How to Recession-Proof Your Company with an Internal Mobility Strategy

The following is an excerpt from my FREE Workplace Intelligence Insider Newsletter. You can access the full article in the Newsletter Archives. And don't forget to subscribe so you receive the new edition every Monday morning. 

For this week’s Workplace Intelligence Newsletter, I interviewed Siobhan Savage, an award-winning HR leader. As CEO and Co-Founder of Reejig, Siobhan has built a team of some of the brightest international minds in HR, data science, software engineering, and operations to build the world’s first workforce intelligence platform powered by independently audited Ethical Talent AI.

In our conversation, we discussed the question that many leaders are asking as they continue to face mass turnover issues and discussions of a possible recession: How can we recession-proof our workforce with internal mobility now to protect us down the line? It’s a challenging dilemma, one that can only be addressed with strategic thinking, scenario planning, and even a mindset shift for some organizations.

Read on for a summary of Siobhan’s insights, and be sure to join us for our live audio event on Tuesday, September 12th at 7:00 pm EST, where we’ll continue our discussion on this important topic.

The growing need for companies to focus on internal mobility

The last two years for HR professionals, executives, and business leaders could easily feel like 30 years. With incredibly challenging health, working, and economic shifts occurring almost concurrently, people leaders have felt the pressure to make crucial decisions about their workforce, and get those decisions right.

This pressure ranges from retaining their people and maintaining productivity and growth right through to shareholder impacts. In fact, recent McKinsey research shows that the moves companies make now can account for half of the difference in total shareholder returns between leading companies and lagging companies in the next business cycle.

Many organizations faced turmoil when pandemic-related issues and a lack of visibility and mobility resulted in a mass turnover of their people — and mass hiring needs only months later.

It’s understandable that now, as we face growing discussions of a possible recession, business and people leaders are trying to change their decisions of the past and focus on mobilizing their current workforce into the roles they need to protect themselves and their business, rather than lose employees at scale. 

Want to read the full article? You can access it in the Workplace Intelligence Insider Archives. To receive the new edition every Monday morning, subscribe for free.

And don’t forget to join me and Siobhan for our live audio event on Tuesday, September 12th at 7:00 pm EST.