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What’s it: Job rotation is a way to motivate employees by assigning them different tasks and jobs from the ones they were previously working on. That could involve them moving to another division or department. Or, they do different tasks and jobs but are still in the same division.
Job rotation is important to make work routines more interesting and less boring. Employees are faced with new challenges, which is important to stimulate them to practice new skills and develop themselves. In addition, this method is suitable for new employees who do not have many skills.
Why is job rotation important?
Job rotation is important to reduce employee stress and prevent losing motivation due to monotonous tasks and work. In addition, they can learn new skills through different tasks and jobs.
In addition, the company can also explore the employees’ core competencies. For example, working on assignments and jobs in other fields allows them to bring out the best in themselves. That way, companies can map their respective capabilities and match them with positions within the company.
So, companies can put the right people in the right places. They assign employees where they are best suited and design more appropriate training and development for their career advancement.
What are the types of job rotation?
Transferring employees for different tasks and jobs can involve several ways. First, it may be task-based. Companies assign employees to different tasks and jobs in the same department. In other words, they do the work their teammates do.
Second, job rotation can be position-based. In this case, the company assigns employees to different positions in other departments. This method allows them to gain different skills, knowledge, and work perspectives.
Third, another alternative is based on geographic location. This practice is common for companies with several branch offices such as banks. For example, management transfers employees from one branch office to another, involving the same or different positions.
How does job rotation work?
How job rotation is carried out can vary between companies. It may involve several steps such as asking employees if they are willing to participate, running their aptitude tests, training them, monitoring, and evaluating.
Ask the employee’s willingness. Do they want to participate or not? Employee approval is important for the program to run effectively. On the other hand, if they are forced to participate, it can impact their motivation and decrease their performance.
Conduct employee ability tests. It is useful for matching assignments in new jobs with employee abilities. New tasks and jobs should match their abilities, making their routine more interesting, not the other way around, stressing them out because the new role doesn’t match their abilities.
Train employees. Training is important to make employees adaptable and effective in carrying out routines in new assignments.
Monitor performance. The company monitors how effectively employees carry out their new roles; are they performing better than in their old jobs? If more effective, the company considers them filling the new roles instead of returning to their old roles.
Seek employee approval in the new role. The company asks if employees are willing to take on new roles or return to their old roles. During job rotations, some employees fit into their new roles. However, others may not fit in and prefer their old roles.
What are the advantages of job rotation?
Job rotation allows companies to explore their employees’ core capabilities. New assignments and jobs allow employees to self-actualize and bring out their best talents in other areas, which have not been seen until now. So, companies can maximize these talents.
Meanwhile, other advantages of job rotation are:
Develop competence. Employees have the opportunity to learn some new skills. It allows them to develop themselves for the better.
Better understand business processes. Employees work on tasks and jobs in several departments. They also study how each department functions. Thus, apart from acquiring various skills from each department, they also understand business operations better.
Prepare for
More interesting work life. Job rotation increases the variety of tasks and jobs. Thus, employee routines become interesting and challenging. Moreover, it prevents them from losing motivation due to monotonous and boring work.
Filling skill gaps. Job rotation can show an employee’s strengths and weaknesses. Thus, companies can also map possible skill gaps in existing human resources and take necessary steps such as recruiting new employees with the required skills or designing appropriate training programs. As a result, companies can assign the right employees to the right positions.
Avoid interruptions in business processes. For example, say your core employees resign. It can disrupt business processes. In addition, it also makes existing employees stressed. Not only are they having to do assignments left by former employees, but they may also not understand how those jobs work. And, job rotation allows your company to avoid these negative impacts because you already have backups before new hires become effective.
What are the disadvantages of job rotation?
Running and benefiting from a job rotation program can be time-consuming and costly. Employees need time to adapt and take on new roles. In addition, companies must spend money to train them to work more effectively in their new roles.
Other disadvantages of job rotation are:
Satisfaction decreased. Job rotation does not always lead to higher work motivation. On the other hand, it can stress employees and demotivate them because the new role doesn’t match their abilities.
Limited applications. Job rotation is not suitable for all businesses or occupations. For example, some jobs require special skills, which must be trained and developed over time through education, training, and experience. Thus, it is difficult to effectively replace such roles with new people.
Work error. When employees take on new roles, they are more likely to make mistakes. This is because they are not used to it, whereas new roles require mature experience to be effective. As a result, it may cause disruption to operations and make the business suffer.
