The importance of internal mobility - The ABC way

Upskilling personally and professionally is now a norm every institution expects from its employees. It isn’t only to ensure employees are aware of the latest practices but also to unlock their potential. It helps teams collaborate, even when they do not belong to the same domain. Companies use internal movement to ensure more efficiency and effectiveness. The term 'internal mobility' describes the movement of talent between roles, functions and even businesses – vertically and laterally. A vertical move could have an employee transition from Vice President to President. A lateral move, on the other hand, refers to an employee moving to another position at the same level of seniority.

Internal mobility often includes promotions, mentorships, cross-team projects, job shadowing, job swaps, etc., aiming at professional development of employees. A core value that drives every individual at ABC is seamlessness. We define seamlessness as ‘the ability to think and work together across functional silos, hierarchies, businesses and geographies by leveraging the available diversity to garner synergy benefits and promote oneness through sharing and collaborative efforts.’ To ensure that this value is “lived” by our employees, we have integrated it into our business and people systems and practices. Click Here to explore open opportunities at Aditya Birla Capital.

Internal mobility enables employee autonomy by creating a shift from what an employee ‘should do’ in a role to what they ‘can’ or ‘wish’ to do. This autonomy helps them adopt a more hands-on approach in their career development by providing greater flexibility in the nature or type of work they do, and the work they’re exposed to enabling them to find new ways to develop unique or niche skills while building on existing skill sets. Through our internal mobility endeavours, we contribute to the short and long-term professional goals of our employees by giving them a chance to engage in different experiences, advance in their careers, and add additional skills to their repertoire.

At ABC, we appreciate the skills our employees have gained over the years and try to help them apply their expertise to other areas in the organisation. For us, mobility isn’t just a formalised program, as is apparent from numerous employee career stories. Identifying strengths and opportunities has enabled our leaders to empower people with varied options across the ABC Group. With numerous businesses under the ABC umbrella, there is also infinite potential for our people to express their interests, volunteer for a change in job role or even communicate the desire to explore a completely different vertical.

This practice saves time and money on training and onboarding efforts while also allowing the employees to grow in their careers. We understand that upward mobility is an essential contributor to employee satisfaction, engagement, retention and productivity.

The responsibility of promoting and retaining talent within the organisation has enabled ABC to foster a diverse and inclusive workforce. In fact, the internal movement has been effective in leveraging in-house talent. It reduces turnover and also ensures that employees do not experience stagnation at any point.

The Great Resignation has proved that employees need to be valued. They are also extremely valuable for an organisation to continue functioning smoothly. Organisations must employ a multifaceted approach to talent acquisition and retention. Adding an internal mobility strategy and complementing it with a culture that respects growth and evolution, will help organisations in building a lasting and resilient workforce.