2024 Internal Mobility Trends

Importance of Internal Mobility

This HR Digest article points to Internal Mobility in HR Management as a top priority for 2024.

With all the talk around employee retention, one component that is often underestimated is the importance of internal mobility in HRM.

A Deloitte survey found that more than 50 percent of respondents found it easier to find a new job outside of their organization as compared to new roles within their company.

This TrackFive blog identifies a recruitment trend of internal mobility this year.? Increased emphasis will be placed on employee development programs, succession planning, competitive compensation, and transparent communication about internal opportunities. With knowledge of the company culture and processes, internally promoted employees often have shorter ramp-up times. Robust internal mobility programs can help avoid talent shortages.

Gartner’s HR priorities for 2024 also include No. 5 career management and internal mobility.? They find that 86% of HR leaders believe career paths at their organizations are unclear for many employees. Existing career maps don’t meet business requirements or employe expectations. Adaptive career paths need to be designed that align with business needs as well as employee’s larger goals, interests, and skills.

Employee Experience and Internal Mobility

In Mercer’s 2024 Global Talent Trends study, employee experience emerged as top of mind.? This year, set your priorities based on what employees really care about and what truly will make a difference. One of those is career management and internal mobility. Another employee concern is equity, not just in pay but in opportunity.

Changes in Traditional Career Paths

This HBR article highlights Gartner research that identified nine trends that will shape work in 2024.

Leaders who proactively develop explicit business and talent strategies to navigate these trends will give their organizations a competitive advantage in both talent outcomes and achieving the organization’s strategic goals.

The ninth trend predicts traditional stereotypes of career paths will collapse in the face of workforce change. In the past, employees would rise and retire at the peak of their career. Pew research found that 19% of Americans aged 65 or older worked in 2023, almost twice as many as 35 years ago. Organizations must adapt to these changes in three key ways:

• Make it easier for talent to stay at or return to the organization.
• Take advantage of expertise where it exists, regardless of tenure.
• Prepare for imminent retirement of many experienced workers.

More employers are breaking with the stereotype of career continuity by offering job sharing, gig work, or reduced hours to provide greater flexibility. Some organizations are enabling younger employees to take on roles based upon their expertise or niche aptitude. Other companies are creating shadowing opportunities so that more experienced workers could help early and mid-career colleagues develop expertise.

Retention and Turnover

In this SHRM article on 2024 trends, employee retention will be a top priority for 2024 given the expected slowdown in hiring. ?Karel van der Mandele, SVP for North America at Right Management says:

We’ve seen layoffs increase and outplacement services being used again, and we expect that to continue for the near future. That’s not to say that the talent shortage is no longer here and that there isn’t room for companies to focus on internal mobility.

Simon Wright, global head of People Scout says that this year, employers will shift from building external talent pools to internal talent, and putting methods in place to identify transferrable skills that can be boosted to support business transformation.

This Talkspirit blog also highlights Gartner’s 2024 HR trends. To retain employees, take recommend these steps:

• Stick to consistent career management processes.
• Document these processes in a knowledge base.
• Develop career plans that all employees can access with examples.
• Create experience-based roles that enable employees to broaden and strengthen their skills.
• Map all these roles and associated responsibilities.

Fear of Obsolescence and Internal Mobility

According to this Forbes article , one of the top ten 2024 HR trends is that the fear of obsolescence will force companies to increase spending in career development and mobility.? For example, PWC announced a $1 billion investment in training its workers on AI with courses on ethics, responsible use and how to create prompts for best results. Their goal is to engage 75,000 US employees to enroll and complete these courses.

In addition, companies are deploying new internal marketplaces as they continue to find it difficult to successfully recruit externally. Grow at Keys is KeyBank’s AI powered employe-led and manager supported talent platform to drive internal talent mobility. This program offers matching employees to new job roles, coaching, mentoring and stretch assignments. As result, 60% more employees have engaged in training programs and one in three employees have enrolled in an Investing in My Development session.

Upskilling, Reskilling and Internal Mobility

In this Medium article on 2024 trends, upskilling and reskilling initiatives will take center stage.? Organizations are embracing a skills-based approach to ensure employees have the competencies vital for success. This shift will help eliminate bias and place at least an equal focus on internal talent mobility vs. external hires.

Talent Insights' blog on this year’s trends also includes upskilling and reskilling given the rapid pace of technological advancement driving continuously evolving roles. This means HR managers are prioritizing training programs that help employees acquire new skills to remain relevant and competitive.

One of Nestor’s top ten trends also sees upskilling, reskilling, and internal mobility as answers to talent shortages. In this blog, they highlight Paul Falcone, bestselling author, and international keynote speaker:

One of the changes we’re going to see looking forward is going to be about talent development and how you get the most out of your own employees because you won’t be able to necessarily rely on constantly going external to find new talent.?

Nestorup also references this Coursera report , “over 60% of workers will need retraining by 2027, but only 50% have access”. As result there will be an increase in:

• Becoming aware of skills within a company and their evolution over time (i.e., skills management).
• Providing a wider range of internal development opportunities that align with both business objectives and employee ambitions.
• Embracing non-linear career paths with more flexible promotional opportunities such as lateral and cross-development moves.

This ADP article highlights an alternative for talent professionals to shift away from identifying the perfect skills match to identifying transferrable skills.? While this requires a new approach to evaluation, it may unlock access to candidates that have been previously overlooked.

Job Rotations and Internal Mobility

In Dayforce’s 2024 HR trends they highlight their 2023 Pulse of Talent survey in which 49% of respondents say they want to contribute skills to new projects from their current role. ?Another 43% said they were interested in moving into a new role in a different department or team. Over one third (35%) said they would like to change career paths within their company.

Thinking of trends, they believe internal mobility will be a top concern for employees. Companies can offer opportunities for vertical promotions and horizontal career explorations. Job rotations can be a tool to both satisfy employee career interests and build cross-functional resiliency with an organization.

The Talent Conundrum

This MSN article focuses on the talent conundrum where managers are tempted to hold on to their best employees, while this hurts the entire company by stunting internal mobility.? According to a recent paper by researchers at Cornell and Pennsylvania State University, managers who promoted members of their team at a higher rate the year prior to posting a job received an 8.91% increase in total internal applications. They also received an 11.58% increase in applications from high-performing employees.

Most managers think it benefits them to hold on to their best talent. We actually show that it benefits them to let go. When you open up opportunities for people to find different jobs in the organization, it’s super beneficial to the company, because then people move around to where their skills are the most valuable. JR Keller, co-author

Leaders should also ensure people managers understand that supporting their subordinates’ career growth is a key responsibility of their role, in addition to hitting metrics each month. Unless you get people managers on board, employees are not going to deliver the level of value they could.

Culture That Values Internal Mobility

In the SHRM article referenced above, internal mobility is expected to get a big boost from talent marketplace skills-based technology.? Van der Mandele, quoted earlier, warned that these marketplaces will only function well inside a culture that values internal mobility.

Our experience is that internal mobility is an outcome, not a tool. Technology is at best an enabler. Organizations have to be willing to invest in talent, through coaching and development programs, in order to ensure that the talent can grow and succeed. Career development coaching, both for employees and for managers, can then help that talent to navigate their way through the organization to land in the roles that fit them best.

Adoption and Internal Mobility

What internal career mobility trends do you see your organization adopting for 2024? Please share in the comments section below.