Talent Mobility: Why it Matters to the Future of Your Organization

Talent mobility was identified as a key emerging trend in Deloitte’s 2019 Human Capital Trends Survey and has already been embraced by best-in-class, high performance organizations who understand the value of developing a culture focused on their people. For companies new to talent mobility, it is rapidly becoming a priority for 2019 and beyond.

But what is it and why is it so critical to your organization’s future success?

Defining talent mobility

Talent mobility is the process of developing the skills of your existing employees to enable them to move them into the open jobs within your organization. Employees are actively engaged in plotting their own career development path and setting their own goals in ways which are aligned with their aspirations and personal and professional development. Businesses that embrace talent mobility are more able optimize their organization for long-term growth while aligning with employees’ career goals.

Talent mobility enables your organization to pro-actively address skill gaps

Talent mobility solves critical staffing issues affecting every employer that show no sign of dissipating. A recent study suggests that, through 2029, employers in every state will face significant skills shortages, particularly among employees educated to degree level or higher. That equates to an estimated $1.2 trillion in lost output. Furthermore, 83% of employers are experiencing difficulty in sourcing qualified candidates for their new job openings. Acquisition in isolation is failing to address the skills gaps most organizations face today.

Creating a talent mobility strategy provides an alternative solution as it enables your organization to identify the potential skills already available to you within your existing workforce. The added advantage of those in-house hires of course is that they already understand your organization’s culture and infrastructure.

In our experience, the importance of talent mobility is often overlooked by companies who automatically explore external resources to fill the skills gaps in their workforce. That is backed up by a national survey which found that 70% of employees would leave their current employer if offered a role with an organization that invests in employee learning and development.

The benefits of talent mobility initiatives

Talent mobility enables employers and employees to design an individualized career path which aligns with the company’s goals. This can be achieved through career pathing.

Its multiple benefits include:

• Your employees are empowered to chart their own career development path, encompassing both vertical and lateral opportunities, providing transparency in the options available to them.
• This guided process includes a detailed evaluation of career goals, experience, character traits and the gaps in their existing skillsets.
• Employees who have access to talent mobility initiatives such as career pathing are more engaged and feel more supported by their employer. In addition, employees who feel they have a degree of autonomy over their career development are more motivated.
• Motivated employees seeking to learn new skills don’t necessarily want to leave your organization. According to Deloitte’s report, however, over 50% of employers believe it is easier for their talent to find a job with another company than a promotion within their own. Implementing a talent mobility strategy can expand those internal opportunities and enhance employee retention levels across your business.
• An easy-to-navigate career pathing program enables your company to tap into skills you may not be aware exist, reducing hiring costs. However, only around half of all businesses have any tools to support them in creating a talent mobility strategy. Dedicated career pathing software is the starting point.

While it is still an emerging trend in talent management, talent mobility must become a core strategy for all businesses hoping to pro-actively address the skills gap predicted in the next decade and become a best-in-class organization.

Watch the webinar: Career Pathing and Talent Mobility: Driving Engagement and Performance

Read the white paper: Career Pathing as a Talent Imperative

Ready to see career pathing in action? Request a demo!