We now have the future of work. A lot of companies these days find it hard to know the best way for the employees and employers to fill the talent gaps. In this post, you will learn why internal mobility is key to building the workforce of the future.
It cannot be denied that a lot of us are having an anxiety attack thinking about the possible future of work without knowing that it is already present. As mentioned, many companies out there are afraid to face the future of work not equipped with the best ways to ensure that the talent gaps are perfectly filled. There is a problem why traditional recruiting and hiring practices are not working. This is because of the market experiencing imbalances regarding the number of individuals who have the perfect skills for a high job and income equality.
What is the importance of internal mobility?
Internal mobility defines the complete changes in an occupation or the movement of the workers performing their jobs in the same location or company. A Wharton study concluded that external hires don’t work well compared to their internal counterparts.
Keeping the people who have the best skills and talent is important. According to a survey performed by Gallup, the main reason most employees resign from their jobs is the lack of promotional opportunities or career advancement.
How internal mobility affects the workforce of the future on a positive side
Bersin by Deloitte defines internal mobility as “a dynamic internal process for moving talent from role to role – at the leadership, professional, and operational levels.”
Considering that it is quite related to the future of work, it is pretty obvious that internal mobility is a great changing factor that could fill the gaps between the right talent and high-skilled jobs.
It is important to hire a person who possesses the best talent when your goal is to create a future-proof workforce. If companies and employees these days will not adapt to internal mobility, it won’t have a positive impact on the economy. Apart from that, it can possibly lead to an increase in the operating costs shouldered by HR Professionals and business leaders.
In addition, there are other negative impacts of not embracing internal mobility, which include:
- Not meeting client deliverables;
- Most employees will resign from their positions, which can result in a reduction of the overall work productivity; and
- Problems related to training and recruiting potential employees.
There are three effective ways that internal mobility has something to do with the business preparation for building a great workforce of the future.
Large companies should adopt the Gig Economy mentality
The Gig Economy is a given and, according to the experts, it is meant to stay forever. It cannot be denied that most workers have their own side hustles. But this does not mean that we need to outsource jobs or temps to other agencies.
Reasons a worker prefers freelance work
According to Diane Mulcahy, the reason for most workers who prefer freelance work is that, “They might want to explore whether an idea or a service or a product that they have is a viable business. Or they might want to explore an area of interest, or they might want to gain another skill or expand their network.”
To ensure an excellent workforce of the future, it is important to maintain its competitiveness in the present economy. There is a high chance that most of the low point-of-access and administrative tasks have something to do to add value to many business functions and units. Aside from that, it can also help you to improve the exposure of your current workforce to several roles, which will result to a massive growth in various departures.
Retraining and reskilling your employees
Most employees in companies that will not adapt to internal mobility would prefer to find other jobs. But if you want to create a better workforce of the future, it is better to retrain and reskill the employees you have.
Most companies out there, especially the large ones, including AT&T, spend more than 250,000 US Dollars to retrain and reskill their more than 250,000 employees. You might be asking about the possible solution. Well, considering that most employers think that universities aren’t capable of producing highly-skilled graduates, it is important to invest in an online course that will improve their employee’s current skills.
Reduce turnover and improve employee engagement
It cannot be denied that shaping a skilled and cohesive workforce is quite difficult and requires a lot of time and effort. What makes it harder is a high turnover rate of employees.
According to Robert Half, “Businesses with a strong learning culture enjoy employee engagement and retention rates around 30 to 50 percent higher than those who don’t.”
A person who possesses excellent skills and talents has room to learn. Workers who will be allowed to acquire a new set of skills flexibly can improve their engagement. As a result, they won’t think of pursuing other work opportunities or leaving their work.
Conclusion
We have learned that internal mobility is a great factor that will help a company build an excellent workforce of the future. Infrastructure and a culture of mobility, together with a full effort to improve their skills, will help most companies react to the potential changes in the environment.
In other words, companies should put flexible time and more effort in reskilling and retraining their employees to adopt a new set of skills that will be beneficial to personal and company growth in the future. Retraining your employees will show an improvement as the day goes by. To sum up, adapting internal mobility is a great factor to maximize the skills and talents of your employees while preparing yourself and themselves for the future situation.
Liraz Postan has been a content specialist for more than 12 years in the online industry. She is an international speaker for content marketing, SEO and digital marketing. Twitter: @rliraz
