6 Things to do When Your Employee Asks for a Role Change

Employees today crave for variety in their professional lives, especially those who belong to the new league of millennials that’s fast filling the workforce. Whether it is a number of projects being tackled simultaneously, or a complete change in role, organizations must devise avenues to keep employees engaged and productive. Oftentimes, you may witness an employee coming up with a request to move teams. Such a move has far-reaching impact not only on the person, but also on the organization as a whole. Careful consideration must go into granting approval for such moves. 

A request for an internal transfer can pose a dilemma to the reporting manager and team. For one, if the employee is a high-performing one, losing him or her to another team is not favorable for the original team. However, a disgruntled employee that continues in the team is no good either. Plus, there are questions about whether the employee will continue to perform in a new set-up and environment of a different team or business unit. If the employee in question is an average or poor performer, new challenges with respect to mobility may arise. In all, the organization must carry out a careful assessment of the person, and his or her role-fit, and only then arrive at a decision. 

Here is a list of what to assess in this situation:

1. Carry out effort estimation: Often an employee may grind it out and give it their all, and still not perform satisfactorily. This may be a case of not fitting in the right role and a transfer may help the person find a suitable role to come up to speed. Besides analyzing the effort, it is important to talk to the employee about training resources to help him or her take on the new role. 

2. Understand the why: A request for a shift in roles can stem from many reasons—professional as well as personal. Talk to the employee and understand the real reason behind it, and judge it on its legitimacy. Is the employee not getting along with the manager? Or does he or she think that the other team has a lesser workload? 

3. Get feedback from peers: Peers can offer interesting hidden insights on an employee’s personality. Ask his or her colleagues what they feel about the person. It can give an idea about whether he or she meets the new role’s success factors. 

4. Assess and evaluate: Most internal transfer processes involve an assessment process such as a test or an interview. Employees are assessed for their skills, attitudes and behaviors, to check person-job and person-culture fit. For example, a person who wants to move to a creative role may not have the requisite competencies, but still may insist on changing his or her role. It is important to identify the same and either reject the transfer or provide the required training. 

5. Involve the managers: HR should talk to both the current and future managers. Assess whether the team truly needs an additional resource, and whether or not the manager thinks the new person will be a good fit. Getting their buy-in is an important step for a successful transition. 

6. Assay how prepared the employee is: It is important that you note how much the employee is preparing himself or herself for the new role. Does the person come thoroughly prepared for the interview? This will indicate a seriousness of purpose and resolve to get the transfer approved. Grill the employee on current contributions, why he or she wants the transfer, and how he or she can add value in the new team. 

Deciding on an internal transfer can be a tough decision with several repercussions. The company must design and deploy a process and policy for such internal transfers so as to minimize conflict, and must ensure fairness and openness from both the employee and organizational viewpoint. At the same time, employee mobility can help to foster a culture of innovation by infusing new thoughts and ideas.