Introduction to Job Rotation Process
The job rotation process is good for both the company as well as the employees of the company. This trick of the HR team of an organization has a number of benefits for both the company and the employees. Let us start with understanding the Job Rotation Process and what is it exactly. Only if the base of the understanding is clear will we be able to explain its advantages.
Some people say that it is a way of developing employee skills; that is developing employee skills in every field, some say it is a recruitment method that is cheap for the HR team, and the company and some people also say that it is a way of giving change to the employee’s routine jobs.
A job rotation program is a technique that the HR team of the company planned to move employees between jobs in a planned manner. The main reasons behind this operation are exposure to different experiences to employees and giving them an option of enhancing skills to improve their job satisfaction levels. It is one of the best cross-training strategies of the HR team and the organization.
It is a method used for the development of the organisation’s employees; a variety of changing jobs give them the opportunity to develop their skills in the different types of jobs allocated to them. In a job rotation program, the employees usually make lateral moves; however, this rotation is sometimes due to a promotion.
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Types of Job Rotation Process Used
Following below are some of the types used.
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To rotate task
Task rotation is usually for employees who are too tied up in jobs that are either too mentally stressful or too physically demanding. The Human Resources team of organizations then switch their jobs from a high demanding job either physically or mentally to a lesser demanding job where the employees get a break from the routine work.
Let’s take an example here, in production or manufacturing companies their workers work in a monotonous for continuous 8 to 10 hours; this is very stressful full for their jobs involve to much physical stress where they are doing the same job on a day to day bases for some 8 to 10 hrs its becomes very monotonous and also very irritating. In order to get their employees a break, the management shifts them to less stressful jobs. This helps them to keep their employees happy also by retaining them.
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To Rotate Position
Rotation of position is changing the employee’s designation, department, or geographical location to give them more exposure to various skills, knowledge, and other perspectives. Positional notation is divided into within function rotation and cross-function rotation. Within the function, the rotation is where the employees are rotated amongst two jobs with similar responsibilities with the same areas of function and operation. Cross function rotation is usually concerning the position with the increasing level and responsibilities of the job or a promotion.
The example here for within function rotation can be an employee working on a junior designation is rotated to another junior designation in the same department with similar responsibilities; however to give him more exposure to learning new things and be used to more used to the processes and jobs in the same department. However, cross-function rotation can be promoting an experienced senior executive to a manager instead of recruiting someone from the market.
Why Use Job Rotation Process?
Let us know the reason why we use the job rotation process.
- A job rotation program sets a career path for an employee when there are no promotions available or does not want one.
- The employee gains a lot of knowledge with the help of a job rotation program as he learns a new job and its processes.
- The employees develop various essential skills to become an all-rounder in any team before getting promoted to a senior or a manager.
- The job rotation program gives the employees different responsibilities with a lot of new learning along with the responsibilities.
- It helps the employees come out of boredom and dissatisfaction with jobs as they are learning something new that will be productive for them and the company both.
- It gives the employees new opportunities for expanding their knowledge and skills. The employees get new accomplishments, new reach in their careers, and a better impact on their careers. All this potentially impacts and influences both the employee and different aspects of the organization.
- It teaches and shows the employees the working of different departments; this creates a better understanding of the working of an organization.
- It is a strategy of managing a company to give a complete understanding of the processes and departments to promote an employee.
- Internal job postings and internal promotions keep staff and employees motivated and gave them the best they deserve.
- It also gives an employee a chance of interacting with other employees of the organization; this creates and maintains unity amongst employees.
Why and how is Job rotation process a useful recruitment method?
Let us understand why the recruitment team should use the job rotation process as one of their key methods for retaining and keeping their employees interested in their jobs.
1. Job rotation process and exploring talents
Of course, unless someone does the job, you have no clue that they can do it much better than the employees doing it regularly. Job rotation is one way of exploring the talents of employees of an organization. In fact, to be precise, a number of times, even the employees have no clue that they can do a job well, much better than their colleagues. This exercise uncovers the hidden talent of the employees for both the employee and the management.
2. Job rotation process and backup
An employee who is well trained in all aspects and all departments of the organization serves as one of the assets of the company who can perform any job when required. Job rotations give employees the ability and the opportunity to learn new jobs; it enhances the skills and knowledge of the employee and gives emergency back up to the company. In the case of short staff in a department, other employees from another department can also cover up for the shortage. This helps both the company and the employee.
3. It creates motivation
When new challenges surround an employee, he is motivated to accept these challenges and tries his best to do better. A monotonous job does not really have challenges to face and win over. Any new job will have many challenges that will motivate the employee to prove himself and try to serve better. Job rotation gives the employees motivation to prove themselves better than the rest and an employee capable of taking up and learning any task allotted to them. This activity gives and creates a lot of motivation amongst employees.
4. It increases employee knowledge and skills
Improving employee knowledge that is more than the bookish knowledge gives the employees more practical knowledge of a job, a task, a designation, etc. It is extremely important to gain as much knowledge as possible in order to grow. An employee who really wants to grow in life will never say ‘NO’ to learning. Job rotation is one way of giving the employees the knowledge that they desire. Knowledge can convert into skills only after practicing it. Regular practice of different jobs is the best way of enhancing your skills and specializing in them.
5. It takes the employees of the routine
A very routine job is extremely monotonous, and it makes the employee feel disinterested in his work which is definitely not good for both the employee and the company. The employee needs to be interested in his job in order to serve the company better. When an employee is taken out of the monotonous routine to put into a new and a little less stressful job, it gives the employee a break. This routine break is very useful for employees working in a production or a manufacturing company where the same job is repeated over and over for days, weeks, months and years.
6. It helps to understand different departments
An employee working in one department has no idea how does the other department functions, which are why there are inter-department disputes in an organization. Instead of accusing each department, we need to switch their roles in order to develop a better understanding between departments. This activity of job rotation is a unique exercise to create the required understanding amongst departments.
7. It helps promotions
Once an employee has the know-how and his skills of all departments are fine enough, he is ready for the next level. The management knows and recognizes talent, which is why they decide to give the deserving employee the knowledge and enhance his skills in all aspects of the organization in order to promote him to the next level.
8. It increases interactions between teams
When all the employees work with almost all the departments, they definitely have different sets of colleagues they interact with different jobs that they perform. Interaction improves connection and bonding between employees; this creates unity and also teamwork. It is very important to have good interaction between teams, departments, and employees of the company. Job rotation makes this task simple.
9. Job rotation process and promotions
When there are promotions in an organization, the employees are assured that if they perform well, they will be promoted and recognized for their job and efforts. A promotion not only adds new challenges to a single employee who is promoted, but it also gives motivation to the other employees for performing better and doing well. Instead of hiring employees from other companies and the market, it is much better and well-advised to promote internal staff as a part of a job rotation program.
10. Job rotation process is happiness
If a job rotation is planned very carefully and smartly, it is the best way of keeping the employees happy. Knowing that the employees who are the most important and unpredictable resource of the company, it is extremely important to keep them happy and content. If your employees learn different tasks, polish themselves with different skills, and are recognized for their efforts, they will definitely be happy and serve the company well. Obviously, happy employees are the best way to keep the performance of the company and the organization going well.
How to get Job Rotation right?
The jobs need to be rotated well and very smartly lets us look at some simple steps in the notes below to get this rotation task right.
- Plan job rotation program very carefully as the knowledge and the skills need to be passed on to the employees step by step to help them understand the process of job rotation better.
- The employees should be given an idea about the rotation process and the reason behind it, and also, they should be able to analyze that the process is achieving its goal.
- The employees and the organization both need to benefit from the job rotation program. Arrange the rotation in such a way that both benefit out of the job rotation.
- Have an internal trainer or an external trainer in place who can monitor and plan every step of a job rotation program.
- Have the job rotation program documented for both the employee as well as the company. It should involve different aspects of each job and how it works out in favor of the employee.
- Take consent of the employee for a job rotation program task, for if the employee does not find the task benefiting him, he will not be seriously interested in taking up the responsibility. Enforcing the job can be losing the employee or creating disinterest amongst employees towards their job.
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This has been a guide to the job rotation process. Here we have discussed the basic concept, types, use, why is it a useful recruitment method, how to get job rotation, respectively. You may look at the following articles to learn more –
