We’re currently experiencing a workforce reshuffling globally, as the pandemic made us all rethink our work-life balance and the way we earn. As a result, some employees decided to switch careers, others went freelance instead of 9 to 5, and a part adopted shift working to diversify their income streams.
But, what about workforce reshuffling within a company? There are many advantages of job rotation. When done right, it can broaden the skill set of your employees and streamline the job process, but when done wrong, it can result in frustrated employees.
Let’s see how employee rotation can increase your staff’s motivation and spike their interest levels.
1. Provide re-training and mentorship
If workforce reshuffling means rotating job roles internally, don’t forget to provide the necessary training and onboarding for the new position. One of the main reasons employees agree to take on a new job role is to learn a new skill or switch their career path.
Today, upskilling and reskilling your employees is crucial for any company’s success. With tons of career paths and remote international job posts, good employees become hard to retain.
This means that by re-training and mentoring new job profiles your company gets tons of benefits, starting from increased motivation and job efficiency, and leading to an improved retention rate.
2. Clearly communicate your expectations
What are your expectations from the new role of your employee? How will you measure their KPIs and job performance? Why is this employee reshuffle happening? Be there to answer any questions once you communicate the changes.
For instance, let’s consider a social media marketer who wants to try their talent in content writing. What would you expect of them? What’s the word count they have to reach in a day or a week? Are they the ones responsible for SEO, or is someone else doing the keyword research?
Structure and communicate your expectations clearly regarding the new job responsibility you’re giving to your employees.
3. Adopt hybrid and remote work models
Think of different remote work models that fit your business best – maybe you can allow your employees to work compressed work weeks? Depending on your work’s nature, hybrid work could mean giving your staff the freedom to choose their own working hours. And, if that’s not possible, then let them work remotely or from home. Today, we definitely have the technology to embrace remote working.
If the nature of your work allows it, you can introduce shift working to give your employees flexible scheduling options. If your employees work in shifts, you could use staff shift scheduling software to keep everyone informed and in the loop.
Remember, it’s all about having a better work-life balance, and flexible work schedules and options for working remotely significantly improve this balance. In the long run, this will prevent losing your employees to a different career path.
4. Understand what motivates your staff
Get to know your staff. Does an employee want to learn a new skill? Would they be good at a different job role? Or maybe they need a more flexible schedule? Learn what they need and try to provide it.
Monetary compensation was the number one motivator in the past. Nowadays, there are different values: work flexibility, career advancement opportunities, and continuous learning possibilities.
To learn what makes your staff tick, start with employee motivation surveys. Create a ranking from 1 to 5 (1 meaning not at all, and 5 meaning extremely), and ask questions like:
- How motivated are you to come to work on a Monday?
- How challenging and stimulating are your daily tasks?
- Do you feel you could handle more than what you’re given?
- Do you think this company takes enough care of your personal growth and career development?
Once you have these answers, it’s a good idea to have one-on-ones and see what you, as a business owner, can do to improve their motivation.
5. Assess your company’s strengths and weaknesses
Do you feel like your company is missing an online presence? Learn how to grow your business with social media and reshuffle your marketing department. Is half of your accounting team bored out of their minds? Have a chat with them and learn if there’s a job role they feel suits them better.
We aren’t saying to tell your best accountant to be a designer from now on, but rather to give chances to employees who want to explore an alternative career path. You’d be surprised at the talents of your staff, only if you give them a chance.
By carefully observing and analysing your company’s strengths and weaknesses, you’ll get a better picture of which departments need a reshuffle. Go one step further and analyse your employees’ strengths and weaknesses. Doing this will give you an idea of what they’re good at.
6. Reshuffle with employee skill sets in mind
Open, two-way communication with input from your employees is the best way to reshuffle and rotate job roles within teams. Don’t rotate the responsibilities randomly. Instead, give your staff tasks you know they would be good at and would enjoy doing.
For instance, not everyone can be a salesperson and convince people to buy over the phone. So, listen to your employees – if someone tells you they don’t feel comfortable with something, don’t force it on them.
To reshuffle your staff in an informed way, ask your employees these two questions:
- What skills do you possess currently?
- What skills do you want to upgrade or learn?
7. Use tools for a centralised and streamlined workflow
Almost all struggling business owners have one thing in common, and that’s communication problems. To streamline and centralise your workflow, take advantage of the many free online tools for businesses out there.
If you need a project management tool and a central file depository, Asana is a free tool you could use. With this, you can give access to the right people and have an overview of the progress of each project. If you have a lot of people working remotely, you can use Zoom for weekly conferences. These tools are entirely free to use yet still incredibly useful for structuring your workforce reshuffle.
On a final note, we’d like to emphasise the importance of adequately communicating change in the office. Lack of communication and honesty will cause difficulties for your staff to adapt and assimilate to their new jobs. By implementing this guide’s workforce reshuffling tips, you’ll give your maximum to satisfy and retain your staff.
Rob Press
Rob is a content marketing manager at Deputy, a robust scheduling software that can be used to manage your workforce in a wide variety of different industries. Aside from helping businesses reach operational efficiency, he keeps up to date with the latest trends in SaaS, B2B, and technology in general.