Internal mobility is the procedure, which should be clearly defined by
means of a policy, regulating the transfer of employees from a position to
another within the same organisation.
Internal mobility can be implemented differently according to the
different objectives an organisation intends to pursue and the aim it is
expected to achieve.
Internal sourcing
Implemented through the internal job posting approach, the aim of this programme
is to fill all the types of positions arising within the organisation internally.
The
main objectives habitually associated with this approach are to: provide opportunities
for growth and career development to existing employee; attract and retain staff
in general and talented individuals in particular.
Employment exchange
This scheme is implemented by means of offering employees inter-departmental
working and co-working opportunities; where applicable, also amongst the company
subsidiaries and branches.
Main
objectives: enhance engagement and team working.
Fixed term mobility programme
This type of programme is habitually realized by offering staff fixed
term assignments in different areas of the organisation.
The main objectives are: broaden staff skills and experience and favour individual
development.
This
option also represents an effective cost-free solution to fill internally short-term
vacancies quickly and create a flexible workforce in order to effectively and
efficiently use the skills and resources available within the organisation.
Managers’ mobility
This programme is implemented by planning the rotation of the company managers
in the different organizational functions and units.
Main objectives: develop the prospect business leaders, forge and
prepare the future executives and facilitate succession planning.
This method also has the valuable, additional benefit of enabling the managers
of the business to gain a full understanding and knowledge of the company’s
operations and to know its customers’ expectations from the different functions
and units perspective.
Making
reference to the different functions existing within an organisation Stiles et
al (2006), reporting on a scheme used at P&G, illustrate how internal
mobility can be implemented through:
Job rotation - within the same function but in different business units and locations;
Broadening assignments - temporarily moving employees to a different function;
Career moves - permanently moving individuals to a different function.
The final choice amongst the available options obviously depends on the
objectives an organisation intends to pursue. Business executives need to have from
the outset crystal clear ideas about the objectives and aims an internal
mobility scheme is intended to achieve. The purpose needs to be therefore
clearly identified and outlined before the policy formulation and
implementation.
The identified objectives need to be aligned with the organisation recruitment
strategy and the overall business strategy as well.
Whatever the choice amongst the different options available, internal
mobility will invariably reveal to be an effective contributor to employee
satisfaction. Moreover, as revealed by a study carried out by iLogos (2003),
internal mobility is expected to enable employers to achieve valuable results
to protect intellectual property, maintain competitiveness and innovate faster.
As long as individuals tend to stay with the organisation, the risks
associated with the disclosure of confidential information are sensibly
reduced; although a recent case at Renault France (where the alleged three spies
have been dismissed) seems to undermine this principle. On the other hand an
exceedingly “closed” environment could potentially hamper an organisation capability
to see things from a different perspective and outlook. External recruiting is
indeed supposed to bring organisations what is commonly called “fresh thinking
and ideas.”
Another likely backlash of internal mobility, but this very much depends
on the frequency it is used with the same people, is that albeit mobility
allows staff to expand their capability and perform different tasks, it can represent
a barrier for employees gaining a deep degree of expertise and specialisation.
Nalbantian and Guzzo (2009) wisely warn against the negative impact
caused by a careless and inadequate mobility frequency and suggest that managers,
but their advice can be extended to the generality of the cases, should stay in
any given position at least for the time necessary to enable them to “enjoy the
fruits or suffer the consequences of their decisions.”
Organisations should hence adopt “time-in-position” schemes to avert the
disruptions normally associated with a too high mobility turnover rate.
It goes without saying that organisations trying to adopt internal
mobility programmes in order to reduce their turnover rate, should avoid adopting
measures causing further turnover (although of a different type) and the
negative effects usually associated with these.
The first aspect to consider concerns the decision to internally post
all of the positions eventually available within the organisation or otherwise.
Even though the business may decide to advertise all the openings internally,
this should not prevent the organisation to extend the research also externally,
in the event the position could not be properly filled internally. This type of
decision should not produce any negative impact on the most important aim of a
recruitment procedure, that is to say finding the right person for the right
position. Such decisions should also be made duly considering the workforce skills
and capabilities currently available and the external labour market conditions.
Understanding and knowing the internal pipeline, succession pool and
career progression opportunities, as well as having an in depth knowledge of
the local labour market trends and features (demographic trends included) is of
paramount importance to decide whether it is preferable to source internally or
invest time and resources to recruit externally.
Research carried out by Taleo provides some interesting and useful hints
in order to better cope with the issue. In particular, findings of the Taleo study
revealed that organisations having a high rate of internal redeployment may
find it more advantageous recruiting externally. The study also warns the organisations
using to fill an exceedingly number of positions internally against the likely
disruptive effects caused by replacing the vacant positions with the employees participating
in the internal mobility programme. Obviously, moving a person from any given position
accounts in turn for that position to fall vacant and needing to be hence filled,
generating a sort of vicious circle. The fact of the matter is that for each
moved person two recruitment processes are thus required: one aiming at replacing
the person involved with mobility and the other at filling the vacant position
let by the person who will be moved.
Internal
mobility should not be intended as about merely filling jobs and moving people
around (Systematic HR, 2010). These programmes should specifically aim at effectively
and properly using resources and talent within an organisation and moving them
within the different areas of the business in order to use them most
aggressively and achieve competitive edge.
Whatever the aim of internal mobility and whatever the way it is
implemented, internal mobility is basically and invariably destined for the improvement
of individuals’ skills and for providing these possibilities for growth and
career advancement.
Employers should therefore struggle to offer this opportunity to
individuals genuinely and truly committed to their career development, who have
what it takes to assume new and different tasks and responsibilities, who are
keen to take initiative and who have in some ways showed to be ready to develop
and learn new skills.
Organisations should also ponder the eventuality to consider a minimum
period of permanence in the current position before deeming an individual
eligible for the internal mobility programme.
When preparing and developing the policy, employers should also take
into consideration whether they would be willing to accept applications from
the staff involved in disciplinary proceeding, especially whether on account of
unsatisfactory performance claims, at least as long as the proceedings have not
been resolved.
Managers definitely play a remarkable role in the successful implementation
of internal mobility programmes so that their full support is definitely
required from the outset.
As appropriately suggested by Stiles et al (2006), managers should
encourage and foster staff move for personal and professional growth and act as
mentors and coaches. Managers should also be able to avoid “silo thinking”,
that is, to show concern just for their units’ interest, rather than for the benefit
of the whole organisation. The effect of such a practice will indeed have a
strong negative impact on leadership development and knowledge sharing across
the organisation.
Open job posting, considered much more likely to succeed in environments
whose culture encourages managers to facilitate talent transfer across the
organisation, is considered a helpful and successful way to break down the barriers
eventually raised by internal “silos.” Yet, open job posting is likely to be
very effective not only to retain existing staff but also to attract qualified
and skilled individuals as well.
Some organisations, in a move which might apparently seem leading to
take internal mobility to extremes, extend internal mobility programmes to
employee representatives and trade unions. To ensure that employee
representatives have the skills and qualities enabling them to be effective
negotiators, for instance, Shell provides union representatives special opportunities
for mobility.
Research shows a clear positive correlation between career advancement
opportunities, retention rates and productivity levels (Kelly Services, 2004). Yet,
in terms of productivity, an external newcomer can require up to twice the time
to reach the same productivity as an internal hire. Studies also show that
businesses having and resorting to internal mobility programmes record turnover
rates four percent lower than organisations without any internal mobility
policy.
Introducing internal mobility programmes and providing the necessary
tools to effectively implement them is not exactly plain sailing and lot of
efforts and resources are obviously required. However, it just takes to
carefully consider the cost incurred by the organisation when lose trained
staff and replace them to find out whether the investment is worth the efforts or
otherwise and can be eventually quickly recouped.
Finally,
as for the relevance of internal mobility in terms of employment law, more specifically
as for what concerns the contract of employment, organisations planning to
formulate and implement internal mobility practices within subsidiaries should include
in the terms and conditions of employment a mobility clause. Businesses can
invoke mobility clauses, specifying that individuals must work in any location
as needed by the firm, as long as that discretion is used reasonably by the
employer, as usual: “the acid test is whether or not the employer acts
reasonably” (Armstrong, 2006).
Longo, R., (2011), The four Ws of internal mobility – what, when, why, who (and how), HR Professionals, [online].
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