career shift, or climbing the corporate ladder. However, there are many other, less obvious examples.
- Interdepartmental and intradepartmental transfers: Intradepartmental transfers include reassigning a person to a different position inside the same division. The transition from sales development assistant to account executive assistant is one such example. Changing an employee’s department is known as an interdepartmental transfer. A good illustration of this would be a sales assistant transitioning into a marketing assistant role.
- New jobs: Companies of all sizes are always hiring more people to fill open positions as they expand. It is common practice to promote from inside the organization to fill these open positions. If a business were to enter a new market and promote an existing employee to the position of country manager, that would be an example of this.
- Mentorships: Workers will frequently move across the organization to pick up skills from different workers. This might be in the employee’s pursuit of a promotion that would allow them to take on that specific task, or it might be an effort to give them a leg up in their present work and beyond by expanding their skill set.
- Swapping jobs: Another type of internal movement is switching jobs. Two workers, either from the same or a separate department, will take turns doing the same task for a certain amount of time so that they can learn the ropes and improve their abilities.
- Additional projects: On top of their regular responsibilities, staff members could be given different projects to work on. This is sometimes necessary in order to fill in for an absent employee. Sometimes it’s to help an employee advance in their career through improving their skill set.
What is the significance of internal mobility?
Everyone wins when employees are able to move up the corporate ladder. The main advantages are as follows.
Money and time saved
It might cost as much as 1.5 times an employee’s salary to find and hire a replacement, according to Gallup research. Particularly for highly sought-after positions or those requiring extensive expertise, this is the case. Furthermore, research shows that in the first two years after a promotion, internal recruits perform better than external hires.
When you promote from within, you take advantage of the skills and experience of your current employees rather than having to search for new ones. It can be costly and time-consuming to post job ads, go through many applications, and vet individuals, particularly if your finances are already tight.
Increased staff loyalty
Employees are more likely to remain with a company that promotes from within (41% longer retention rate), as stated in LinkedIn’s Global Talent Trends study. Employee engagement and output are both enhanced by internal mobility. Employees are 27% more inclined to go above and above when they have more opportunities to advance within the company, according to research from Gartner.
One of the most common reasons workers hunt for work elsewhere is a lack of opportunity for advancement in their current positions. Therefore, employees are more likely to remain if you provide them opportunity to advance in their careers without putting their job security at jeopardy.
Bringing in fresh talent
If you want to keep talented, ambitious people from other companies who share your growth mentality on staff, building a reputation as an employer that gives plenty of room to advance is a great place to start.
Creating a welcoming and diverse workplace
One of the greatest methods to promote a more diverse and inclusive workforce is to promote and retain talent from within. By giving current employees more opportunities to advance within the company, companies may increase diversity in the workplace at all levels. Mentoring and cross-training are two of the most effective programs in this regard.
Businesses with gender diversity among their executive teams that score in the top quartile are 25% more likely to excel in terms of profitability, according to a report by McKinsey. Additionally, there is a 36% increased likelihood of having industry-leading profitability for companies with executive teams that score in the top quartile for ethnic diversity.
Developing skills
Employees have several chances to gain experience, new skills, and a deeper understanding of the company with a robust internal mobility program.
Spotify is one company that has put this into action. They have rotation programs called “missions” that they want all employees to take part in. These programs assist employees enhance their skills and get them ready for future job changes. From the very beginning, they make it clear that no one stays in one job for longer than two years. This keeps workers interested, keeps things from becoming stale, and stops them from leaving.
Filling in skill gaps in a timely manner
Depending on your requirements and the objectives of your business, internal mobility also allows you to quickly fill skill gaps.
According to research out of Harvard Business School, nearly 60% of companies would rather hire freelancers or contract workers with specific capabilities than hire full-time employees. As a result, you might not have to hunt elsewhere if your company offers job-swapping or exchange programs.
Making new ideas possible
Increased innovation occurs when employees are able to move freely around the organization, a phenomenon known as internal mobility. The digital marketing exchange initiative that Unilever and Vodacom have launched has been a great source of fresh ideas and viewpoints. In addition to facilitating talent movement, this model provided workers with a rare chance to hone their skills, an essential component in advancing one’s career.
Tips on how to start a new scheme for internal mobility
The term “internal mobility program” describes a method for redistributing talent within an organization. If you are planning an internal mobility program, here are some things to keep in mind.
- Form a team within the company to handle talent acquisition.
Offering opportunities for advancement inside an organization is a full-time job. You can establish an internal recruiting team or assign one or two people to handle this, depending on your organization’s size and available resources.
Having employees who are familiar with the company’s identity and its many strengths is crucial. Additionally, they should be able to make an informed decision on a candidate’s suitability for a position.
- Equip workers with new skills
“Cross-training” means teaching one worker how to do another worker’s duties in addition to their own. The goal here is to make the company more adaptable by enhancing workers’ skill sets. By exposing employees to different areas of the company, cross-training improves their comprehension of how everything works.
One of IDEO’s most well-known practices is its cross-training program. Every applicant goes through a rigorous screening process to ensure they have the collaborative qualities needed to transform them into T-shaped employees. Such employees have exceptional knowledge in a single area of the business and a broad understanding of how everything fits together.
Your bottom line, organizational agility, and employee productivity can all benefit from cross-training.
- Think about the many internal transitions
Above, we established that internal mobility encompasses more than just job transfers and promotions. Consequently, this is not enough to constitute a robust internal mobility program. Think about:
- Short-term job-swapping initiatives
- Alternate work arrangements
- Job shadowing
- Coaching
- Projects with other teams
- Think of it as an investment for the future
Instead of seeing internal mobility as a side project or a means to an end, make it a tenet of your company’s philosophy.
At Sodexo, you can see this in action. Not long ago, workers were wary of submitting promotion requests from departments other than their own. They thought they couldn’t succeed without some kind of background knowledge. But according to Sodexo’s internal study, internal applicants possess numerous transferrable talents that are applicable to other parts of the company. Compared to outside recruits, they may be able to learn new responsibilities more quickly.
The “Come Alive” internal mobility program has become famous at the organization. It’s a one-year growth plan that aims to prepare staff for promotions by developing their leadership qualities. No matter where a person’s career goes from here, they are always encouraged to hone their abilities.
- Facilitate internal mobility with the use of technology
If human resources professionals want to be successful in the future, they need to embrace digitization. One way to achieve this is through internal mobility, which allows you to use digital technologies to assist you and your staff make connections. Hitch, Paddle, and Gloat are just a few of the many talent marketplace platforms that can put your employees in touch with internal mobility opportunities.
Internal talent marketplaces are going to be a big deal in HR in 2022 and beyond, according to AIHR.
You may learn more about your staff and their responsibilities with the help of these technologies, and many of them leverage AI solutions to help you draw internal career routes. Given how difficult it is to foretell one’s future in the modern workplace, this can be extremely helpful. If an employee wants to advance in their career but isn’t sure what to do next, AI can tailor a recommendation to their specific needs using historical information. Together, companies and employees can make a well-informed decision, which in turn can lower turnover rates.
- Emphasize open and honest dialogue
If you value your team members’ respect and want to keep them informed, you must articulate your internal mobility program. Make sure all of your staff are on the same page and understand the procedure when you first introduce it. Get the word out about the new opportunities, what to anticipate, how you can apply, what to do next, and who to ask questions.
If your employees aren’t well-informed about your internal mobility plan, they may wonder why they weren’t chosen for any future opportunities.
- Teach supervisors the value of internal promotions.
Managers won’t make the most of internal mobility if they don’t know what it is and how it works. Human resources plays a crucial role in training managers to identify and capitalize on internal mobility opportunities.
A lot of managers can be afraid to let their best employees go to a competitor. That’s why HR needs to inform them of how internal mobility improves the company as a whole. Their team will be more likely to apply for jobs that are a good fit for them, and they will be able to contribute to creating an open and supportive culture that encourages growth.
In conclusion
One way to make the most of your employees is to encourage internal mobility. You may improve your firm’s performance, innovation, and employee retention by giving them plenty of possibilities to advance within the company. This will also help close skill gaps and encourage people to stay with the company for the long haul.
