How to Build A Better Workforce by Hiring Internally
Amid the ongoing labor shortage, many companies are finding it easier and more cost-effective to promote from within rather than wasting time and effort searching out new talent.
From boosting employee morale to saving time on training, there are many benefits to internal recruitment - provided you choose the right person for promotion. Moving someone into a managerial role before they’re ready for it could disrupt your team and hinder productivity, making you wish you’d just called a recruitment agency in the first place.
That’s why it’s crucial to get it right, making sure it’s a satisfactory move for everyone involved by assessing staff, investing in data-driven decision-making, and identifying the core competencies you’re looking for.
Why hire internally?
They know the company
Employees who are already familiar with the company are much easier to onboard than complete strangers. They’ve already put in the work getting to know the staff, company culture, structure, and products or services.
These workers are a ready-made resource that should be able to smoothly transition into a more senior role - saving you the time, stress, and expense of training a new hire from scratch.
They’ve already established vital work relationships
Productivity isn’t just a matter of ticking boxes and completing tasks. It also relies on collaboration and engagement with colleagues.
With the workplace dynamic shifting, employees are more willing than ever to job hop and many are jumping ship not because of pay or perks, but simply because they’re not on good terms with their managers.
When you hire from within, you minimize the risk of conflict as whoever you promote should already be well-known and well-liked. They’ll have developed strong relationships with their colleagues and, if they have the necessary leadership skills, can use those bonds to elevate everyone’s work. In one study, 66% of employees said they prefer to be managed by someone who was promoted internally.
You should also put in the work to check that your potential internal hire is actually well-liked and gets along with their current teams and management. To keep your inquiries on the down-low, confine your conversations to HR and their current managers. Both can tell you if there are any complaints before you make your intentions known.
You can skip the hiring treadmill
It’s a tough market for employers at the moment. The labor shortage, a shifting work/life balance, rising employee expectations, and poor retention are all creating the perfect storm for HR departments trying to find and keep talent.
With an internal hire, you can skip the stress and hit the ground running. You can also be more confident that your new manager will stick around - employees who are newly promoted will appreciate your confidence in them, making them more loyal and engaged with higher job satisfaction.
That sense of satisfaction will also spread through your team as they aspire to also climb the ranks. Over half of employees say promoting from within is better for morale, according to a recent survey from Joblist. They’ll be motivated to work harder and strive for the bigger roles that they know they are up for.
How to find good managers
Of course, recruiting from the company’s own ranks is only an effective solution if your new hire is up to the job.
Not everyone is manager material, and that’s why you need hard data to help identify who has the dedication, commitment, knowledge and skills that you need.
Using an Employee Productivity Monitoring (EPM) solution, like Prodoscore, gives you invaluable insight into how teams are performing - providing real-time information on how they engage with your company’s cloud-based tools and platforms. Data is presented from a dashboard with options for viewing individual performance and team performance, both in the moment and over time so you can track trends.
Prodoscore helps you instantly pinpoint star contributors on your team — those who collaborate, engage, and show the qualities you’re looking for in a leader. These analytics can be used to accurately assess individual employees so you can be sure you’re promoting the right candidates with data-driven decision-making.
Don’t overlook your future leaders or disrupt your team by promoting those who haven’t earned it, get started with Prodoscore today to transform your hiring practices and build better teams.
