Career Mobility - Definition, Importance & Example
This article covers meaning & overview of Career Mobility from HRM perspective.
Career Mobility Definition
Career mobility refers to the movement of employees across grades/ positions (both upward and downward) or a complete change in occupation. Career mobility can be a result of both – the choice of the employee or the choice of the employer. Career mobility has to be properly planned and organized. Mostly proper transitions and training programs go alongside the movement of the employee internally or externally.
Importance of Career Mobility
An employee may himself opt for career mobility because of a potential of higher pay or better job role in a new job or occupation. It may also be imposed by the company as a part of mergers, acquisitions or restructuring. Promotions subject to the change in job location are a good example of employer driven job mobility.
Career mobility is directly related to
1. job advancement,
2. career development and personal satisfaction. It ensures that employees, over a period of time, move to job roles suitable to their skills, goals and aspirations.
If career mobility is not encouraged or exists, then the employee can become dissatisfied in the same role or location leading to loss in productivity.
Career Mobility Example
Let us say that an employee A was working in a job role in New Jersey for 10 years in the sales department. Employee A can either be happy with the role and location or it may be an opposite scenario of a not satisfied with the current role or location and aspires for better role in another location. If A is open to career mobility, he/she can consider either moving internally in the same organization to a different location or different department.
It can also happen that due to recent acquisition, A was moved to a different team and marketing department unplanned. By the virtue of career mobility, A was able to keep his job but was able to move to a different role. After training in marketing, A should be able to contribute with required productivity.
Hence, this concludes the definition of Career Mobility along with its overview.
Browse the definition and meaning of more similar terms. The Management Dictionary covers over 1800 business concepts from 5 categories.
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