Many buzzwords come and go as trends evolve and change in the business world. However, when these buzzwords actually show long-term results and help a company improve its performance, they become meaningful tactics that are here to stay. One such example is talent mobility. Leaders started glorifying this phrase in meetings; however, it quickly became a must-have strategy for a successful and booming human resources team.

This article will cover the basics of a talent mobility program and emphasize why a company needs to adopt this strategy for efficient growth.

What Is A Talent Mobility Program

PwC reports that 74% of workers are willing to acquire new knowledge and skills in order to improve their future career prospects, while 60% of workers are worried about their future job security in light of advances in technology and artificial intelligence.

The term "talent mobility" refers to the process of transferring individuals to positions where they can contribute most effectively. In a nutshell, it's the method through which you track workers' professional development and use that information to promote them within the firm. The goal is to pinpoint the most qualified candidates for open positions at any given time. Talent mobility may refer to a wide range of situations; thus, it's crucial to keep that in mind while attempting to define the concept.

The most common type of talent mobility programs include the following:

• Vertical Mobility: This is when an employee is promoted between job levels based on their enhanced performance or knowledge.
• Horizontal Mobility: This is when an employee moves to a different job role that is more suited to their skills within the same job level.

In addition, if an organization is sufficiently large, then the company may want to pursue global talent mobility. In this situation, the organization is training its staff to effectively transition from one nation to another, both professionally and personally.

The Importance of Talent Mobility

According to the 2020 LinkedIn Global Talent Trends study, 63% of talent acquisition professionals feel internal recruitment speeds up the hiring process, while 69% believe it increases the productivity of new hires. Consequently, talent mobility is becoming a must for every organization seeking to acquire and retain exceptional people, as well as grow and align your staff with strategic business objectives.

Organizations that prioritize the development of a mobility program are more likely to maximize the talents of their workforce. Companies may concentrate their external hiring efforts on the most specialized and difficult-to-fill roles if they have a flexible staff.

Employees are more inclined to seek employment or remain with a company if there are many prospects for growth. Prospective and present workers place high importance on the opportunity to further their careers and contribute to the success of the firm. Hence, talent mobility has become an extremely important and effective recruitment and employee retention strategy.

Best Practices For Effective Talent Mobility Strategy

To make the most of talent mobility, it’s essential to create an effective strategy. Here are some of the best practices that companies should follow:

Leverage Two Varieties of Talent Mobility

A robust internal mobility program should encompass both mobility components. Role-to-role mobility permits people to switch occupations within an organization to fill vacant positions. Project-based mobility enables individuals to work on several projects without being bound to a certain process or team. Talent mobility best practices should maintain a focus on the individuals that make up your teams and will not disregard their own attitudes towards mobility.

Consider Long-Term Employee Development

Upward talent mobility can impede role-to-role movement to some degree. Employees should have clear avenues for advancing their talents and professional competencies without sacrificing their mobility within the organization. Employees who acquire new skills and promotions should not "graduate" from duties for which they are still needed. Managing this equilibrium might be challenging. Hence, you must take this into consideration while developing your talent mobility program.

Search for Redundancies and Excessive Overlaps

Process mining is a valuable technique for optimizing talent mobility. Process mining will examine what employees perform and how processes really function. Instead of assuming that touchpoints and processes always make sense, process mining examines all timestamps and movements to determine if there are bottlenecks or snags that can be resolved to enhance the process. This can assist in identifying employees who are migrating to locations where they are not genuinely required, wasting significant time with extra touchpoints in the process.

Conclusion

A company’s workforce may be more mobile than the management and HR professionals realize. The finest talent can be within the organization, but companies tend to lack visibility across teams. Talent mobility eliminates barriers between teams and enables the creation of executable strategies for the future development of essential talents.

Being adaptable and nimble requires more than simply an open workplace layout. To flourish in the global market, businesses must utilize technology, external talent funnels, and internal pipelines. HR professionals should proactively identify the capabilities inside their organization, where these skills are located, and how to effectively leverage them to enable the business to thrive in a world that is always changing.