Internal mobility developed strongly after the economic crisis of 2008. Once seen as an immediate response to the need to transform certain professions, it is now part of long-term HR strategies. Having demonstrated its many benefits for the company, this HR practice is part of a more global approach to forward-looking employment and skills management skills.
Today’s challenge for human resources managers is to define and implement this policy on a day-to-day basis. The internal mobility policy must be adapted to the needs of the organization and the expectations of employees.
Define the objectives of your internal mobility policy
Before designing your internal trajectory policy, you need to define the objective(s).
- Retaining talent is the most obvious goal of this strategy. Offering a wide range of career prospects enables employees to plan for the long term. Experimenting with different positions, developing your skills skills, and feeling valued by your employer are just some of the benefits of internal mobility.
- Attracting talent. As a tool for modernizing recruitment levers, promoting internal movements can also be a good way to enhance the value of the employer brand in its “career management” angle. Indeed, it has the potential to attract future candidates by highlighting professional development. Internal mobility is therefore an excellent way to develop your employer brand, to make your employees your best ambassadors and thus attract future talent.
- Develop employability. The adaptation of skills in a constantly changing world is indeed a competitive lever for the company. Continuously updating skills to keep pace with the needs of the sector allows the company to remain agile and therefore competitive.
All the possible objectives are summarized in our article:“The objectives of internal mobility“.
Identify the different types of internal mobility
What are the different types of internal mobility?
There are 4 types of internal mobility:
- Vertical mobility is designed to offer progression to a higher hierarchical level,
- Cross-functional mobility, giving access to a different role in a new profession, regardless of hierarchical level.
- Horizontal mobility, offering similar responsibilities within a similar business line
- Geographical mobility, based on the employee’s transfer to another site.
To set up an internal mobility policy, we first need to identify possible bridges between professions. In this context, the notion of proximity skills will be at the heart of the mobility process. The best tool for carrying out these reflections upstream is to draw up a map of your skills.
Define the rules for implementing internal mobility
One of the key factors in the success of your internal career development policy is its transparency. For managers and employees alike to get involved, rules and procedures need to be clear to everyone, so you need to think carefully about how to define them.
You also need to think about the collaborative space in which internal vacancies will be visible. How to apply for them, what steps to take to make them accessible, and how to apply for them. This is one of the benefits offered by the Talent Marketplace, to which we dedicate a full page:“Internal Talent Marketplace“.
A structured system to minimize the risks of internal mobility:
What are the risks of internal mobility?
The risks that a good internal mobility scheme can minimize concern the transmission of skills, internal conflicts, and ease of adaptation to a new working environment. Let’s take a look at these 3 risks and their solutions:
- The transmission of skills : when employees leave their current position, their former position may remain vacant, resulting in a one-off loss of skills. Solutions can be found in succession planning, permanent mentoring, the development of cross-functionalskills , the ability to mobilize a resource rapidly in project mode, or to make mobility conditional on the staffing of a new resource.
- Conflicts of interest: internal movements can sometimes create conflicts of interest, especially if the position was coveted by several people. Solutions include making the selection criteria transparent, offering applicants for the position components of the role in their daily lives, and distributing tasks differently.
- Smooth induction: getting to know the company does not necessarily mean that employees will adapt immediately, and this can be minimized by managers and HR teams. Good onboarding andcross-boarding practices will facilitate the smooth integration of new employees.
What questions should be asked to define the internal mobility policy?
- What assessment is sufficient to trigger mobility?
- What are the rules of governance between the managers concerned?
- How long do I have to wait before changing jobs?
- How long is the notice period, if any?
- How do you assess potential salary increases?
- Is a return to the original position an option?
- What support will be offered to the employee?
All these questions are just a few examples of the essential points you’ll need to define and communicate internally.
Manage your internal mobility policy on a day-to-day basis
Once defined, your orientation will be integrated into your Jobs & Skills Management to promote mobility in line with your corporate strategy. To be effective, the various Strategic Workforce Planning tools naturally incorporate opportunities for internal career development: annual appraisal interviews should be used to bring up employees’ career aspirations, appraisal tools should be used to measure development needs, and career committees should focus on key positions.
In this way, the mobility policy will provide additional leverage in strengthening your ability to master the uncertainty of your company’s transformations.
