Job Rotation
Job Rotation is a management approach where employees are shifted between two or more assignments or jobs at regular intervals of time in order to expose them to all verticals of an organization. It is a pre-planned approach with an objective to test the employee skills and competencies in order to place him or her at the right place. In addition to it, it reduces the monotony of the job and gives them a wider experience and helps them gain more insights. Job rotation is a well-planned practice to reduce the boredom of doing same type of job everyday and explore the hidden potential of an employee. The process serves the purpose of both the management and the employees. It helps management in discovering the talent of employees and determining what he or she is best at. On the other hand, it gives an individual a chance to explore his or her own interests and gain experience in different fields or operations.
Objecives of job rotation
Reducing Monotony of the Job: The first and foremost objective of job rotation is to reduce the monotony and repetitiveness involved in a job. It allows employees to experience different type of jobs and motivates them to perform well at each stage of job replacement.
Succession Planning: The concept of succession planning is ‘Who will replace whom’. Its main function of job rotation is to develop a pool of employees who can be placed at a senior level when someone gets retired or leaves the organization. The idea is to create an immediate replacement of a high-worth employee from within the organization.
Creating Right-Employee Job Fit: The success of an organization depends on the on-job productivity of its employees. If they’re rightly placed, they will be able to give the maximum output. In case, they are not assigned the job that they are good at, it creates a real big problem for both employee as well as organization. Therefore, fitting a right person in right vacancy is one of the main objectives of job rotation.
Exposing Workers to All Verticals of the Company: Another main function of job rotation process is to exposing workers to all verticals or operations of the organization in order to make them aware how company operates and how tasks are performed. It gives them a chance to understand the working of the organization and different issues that crop up while working.
Testing Employee Skills and Competencies: Testing and analyzing employee skills and competencies and then assigning them the work that they excel at is one of the major functions of job rotation process. It is done by moving them to different jobs and assignments and determining their proficiency and aptitude. Placing them what they are best at increases heir on-job productivity.
Developing a Wider Range of Work Experience: Employees, usually don’t want to change their area of operations. Once they start performing a specific task, they don’t want to shift from their comfort zone. Through job rotation, managers prepare them in advance to have a wider range of work experience and develop different skills and competencies. It is necessary for an overall development of an individual. Along with this, they understand the problems of various departments and try to adjust or adapt accordingly.
Benefits of Job Rotation
Job rotation is considered as an effective tool for successful implementation of HR strategy. It is about settling employees at the right place where they can deliver the maximum results. In today’s highly competitive world, this can be proved as the best strategy to find the immediate replacement of a high-worth employee from within the organization. Finding the most suitable people and shifting them to take on the responsibilities of a higher level is a tough task. Job rotation helps HR managers determine who can be replaced by whom and create a suitable and beneficial fit.
A properly planned and carried job rotation process plays an essential role in strengthening the position of an organization and helps it deal with uncertain and tentative outer environment. Let’s discuss the benefits of job rotation process at length in order to realize its importance and the potential:
Helps Managers Explore the Hidden Talent: Job Rotation is designed to expose employees to a wider range of operations in order to assist managers in exploring their hidden talent. In the process, they are moved through a variety of assignments so that they can gain awareness about the actual working style of the organization and understand the problems that crop up at every stage. Through this process, managers identify what a particular employee is good at and accordingly he or she is assigned a specific task.
Helps Individuals Explore Their Interests: Sometimes, employees are not aware of what would like to do until they have their hands on some specific job. If their job is rotated or they are exposed to different operations, they can identify what they are good at and what they enjoy doing. They get a chance to explore their interests and hidden potential.
Identifies Knowledge, Skills and Attitudes: Job Rotation helps managers as well as individuals identify their KSA (Knowledge, Skills and Attitudes). It can be used in determining who needs to improve or upgrade his or skills in order to perform better. This helps in analyzing training and development needs of employees so that they can produce more output.
Motivates Employees to Deal with New Challenges: When employees are exposed to different jobs or assigned new tasks, they try to give their best while effectively dealing with the challenges coming their way. It encourages them to perform better at every stage and prove that they are no less than others. This gives rise to a healthy competition within the organization where everyone wants to perform better than others.
Increases Satisfaction and Decreases Attrition Rate: Exposing employees to different tasks and functions increase their satisfaction level. Job variation reduces the boredom of doing same task everyday. Moreover, it decreases attrition rate of the organization. Employees develop a sense of belongingness towards the organization and stick to it till long.
Helps Align Competencies with Requirements: Alignment of competencies with requirements means directing the resources when and where they are required. It assesses the employees and places them at a place where their skills, competencies and caliber are used to the highest possible extent.