Internal mobility as an opportunity for employees to gain new skills

Employees who feel that they are no longer developing at a particular company usually decide to look for opportunities to learn new skills in the next job. This makes us face rapid job turnover – statistics show that people from Generation Z and Alpha will change jobs every three years on average, which will also affect the labor market. Therefore, giving them a chance for horizontal or vertical career growth, that is, introducing internal mobility, is becoming an increasingly popular practice. What are the benefits of internal mobility? Read on to find out more.

Internal mobility – table of contents:

1. What is internal mobility?
2. Internal mobility vs new skills
3. Internal mobility as a response to the demands of the modern world
4. The benefits of internal mobility for companies
5. Summary

What is internal mobility?

Internal mobility refers to transferring experienced employees within a company and giving them new responsibilities, projects or roles, considering their consent and development needs. Such a transfer can be both permanent or temporary, depending on the specific situation and opportunities. Talent mobility is beneficial to both the employee and the organization.

Internal mobility vs new skills

Changing roles, moving to a different department or location, and giving the employee a chance to prove themselves in a new area, challenges them to acquire new skills – both hard (knowledge of a specific field) and soft ( e.g. interpersonal skills, due to their contact with a different team or a change of place in the hierarchy). Acquired skills are often universal, which means that they can be useful in any position and workplace. In this way, the employee develops and gains new, often highly desirable opportunities to build their career.

What’s more, the employee also gains a new perspective as they get experience holding a different position in the organization and learn more about the company’s daily operations. As a result, they are able to make smarter decisions concerning the area they are responsible for.

At the same time, internal mobility increases the employee’s motivation to prove themselves in a new role and discourages them to look for development opportunities elsewhere. Sometimes it is a way to eliminate or reduce the problem of job burnout among both young and experienced employees.

Internal mobility as a response to the demands of the modern world

Internal mobility supports the process of designing a career path in line with the dynamic changes taking place in today’s business landscape (the so-called agile career). Experience in different roles, job levels or environments allows employees to significantly expand their knowledge and skills, making it easier to adapt to new job requirements – and such individuals are in high demand in the market and can pick and choose their job offers.

The benefits of internal mobility for companies

Internal mobility brings a number of benefits to the employee – especially in terms of professional development and career opportunities. However, it should be emphasized that it also produces positive results for the company as a whole.

Thanks to a horizontal or vertical promotion, the employee stays with the company (although in a changed role) and uses their outstanding skills, working for the employer’s success. What is more, in this way, the employer can fill skill gaps in other teams – if a given person didn’t agree to be transferred, it would be necessary to hire someone from the outside, which would be time and money consuming. Thus, internal mobility makes the company reduce the use of its resources (associated with the acquisition and training of new employees) without losing a single person building its competitiveness in the market.

But that’s not all – internal mobility can also help bring new ideas to the organization through the interaction between employees working in various fields. Companies that use internal mobility are positively viewed by potential candidates, which helps build its competitive advantage in the market. Thus, a horizontal or vertical promotion is, from the employer’s point of view, of strategic importance.

Summary

Given the talent shortage and the dynamic competition in the market (evident in various industries, but especially in technology companies), companies must take steps to retain employees. Providing the possibility of vertical and horizontal promotion will certainly be positively received by those who want to constantly develop. So it is worth considering this solution and looking for a space to introduce it to your company.

Read also: What does a human resource director do?

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