The Employee Handbook

A monthly newsletter about current challenges and conversations for values-driven HR professionals

Top Tips for Boosting Internal Mobility and Career Development

Developing talent from within a company’s ranks simply makes a lot of sense. The perks? Higher productivity since motivated employees hit their goals, cost and time savings from less recruitment and onboarding, and happier workers who feel appreciated.?

But as with any corporate practice, execution matters. At From Day One’s Manhattan conference , a panel of leaders shared the thoughtful and effective ways their organizations are promoting internal mobility. Here are some of their top tips.

Efforts should be comprehensive; try a top-down or bottom-up approach.

At Visa , the message that career development is a priority comes from the very top, says Melissa Fridman, head of people and global merchant sales and acquiring at Visa, North America. Visa’s CEO blocks off a few days each year to discuss talent across the company. “And everybody knows that, so in advance, all the businesses are spending time with their HR partners and their leadership teams talking about talent,” said Fridman.?

Meanwhile, over a decade ago, leaders at Penguin Random House implemented a growth program that “infiltrated our personal development conversations and put the power back in the hands of the employee,” said Joanne Mallia-Barsati, VP of global talent management and development.

Craft a clever internal career page.

A company that’s serious about career development often demonstrates its commitment with an internal career page that’s as polished as its external site, says Marcus Strang, lead solutions engineer at Clinch . So, go ahead and get inventive!?

Get specific, and know your employee population.?

When you have a large frontline workforce, career development and mobility can be a whole different story. Verizon created a program called Journey Forward to support these workers, Brent Vader, VP of HR shared. “It encompasses everything that we’ve talked about–whether it's finding a network, making sure you have a sponsor, or understanding the right skills and experiences necessary to qualify you for that next role,” he said.

Read more about boosting internal mobility here , or watch the session recording here. ?

Retention is the New Recruiting

The possibilities and potential of internal mobility are seemingly endless–and the good news is that there are tools available to help you achieve it. Workday helps match talent to opportunities quickly and efficiently, and according to their data, you could potentially fill 70-75% of job openings with internal candidates.?

“If you haven’t put any love or attention on this, especially when it comes to using automated tools and streamlining the match, there’s a lot of opportunities there to make it much easier for your employees to find great opportunities,” said Phil Willburn, VP of people analytics at Workday during a From Day One webinar. ?

Workday’s commitment to internal mobility is evident in their introduction of gig opportunities, which allow employees to develop new skills and create a pipeline for internal moves. “We’ve seen about 30% of all our roles filled by internal candidates, which is good because we did the research and found that internal hires consistently performed and ramped up faster than external hires,” Willburn said. Read the full story here , or watch the recording here. ?

Join us!

Get ready for a captivating lineup of 60-minute webinars running all summer long! Don’t miss out on these free sessions—join us for insightful discussions on supporting tomorrow’s leaders , getting started with people analytics , using skills data to power development , crafting an inclusive financial wellness program , and more! Register today to listen, learn, and ask questions to subject matter experts.

We’re also hosting a half-day virtual conference on August 7, featuring speakers from McKesson, Akamai, TD Bank, and many more. They’ll be discussing Employee Engagement: Gaining Better Insight Into Worker Needs and Ambitions . We’re offering our newsletter subscribers (that’s you!) complimentary VIP passes with access to the whole day’s activities. Register here. ?

This fall we’ll be back on the road connecting with people at our series of one-day in-person events. Join us in Boston , Philadelphia , Denver , Los Angeles , Austin , Brooklyn , or Miami . Hope to catch you there!