Why internal talent mobility programs are critical in today’s workplace

Free food, fun activities, remote work, competitive compensation – it all makes a company sound like an amazing place to work. But is it enough to hold onto your people? And when times are difficult, will you be able to continue offering these perks? 

When it comes to employee retention, you can invest a lot of effort but still see workers walk away – if they believe they will never move up. The solution? Enabling employees to move within the company – either horizontally or vertically – through a culture that embraces internal mobility over outside hires. 

What is Internal Mobility?

Internal mobility, also known as internal hiring and internal recruiting, means that current employees are considered first when a new position opens up in the organization. In contrast to the expense and inefficiency of only hiring new employees, internal mobility brings businesses many advantages: 

• Increased retention rates: According to LinkedIn, employees at companies with high internal mobility rates remain there almost twice as long compared to organizations with lower rates
• Heightened employee engagement: Workers tend to feel more dedicated to their jobs when upward mobility is possible; according to a case study by Deloitte, an internal talent marketplace can improve engagement rates by double digits
• Reduced risk: An existing employee has already adjusted to the culture, understands the business, and has been accepted by coworkers
• Lower costs and time requirements: Internal hiring notices are free and immediate, and they eliminate expenses for headhunters, advertising, and reference checks

And yet, despite the many benefits offered by internal talent mobility, only 24% of employees are hired internally. That’s an improvement from the 20% of 2020 but still has a long way to go. This might be because fewer than half of organizations see internal hiring as their primary source of workers. As a result, we’re seeing “lack of career development and advancement” as the top reason why employees quit.

Upper management and HR should take the time to revamp their thinking toward internal hires instead of reflexively looking outside of the organization. This might require changing some habits, such as establishing and publicizing available positions specifically geared toward current employees. And this first step is only the beginning of creating a culture of internal mobility.

How Did We Get Here?

For many of us, the focus on external hiring is just the way things are. But it wasn’t always like that. Internal recruitment was used for almost every hire until the start of the 1980s. Economic problems during that decade forced a lot of “restructuring”, i.e. layoffs, and that meant a smaller internal talent pool. Add rapid skill turnover and the dependence on headhunting firms, and you get a widespread organizational culture that sees constant external recruitment as normal.   

Talent Mobility Strategy

In light of this, the first step to increase internal mobility is to change organizational culture, and that is up to the HR department. It’s never easy to accomplish such universal challenges. But the advantages of internal hiring listed above are a starting point. Perhaps the figure that we most often hear about the cost of replacing an employee, which is at least half of their annual salary, will make the executive team more open to at least trying to increase internal recruitment.

Adopt Workforce Planning and Analytics Software

Another numbers-based argument to use when discussing internal mobility with organizational leaders will come from the results of workforce analytics (WA). The diagnostic tools of WA software are used for finding the relationship between action and outcome. In the case of internal recruiting, you can use WA diagnostics to track the cost-effectiveness of outside vs. inside hiring. For example, a properly programmed analytics tool will be able to determine if all of the extra costs associated with new hires (recruiting, loss of productivity as the new employee gets up to speed, cost of acquiring needed skills) are offset by their productivity.

WA will also be useful in minimizing employee turnover. A WA program can sift through annual reviews, monthly surveys, and managerial reports to identify workers who are at risk of leaving. By recognizing patterns in behavior (for example, increasing absenteeism) and sentiment (for example, negative comments that they make about their professional development), WA can give HR a heads-up to intervene. Remember that it’s often the most talented employees who have the easiest time finding new work, so keeping them onboard will give you more candidates for upward mobility and leadership development.   

Revise Hiring Practices

If and when your organizational decision-makers agree to more internal talent mobility, it is HR’s turn to think differently. Some of the steps to be taken include:

• Optimize Internal Job Postings. This might sound obvious, but various issues sometimes interfere with getting the word out to employees about current openings. In some companies, if a manager sees a posting that will clearly attract one of their workers, they might take steps to prevent those employees from leaving. In these situations, the input of senior leaders is essential to make sure this does not happen. The company must also commit to developing a user-friendly job portal that shows a clear application process. This does not always occur; according to this survey, about half of employees are unaware of internal recruiting opportunities in their organization.
• Stop Issuing Phantom Job Notices. For those not familiar with the practice, phantom job postings are those for jobs that don’t exist or that have already been filled. The goal of this practice is often to collect resumes for future use or to start a recruiting relationship with an exceptional candidate. In any case, phantom job postings add more outsiders to your candidate list. And, when the posting is left up after someone is hired, it makes it look like you are not satisfied with the employee who is currently in that role.
• Create Notices with Realistic Requirements. If you’ve ever seen a job posting with about 15 lines of requirements, that may be because of applicant-tracking software. It is used to approve resumes that “check all the boxes” instead of making an actual person go through hundreds of pages to find the right candidate. Lengthy requirements might make sense when you are posting something seen by thousands of applicants, but within a company, such a search is unrealistic. Instead, you should ensure that the qualities listed in a posting accurately reflect the basic experience and skills needed for the job.  

Obtain Support from Direct Managers

Informed companies use direct managers for various HR-related tasks. As the person most closely connected to an organization’s workers, direct managers are often involved, for instance, in helping workers build career paths or arranging for their participation in continuous learning programs. Making them part of internal mobility programs is a natural extension of such responsibilities. Direct managers should be made aware of openings, help employees understand what is involved in applying, and explain what the role demands of them. However, because managers don’t want their talented employees to leave them empty-handed, it is essential to make succession planning an aspect of internal recruiting efforts.    

Ensure that Employees have the Right Skills

Moving up in a company is not much use to anyone if the employee does not have the skills to match the position. The failure of new hires is a common occurrence. For instance, about 35% of executive leaders hired internally fail (and this rate goes up to 47% for external hires). There are many factors behind these figures, but a lack of skills is usually a major issue. Alternately, when an organization trains an employee to have the right abilities for the job, various benefits can be had. This includes (compared to companies with only basic L&D initiatives) a 7% greater chance of promotion to a management position and a 23% greater chance of internal mobility.

Upskilling and Reskilling for Internal Talent Mobility Programs 

It’s not only HR that needs to focus on the skills that enable internal mobility. In order to take advantage of such opportunities, employees need to adjust their mindset as well. This goes beyond checking the internal job board on a regular basis. To move up, workers must invest time and effort in obtaining the leadership skills that are required for advancement. This might require upskilling, reskilling, or both, depending on the position and time frame in question. Overall, internal mobility greatly depends on employee development programs that allow workers to grow and gain the new skills necessary for these positions. 

To promote internal talent mobility, HR teams need to analyze a few elements:

• Current and upcoming vacancies due to growth, promotions, and separations (based on a skills gap analysis)
• Skill requirements for these positions
• Current employees who may be suited for these roles and what career development, if any, they would need 

Once the company matches vacancies/employee skills to candidates, relevant L&D programs can get underway. Creating a culture of internal mobility also means that employers provide access to other resources for training programs. These could include:

• A knowledge-sharing facility to act as a forum for questions and advice related to job postings
•  Internal mentors who are available to advise employees and give them practical experience in their targeted role
• Open houses or similar company events to increase awareness of internal mobility programs or positions

Companies with Internal Mobility Programs – Successful Examples

As can be seen below, a variety of major organizations have developed innovative programs that incorporate many of the aspects of an effective talent mobility strategy. 

• United Airlines created a talent development program by issuing thousands of mobile devices. The primary aim of the technology is to enable employees to provide customer service from any location. However, United Airlines analyzes data from the devices to identify top performers so that they can be spotlighted for internal moves within the company. It is interesting to note that United Airlines links its talent acquisition program with succession planning, which demonstrates that the company understands the importance of managerial concerns when it comes to internal mobility.
• Hitachi has long understood the importance of internal talent management. But, with approximately 270,000 employees, it had difficulty implementing reporting tools and performance tracking. To resolve the issue, Hitachi founded an extensive range of learning programs according to its numerous subsidiaries. For example, employees at Hitachi Vantara (data infrastructure) have access to three learning platforms. Hitachi University is a learning management system for customized L&D; Percipio is a skills training platform; and goFluent enables language learning. Through a variety of such learning and development programs, Hitachi can prepare existing employees to handle future challenges and move their way up in the corporation.  
• NBCUniversal has designed its internal mobility program in a way that avoids resistance from managers to allowing their best employees to move up. Their careers website provides a direct connection between internal recruiters and people searching for work at this leading media and entertainment company. Both new job searchers and existing employees can find opportunities for specific positions, training programs, and internships. Through the portal, employees can also look for jobs at NBC subsidiaries including Comcast and Sky.     

Internal Talent Mobility Strategy by Growthspace

Even companies that understand the value of internal mobility can get overwhelmed by the intricacies involved, especially when they employ hundreds or even thousands of people. Growthspace, with its talent development solution, resolves that challenge. Growthspace makes it easy for organizations to scale upskilling programs that are supported by the world’s top experts for employee growth and the enhancement of hard and soft skills.