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For years, companies have been struggling to attract, train and retain top talent, with 1.5 million fewer Americans in the workforce compared to 2020, reports the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. And while employees leave organizations for reasons that include salary, benefits and working conditions, many move on because they feel their career has stalled with no opportunities for growth or advancement.
Recent data from the Pew Research Center revealed that 63% of U.S. employees left their employers due to a lack of career advancement opportunities. Another study discovered that lateral career opportunities are 2.5 times more important than compensation when it comes to employee retention.
Faced with dwindling engagement and productivity, leaders might want to facilitate lateral moves within their companies to encourage employees to stay on long-term. Two career experts weigh in on how internal mobility can benefit both workers and managers.
A Different Approach to Advancement
Talent leaders have navigated some big swings in hiring trends since the pandemic, from the “great resignation” to record-breaking levels of job-hopping to a much cooler labor market, where employees are staying put longer in their roles, which many are now calling “the Big Stay,” said Stephanie Conway, senior director of talent development at LinkedIn.
“But this doesn’t mean careers are standing still. For many, making a lateral move at your current company can be a great opportunity to grow your career and learn new skills, while gaining exposure to new areas of the business,” said Conway, who notes that organizations that encourage lateral moves often see better employee retention.
“Our recent Workplace Learning Report found that at the two-year mark, an employee who has made an internal move has a 75% likelihood of staying, as opposed to the mere 56% likelihood for an employee who hasn’t made an internal move.”
Lateral moves are a chance for workers to understand the company in a broader context, said Caroline Ceniza-Levine, executive coach and author of “Jump Ship: 10 Steps To Starting A New Career.”
“Employee surveys show that they want professional development. They want a manager who cares about them as a whole person and their career path and not just their performance in that role,” she said.
“And managers are also asking for professional development management training, so it's a win-win-win for the individual, the manager and the whole company.”
Ceniza-Levine, who has coached leaders from Amazon, American Express, Google, McKinsey and Tesla, said leaders should also encourage employees to consider their professional goals and whether the timing is right to explore new paths.
Beyond the Mid-Career Slump
In today’s shifting workplace, most career paths tend to zig and zag rather than shoot straight up. That’s because many employees — especially younger ones — don’t necessarily shoot straight up to the C-suite, preferring instead to build new skills, focus on exploration and learn from those around them.
“Exploring lateral moves and raising your hand for open roles internally can be a great way to make meaningful career changes without having to change companies,” said Conway.
“This requires a change in how people managers approach career conversations with their employees. For example, I do not focus on the next job title or specific role that a person is interested in. Instead, I am exploring the skills they want to develop.”
Conway encourages team members to consider how they might boost their skills using the 3E framework: Experience (a lateral move or project), Exposure (mentoring or shadowing) or Education (a formal training program).
Implement More Chances to Succeed
LinkedIn surveyed more than 10,000 members in 12 countries for their recent Global Talent Trends Report and found that employee confidence in career development is declining around the world, with most respondents not feeling their prospects for advancement are all that great.
Developing programs that include job shadowing or rotations can foster new skills while also building organizational resilience and agility, said Conway.
While organizations used to rely on talent acquisition to find employees with the new skills they needed, leaders are increasingly adopting a more dynamic approach, she said.
“An approach focusing on buy (through talent acquisition), build (through learning and development including internal mobility and lateral moves) and borrow (freelancers and contingent workers) is what’s needed,” explained Conway.
Related Article: How to Embed Continuous Improvement Into Your Culture
Create Space for Opportunities
Employees can often apply the skills they learned in their current jobs to the new department, preparing them for senior roles and making them more marketable for future job openings. Having a deeper and well-trained internal talent pool to choose from when jobs open saves companies the cost of onboarding new hires, said Ceniza-Levine.
Some of the benefits leaders can highlight to staff include gaining exposure to other business units, adding flexible new skills through different responsibilities and just enough change to stimulate creative energy without too much disruption to daily routine.
“There’s often a renewed appreciation for the organization, which is good for the employer side because if your team understands different functions, they’re going to do their primary jobs better and will possibly be more invested in the company,” Ceniza-Levine said.
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“Also,” she added, “leaders gain the flexibility of putting people in different roles when it’s all hands on deck. It’s like having a baseball team with players who can play different positions.”
When employers see how well rotating workers through departments can work, it encourages more investment in this area. “Leaders might decide to put that into policy and encourage more lateral moves. They might also hire differently because that opens the talent pool for them. There’s a broader ripple effect,” she said.
Leaders can help their teams figure out their skills and interests using assessment or career exploration tools, which allow them to evaluate their strengths and identify skills they must learn to advance within the company. Then, workers can be paired with a mentor or coach to help them achieve their goals.
Another way to encourage employees to explore lateral career opportunities and foster continuous learning is through collaborative projects. Employees can lend their skills to a different team or department, while gaining experience in a new area.
Cultivate the Right Culture
Encouraging lateral moves within your organization starts with actively prioritizing and celebrating opportunities for learning and career mobility, said Conway. This is, unfortunately, where many companies get stuck.
“Our 2023 Workplace Learning Report shows 40% of companies are still only in the early stages of upskilling,” she said, noting that by investing in upskilling teams, organizations pave the way toward more lateral movement.
“This requires a mindset shift away from a siloed approach, where internal mobility and talent development are owned by HR, and towards an ecosystem where internal mobility and talent development are sitting across the entire talent lifecycle and are closely linked to the business strategy.”
Companies should also provide flexible ways to explore career paths internally. Conway noted that LinkedIn recently introduced a three-month job-shadowing program where employees are matched to a host within the company based on their career goals.
“These types of shadowing programs can help people get a feel for a new career without making a huge jump right away,” she said.
Leaders and direct reports should also make time for honest, open career conversations that help build trust, added Conway.
Related Article: Recognizing the Value of Untapped Talent
Showcase How Lateral Moves Lead to Growth
Few organizations leverage their own success stories featuring senior leaders or executives who benefited from lateral moves, said Conway.
“Only 15% of employees say their organizations encourage them to move to new roles internally, so we know this is a huge missed opportunity,” she said. “Work with your internal communication, hiring and learning teams to market internal programs like job shadowing and rotations, and make a point to regularly share and celebrate internal mobility stories that show the value of lateral moves.”
Conway speaks from experience; she’s one of LinkedIn’s success stories.
“I moved from being a sales and operations leader to leading a global learning and development team as part of a 12-month maternity cover. This experience not only helped me to develop valuable new skills, but it also changed the direction of my career in a significant way, which I still benefit from today,” she said.
Get the message out that lateral moves can be an effective way to grow a staffer’s career, said Ceniza-Levine, and include information in internal memos and town halls, for example. Executives can coach managers to implement career development plans for their teams to help them think beyond their role and add incentives for them to do so.
“Make it a part of their performance evaluation or compensation,” she said. “I worked on a search for a head of brand at a small investment management firm that prided themselves on being people developers and wanted managers who would develop their teams. It came down to two people, and the one who got the role was someone who had developed a team who had each ascended into leadership roles.”
Companies like IBM, Pepsi and GE build team development into their infrastructure by sending their people into different functional areas and regions in preparation for bigger roles.
“I've seen companies with rules of engagement around lateral moves, so that an employee can explore other departments without their manager's permission or knowledge until the interview stage,” she said. “Having a policy like that makes it fair for everybody because some managers are possessive and don't want people to leave. Once a company has a policy, people feel safe to take advantage of it.”
Workers who are inspired and encouraged to develop their skills tend to feel more connected to their jobs and their organizations. This improves employee engagement and can boost productivity and bolster a company’s bottom line.
Lateral moves can also expand communication between departments, which can help foster further collaboration and innovation.
