U.S. labor market trends, as reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), show that the employee quits-to-layoff ratio has significantly risen over the last 8 years, soaring higher than prerecession levels. This emerging trend in data goes to show that workers are confident in their ability to find another job. It also proves that it’s never been more critical for organizations to find new, compelling reasons for high-performing talent to stick around.
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Could redeployment be a plausible solution to solving the retention problem? RiseSmart defines redeployment as a solution that facilitates the organized movement of talent from one role or business area to a different, suitable position within the organization.
This kind of talent mobility is becoming more popular as companies search for ways to retain their most valuable employees, retain institutional knowledge, lower employee churn, and enhance employer brand. But to truly understand when and why redeployment can be a successful strategy for companies looking to retain talent, we must first take a wider look at the emerging trends among talented employees and what’s causing them to leave in the first place.
A New Era of Work
Job-hopping, despite popular belief, is not just a Millennial thing. The BLS data shows that Baby Boomers did just as much hopping around in their 20s as today’s young workers. The conclusion: Everyone is prone to job-hopping. The lingering question: Why?
As Forbes reported, workers are willing to take pay cuts for the right job, “especially if there is a mismatch or lack of positive work culture” in their current position. Today’s workers are also more driven by environmental and social consciousness factors, and they want their company’s values and mission to match their own. They are thinking about their role as global citizens, and they view their work as an opportunity to make an impact on the world.
In addition, access to professional development or career growth opportunities is critical to employee retention, studies show. In one national survey of over 400 employees spanning three generations, 70% of respondents said job-related training and development opportunities directly influenced their decision to stay at their jobs.
Interestingly, Millennials had the highest response of any generation, with 87% of survey respondents stating opportunities for development were very impactful to their decision to stay or go. A research project by U.K.-based Middlesex University of Work Based Learning uncovered data from a 4,300 worker sample to find 74% of workers feel they aren’t achieving their full potential at work due to a lack of developmental opportunities.
Employees—generational differences aside—want to grow, learn, and advance their professional and personal skills and knowledge. Fortunately, when employees embrace educational and learning opportunities, it’s a win-win: growth for them and a more adept workforce for employers.
At the same time, employers are under a rising amount of pressure to remain agile, innovate quickly, and compete for talented workers. When employees stick around because they feel like they have all the opportunities they need to advance in their professional trajectories, organizations benefit.
Is Redeployment the Missing Link?
When implemented correctly, redeployment can meet the employees’ demand for developmental opportunities and upward career trajectory while also keeping organizations agile and competitive. Redeployment is a successful talent retention strategy when the employer and workers are aligned on goals.
At different points in their lives, employees will have different goals, and every employee’s goals will be specific to unique life circumstances and personal preferences. For instance, one employee might want to reduce the work week to attend to family obligations. A different employee might have a passion for working closely with people and wants to pursue a managerial position for the first time.
Redeployment, or talent mobility within an organization, can often be the answer to these life and career changes that individuals go through. Allowing for mobility within the workplace can keep employees engaged by aligning their personal and professional goals. For organizations, the goal of any HR strategy is to cultivate a community of employees who want to come to work on Monday.
Besides employee satisfaction, redeployment can help significantly reduce costs. The price tag on recruiting, hiring, and onboarding a new employee can be as high as $240,000, says Jörgen Sundberg, CEO of Link Humans. When you keep employees inside your walls, even if extra training is required to reskill them, you can eliminate the costs associated with finding, hiring, and onboarding new team members. Although reskilling might take a little time, you’ll benefit from retaining the person with contextual and historical knowledge about your culture, team, and history.
Depending on the size of your company, recruiting and training new employees can take a toll on agility. McKinsey found that companies with both agility and stability have a 70% chance of being ranked in the top quartile of organizational health.
In layman’s terms, this means the most stable and agile companies—the ones with an ability to properly readjust their resources quickly—make more money and are more successful in the long run. If you consider people as your most valuable resource, as most companies do, your ability to readjust their focus and skill set will serve you well, and a well-executed redeployment strategy might just be the missing link between satisfied employees and the businesses that employ them.
In part two of this article, we’ll look at the seven steps needed to implement a redeployment strategy in your company.
 Kimberly Schneiderman is a Senior Practice Development Manager with RiseSmart, Inc. where she creates and manages RiseSmart’s coach and client-facing programs, training, and support materials. Prior to RiseSmart, Schneiderman built a specialty coaching practice working with senior officers in law enforcement. She has authored numerous career-related book chapters, articles, and videos, and has appeared on news and radio programs as a subject matter expert. Schneiderman is also the Certification Committee Chair with the National Resume Writers’ Association. |