Upskilling vs. internal mobility: What’s the difference?

Are you looking to find cost and time effective talent management strategies? Upskilling and internal mobility are among the best methods to find the hidden gems in your organization. 

Upskilling is the process of training your employees to acquire new skills.

Internal mobility, however, involves a formal change in role and aims to identify and map employees' potential while creating new internal opportunities that meet both the company’s needs and the employee’s ambitions.

Both make sure that individual training remains relevant and useful to each employee. Let’s dive into the key differences between upskilling and internal mobility.

Upskilling

What is the objective of upskilling?

Upskilling aims to motivate employees and increase their performance. It’s an amazing tool for building employee engagement and company competitiveness.

Who is the target population of upskilling?

Skills development is for everybody! After all, Albert Einstein did say that once you stop learning, you start dying. In business, it means that all of your employees can benefit from upskilling. You can help them progress and acquire new expertise.

What is the implementation process for upskilling?

The first step of upskilling is a deep analysis of the employee's skills and abilities. For this, you can rely on skills assessments. Then, you must plan achievable medium-term objectives. This way, you proceed step-by-step, while ensuring the project team stays motivated and involved. This is also the perfect time to discuss needs, expectations and goals with your employees. Finally, cross-referencing the employee’s data with your objectives will allow you to create a personalized action plan for each and every one of them.

Internal mobility

What is the objective of internal mobility?

You are looking to hire for a new position? Internal mobility is an efficient solution to find the perfect match. This solution will enable you to keep pace with evolving technology and stand out from the competition. With internal mobility, you can leverage the talents you already invested in, thus reducing turnover.

What is the target population of internal mobility?

Internal mobility is a cost-effective alternative to recruitment. Indeed, the candidates are within the company and are familiar with the organizational culture. Mobility is considered an impactful process for employees willing to invest time and commit to new responsibilities.

What is the implementation process of internal mobility?

Implementing internal mobility requires assessing your employees' expectations, objectives and needs. It’s important to keep in mind that it’s not easy to build a process that works every time! The whole plan also depends on what type of internal mobility you choose.

3 different types of internal mobility

• Horizontal mobility: Also known as lateral mobility, this perspective consists of changing positions while keeping the same hierarchical level. 
• Vertical mobility: Includes a hierarchical evolution, a change of position and more responsibilities.
• Geographical mobility: This internal mobility can be horizontal or vertical and is associated with a change of facility at the national or international level.