4 Ways Talent Mobility Will Solve Your Biggest Workforce Challenges

The most successful organizations are defined by inertia: Not only do the organizational leaders constantly strive to move forward and reach higher, but they encourage employees to follow suit—and provide them with opportunities to do so.

When it comes to talent strategy, the philosophy of constantly trying to improve and grow is captured in the idea of "talent mobility." We often talk about talent management, but the truth is, "management" will only get you so far. Getting the most out of your people—while keeping them engaged and committed—requires not just management, but mobility.

Talent mobility enables your employees to move up and through the organization, learning, improving, and often contributing to multiple aspects of the business. By creating an organizational culture and structure fit for mobility, you'll be able to place employees in roles where they can thrive (and, subsequently, help your business thrive). In fact, according to research by the Human Capital Institute and Lee Hecht Harrison, 81 percent of organizations that are committed talent mobilizers report on or above target revenue growth compared to 68 percent of other organizations.

In our latest whitepaper, "Talent Mobility: Taking Your Workforce from Static to Strategic," we explore the challenges of a static workforce and how talent mobility can enable both your people and your business to reach achieve potential faster. Here, a look at four ways talent mobility can benefit your organization:

As the war for talent intensifies, organizations are looking within their own walls to source top employees, saving both time and money. Not only do current employees already understand an organization's culture and mission, but they're often more productive in less time. In a study conducted by HCI and Oracle, 60 percent employers said workers who were promoted into jobs performed significantly better than employees hired externally into similar positions.

With older workers retiring and younger workers flooding the workforce, organizations are facing a dearth of experienced leaders. According to the Global Human Capital Trends 2015 report, while 53 percent of younger workers want to take on leadership roles, only 6 percent of organizations have strong leadership programs in place.

Talent mobility helps organizations develop a robust leadership pipeline in a more proactive way by increasing visibility and insight. The aggregation of data from learning, performance and succession activities can be used to identify known and hidden leadership candidates and assess the best way to fulfill the employee's career aspirations while benefiting the organization.

It's no secret that organizations with a strong culture of meaningful work and deep engagement retain more talent and see higher profits. However, current engagement discussions only skim the surface of what's necessary to keep employees motivated; employees need ongoing potential for new challenges, learning and frequent moves to build skills and create connections. With a talent mobility strategy, organizations gain deep insight into how best to use employee capabilities, as well as where to use them and for how long.

No longer the department focused on benefits and compliance, HR is becoming a powerhouse tasked with initiating and managing strategies to attract, develop, and retain talent. Yet HR is still not given top billing when it comes to the tools and technology needed to function as a truly agile, strategic, data-driven department. Talent mobility can support HR in achieving the resources it needs, by more efficiently aligning talent data with business strategy.

Want to learn more about how your organization can implement and benefit from talent mobility? Check out our whitepaper, "Talent Mobility: Taking Your Workforce from Static to Strategic."