Job Rotation

Figure 1: Job Rotation

What is job rotation in HRM?

Job rotation through numerous employment responsibilities, enriching their skills, ability to perform in diverse tasks, and experience. It is an effective HR technique to raise employee understanding of all sorts of jobs conducted in their sector. Job rotation is a management technique that involves shifting employees from one job to another in order to familiarize them with all of an organization's verticals. The goal of job rotation is to improve workers' work experience, cross-train them, and increase their job satisfaction. The job rotation program entails the temporary assignment of an employee in a position or department to undertake the exact tasks of another position for a certain period of time. This is usually a voluntary assignment in which the employee considers the provided tasks to be part of his or her regular job. After carefully evaluating other potential workforce techniques, any supervisor or employee might request a job rotation assignment. Job rotation can take place among departments, inside a business division, or in a cross-functional division. An employee on a job rotation assignment will keep his or her usual employment number and wage classification, as well as all rights, benefits, and privileges (SHRM, 2022).

Benefits of job rotation 

Figure 2: Benefits of job rotation

• Helps Managers Explore the Hidden Talent

Job rotation is intended to expose employees to a broader range of operations in order to help management discover latent abilities. They are rotated through a number of assignments throughout the process in order to obtain a better understanding of the organization's actual working style and the issues that arise at each step. Managers use this approach to determine what skills a certain employee possesses, and then allocate him or her to a specific assignment.

• Helps Individuals Explore Their Interests

Employees don't always know what they want to do until they get their hands on a certain task. They can recognize what they are strong at and what they love doing if their employment is rotated or they are exposed to new processes. They are given the opportunity to pursue their passions and untapped potential.

• Identifies Knowledge, Skills, and Attitudes

Job rotation assists both managers and people in determining their KSA (Knowledge, Skills, and Attitudes). It may be used to determine who needs to develop or update their abilities in order to increase their performance. This aids in determining staff training and development needs so that they can deliver higher output.

• Motivates Employees to Deal with New Challenges

When employees are introduced to new occupations or responsibilities, they strive their hardest to do their best while coping successfully with the problems they face. It motivates them to improve at every level and demonstrate that they are on par with their peers. This creates a healthy competitive environment within the company, with everyone striving to outperform the competitors.

• Increases Satisfaction and Decreases Attrition Rate

Employee satisfaction rises when they are exposed to a variety of duties and roles. The monotony of doing the same duty every day is reduced by job variety. Furthermore, it lowers the organization's attrition rate. Employees create a sense of belonging to the company and stay with it for a long time.

• Helps Align Competencies with Requirements

Aligning competencies with needs entails allocating resources to the right places at the right times. It evaluates people and assigns them to positions that allow them to put their skills, abilities, and quality to the best possible use (Management Study Guide, 2022).

Figure 3: Types of job rotation process

Types of Job Rotation Process Used

Job rotation may be divided into two categories, depending on how the company changes the employee's job description.

• Task rotation:

Employees who work in cognitively or physically demanding jobs are typically assigned to a task rotation. Employees are switched from a difficult job to a less demanding position in such instances to give a respite from monotonous labor.

• Position rotation:

The company changes the employee's designation, location, or department in the event of job rotation. This gives the individual the chance to learn new skills, obtain new information, and get fresh views on the job. There are two forms of cross-functional rotation: function rotation and cross-functional rotation. Employees' duties and areas of operation stay the same during function rotation. The employee's level and work duties are modified while on cross-functional rotation (HR help board, 2022).

Conclusion

Job rotation is the practice of switching employees between two or more occupations or job responsibilities within the same organization in order to develop and motivate them. This cycle occurs on a regular schedule. Job rotation aims to break up monotonous schedules and expose workers to various departments and/or divisions of a business so they may get the skills they'll need in the future. This is essential for identifying an employee's opportunity areas and best-matched locations. The employee's opinion on the difficulty, time commitment, skills needed, and other aspects of doing numerous jobs is also demonstrated through job rotation.

References

• SHRM, 2022. SHRM. [Online] Job Rotation Policy. [Accessed 10 August 2023].

• HR help board, 2022. HR help board. [Online] Available at: https://www.hrhelpboard.com/hr-policies/job-rotation-policy.html [Accessed 10 August 2023].

• Management Study Guide, 2022. Management Study Guide. [Online] Available at: https://www.managementstudyguide.com/benefits-of-job-rotation.htm [Accessed 10 August 2023].