What is internal mobility?
Transitions are tough in general, and transitions at work can be especially jarring. Whether employees are starting fresh at the company, moving into a new role, changing locations or leaving, there are a million things they need to prepare for when it comes to internal mobility or movement within the organization. It’s exciting, it’s terrifying and they’re asking for some guidance. We’ve found that having a good onboarding process can help make these transitions easier on the employee, easier on HR and more enjoyable overall. So, let’s show all of our employees some onboarding love. Take a look at our top 3 suggestions for internal mobility.
1. Be present and proactive
Whether you have new employees excited to start their first day, or older employees ready to retire, they need to know that you’re there to support them through the upcoming change. Reach out ahead of time. Give them some encouragement and context as to what they can expect in the coming days.
If you use an automated onboarding system, be sure that you don’t lose the human touch. Add notifications and tasks prompting hiring managers and team members to call, email, text, schedule meetings, or plan lunches, coffee dates, dinners, or happy hours. Introduce new employees and existing employees to their mentors, and thank exiting employees for their service.
2. Arm them with information
Employees need to know the who, what, when, where, why and how of their transition to feel confident about moving forward. Your onboarding should answer all of these questions and then some. Start the process a few weeks before your employee is slated to come on board or change roles, and a few months ahead of time if they’re changing locations.
One Click Boarding client makes sure to connect employees transferring to new locations with a realtor, daycare centers, and more. That information can help make the move easier for employees, reduce the amount of down time when the employee gets to the new location, improve productivity, and most importantly, it shows employees that the company truly does care about their wellbeing.
3. Make it an enjoyable experience with compliance in mind
Nothing quite sucks the fun out of a new job, promotion, or life change like stacks of required government forms. They’re a necessary evil, but that doesn’t mean that they have to be painful. For example, Click Boarding designed a quick and streamlined version of the Form I-9 that’s compliant, easy to decipher and mobile-friendly. Employees can quickly enter in the data, verify accuracy, and move on to the engaging pieces of the onboarding process.
If you don’t use Click Boarding for your onboarding system and you know that there are a number of heavy legal forms that need to be completed, then try to break them up by adding in more engaging content. For example, if an employee’s being moved to a new role in a new department, introduce them to their team.
We like to collect three fun facts about each of our employees to share. That way, they can put faces to names and have talking points ready for their first day in the new department. It also changes the pace and helps bring the excitement back, so employees feel energized enough to continue through the legalese.
In summary
Internal mobility is a more complex monster, but if you keep these three important things in mind, your employees will feel confident enough to rock their new roles. For more information on onboarding throughout the employee lifecycle, reach out to one of our onboarding gurus today!
