Making the case for career mobility

Recent months have completely rewritten the HR handbook, especially when it comes to talent. Mobilizing people into new industries and roles is fast becoming the norm as we come to grips with the events of 2020.

Career mobility, in particular, came to the fore as a way to build greater agility and resilience into the workforce. Shifting travel workers into health-care roles and redeploying retail teams to customer care are two great examples of mobility in action.

More cases will follow as businesses survive in a drastically different environment and grapple with the economic crunch ahead. Travel and hospitality have been decimated, and many countries are facing rising unemployment figures. Retaining staff in new roles that offer fresh career opportunities can be the silver bullet needed to keep businesses running and prevent layoffs.

How career mobility works

At its core, career mobility works to direct talent to work on high-demand or high-value projects, gigs and roles, when demand falls in their current business area — based on their skills, experience and career goals. It builds greater agility in a workforce as people become used to shifting between projects and roles as needed.

It can also supercharge career growth, as people move laterally as well as vertically through promotions and build new skills and understanding of other business areas. This better prepares them for a sudden, strategic pivot, new product or entrance into a new market.

At the height of the crisis, this could be seen in action at Toronto-based TD Bank, which redeployed more than 2,000 front-of-house staff into customer support roles when its retail banks were temporarily closed. During this time, the customer support function was under greater pressure with customers phoning to change their loan, credit card and mortgage payments.

Likewise, in Ontario, school employees (while schools were closed) were able to voluntarily move into care settings to alleviate staffing shortages. Custodial and maintenance workers were able to transfer their skills to assist hospitals, long-term care homes, shelters and retirement homes.

Wider afield, Virgin Atlantic struck a deal with the United Kingdom’s National Health Service (NHS) to redeploy grounded cabin crew as health-care assistants. Again, their skills in first aid, remaining calm under pressure and working long hours through the night were all invaluable to the health-care service.

Therein lies the crux with career mobility — it all hinges on skills. When you have the right skills data and visibility over all skills in your workforce, mobilizing people to where they’re needed most becomes easier. A 2018 McKinsey & Company study found that organizations are 7.4 times more likely to report rapid talent redeployment when taking a skill-based approach.

It also must be people-centric. Careers are, after all, very personal things. To reap all the benefits of career mobility, everyone must be involved and engaged with the program. You’ll need to find a balance between what the business needs, what interests each worker and their individual career goals.

The pandemic highlighted a critical need for greater responsiveness across all business operations — the workforce included. In just a few months, the business case for investing in career mobility grew stronger as leaders recognized that workforce agility would help them survive and thrive. Indeed, 84 per cent of respondents see agility as “very” or “extremely” important to their organization’s future success, according to a 2020 survey by Aon of 2,004 HR leaders and professionals globally.

Yet, there are other benefits to put to your leadership team:

Futureproofing: Taking a more mobile approach to a workforce also gives it a degree of futureproofing, as it can readily respond to incoming changes or sudden events. If people are cross-skilled and have experience in different departments, they can shift into new roles and teams if their existing position is no longer needed (or is automated).

Plus, there will be jobs that exist one to five years from now that haven’t been considered. It’s estimated that two-thirds of children entering primary school today will work in positions that are not yet on our radar. It’s difficult to upskill someone to be ready for a role that cannot be described, but if they have a range of skills and experiences, that will make it easier for them to adapt to a new position as it appears.

Building new skills and under-standing: Workers don’t just have to be mobilized into new permanent positions, they can also take on temporary roles and stretch assignments. This leads to another benefit — by working with different people and in different teams, workers are exposed to new experiences and develop an understanding of how other areas of the business work. This can broaden their thinking and skills.

It’s a tactic used by Mars, Inc. to develop employees who can contribute with more depth.

As Kerry Grigg, global university recruitment and early talent pipeline development director, explained in a 2016 Forbes article: “The best way to accelerate the development of our associates’ perspective and learning agility is to experience rotations in stretching and real roles across a range of functions.”

Improved skills utilization: Canadian workers are now better educated than at any other point in history with 58 per cent holding a tertiary qualification, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. How-ever, many feel unable to use all their skills at work. They are limited by a shortage of work opportunities that effectively use their skills and this is hindering their personal growth as well as the economy and individual businesses.

Improving skills utilization will help businesses recover from the 2020 crisis. Furthermore, with many companies implementing hiring freezes, more must be done to make the most of every existing worker. There also is a knock-on effect on productivity because if every worker is doing their best work and reaching their full potential, their output and quality will increase, too.

Shareholder returns and market performance: Companies with effective talent management are six times more likely to report higher shareholder returns compared to their less effective peers, according to McKinsey & Company. Reallocating talent as strategic priorities rise and fall leads to a 1.4-times greater likelihood of outperforming competitors. This is likely linked to the productivity and skills utilization gains already discussed.

A more attractive employer brand: If employees feel as though their time at their employer will be fleeting, especially given today’s job uncertainty, then they are likely to leave for the next safe harbour. The same applies if employees feel undervalued and if their career growth is hindered. This rings particularly true for younger workers, with 87 per cent of millennials ranking “professional or career growth and development opportunities” as important to them in a job, according to a 2016 survey by Gallup.

Offering work opportunities through career mobility — in the form of secondments, stretch assignment or new positions — will improve retention and help an employer brand stand out in the market.

Given the many changes that have happened to the workforce in 2020, now is an opportune time to explore career mobility options. Improving career mobility will impact all parts of an organization, from finances and operations to futureproofing and brand. It offers a win-win for everyone — providing people with greater job security, upskilling opportunities and career growth, as well as providing your organization with the adaptability needed to navigate the coming months.   

Chris Milligan is vice president of career mobility at Degreed in London, U.K. For more information, visit www.degreed.uk.