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    HR Research Institute Research Report and Infographic - June 2025

    Talent Mobility Programs 2025

    Internal talent mobility is gaining momentum — over 80% of organizations now see it as a significant or critical part of their talent strategy. Discover what drives successful internal mobility by downloading the report.
    Talent Mobility Programs 2025
     

    Talent Mobility Programs 2025

    Executive Summary

    Internal talent mobility is gaining momentum — over 80% of organizations now see it as a significant or critical part of their talent strategy. When done well, it enables faster, more efficient filling of open roles, boosts retention by offering meaningful career pathways, and strengthens organizational connectivity as employees move across teams and functions.

    Yet despite its promise, talent mobility doesn’t always deliver consistent results. While more than half of organizations report a strong positive impact, others see only moderate or limited gains. The key question is: what separates the most successful mobility programs from the rest?

    This study explores that question by examining the critical enablers of effective talent mobility, including:

    • The technology organizations use to power mobility programs
    • The metrics they track to measure success
    • The barriers that commonly get in the way

    One standout finding is the importance of skills frameworks. Organizations that assess both employee skills and job requirements are better equipped to match the right people with the right opportunities — at speed and scale.

    From technology to talent strategy, this research offers a snapshot of where organizations stand today on their talent mobility journey, and what they can do to move from promise to performance.

    About this Survey

    HR.com’s Talent Mobility 2025 survey ran in the first quarter of 2025. The survey respondents were screened to ensure that the data quality was high.

    More specifically, 401 respondents who fully completed the survey were:

    • senior HR professionals (manager level or above)
    • from large companies (at least 5,000 employees) in the U.S.
    • familiar or very familiar with issues related to talent mobility in their organization

    Major Research Findings

    1. Talent mobility programs typically lead to improved retention, positive business outcomes, and alignment with employee aspirations, though some organizations report only moderate gains.

    • 54% of respondents say talent mobility has had a significant positive impact and that the program has led to noticeable improvements in retention and business outcomes.
    • 38% say talent mobility has had a moderate impact whereby there have been some positive changes, but challenges persist in fully realizing the benefits.
    • 52% say talent mobility programs meet employee aspirations very effectively.

    2. Over 80% of respondents say internal talent mobility is a significant or critical priority for their organization’s talent strategy.

    • 37% say it is a critical priority to talent acquisition, talent management, retention, and workforce planning.
    • 47% say it is a significant priority and a key enabler of broader HR and business objectives, though not fully embedded in all processes.
    • 17% say it is only an emerging priority and recognized as valuable but applied inconsistently and not yet a strategic priority.
    • To deal with talent shortages and skill gaps, one of the most common approaches used by 29% of respondents, is to improve internal talent utilization by enhancing internal mobility to maximize existing talent pools.

    3. HR must contend with a diverse set of challenges to talent mobility.

    • 33% of respondents say leaders prioritize recruiting externally rather than nurturing existing employees.
    • 30% say lack of transparency in available opportunities or internal talent pools as well as lack of data is a barrier to internal talent mobility.
    • 21% say rigid hierarchies and silos significantly limit internal mobility opportunities.
    • About 1 in 5 respondents cite inadequate technology as the biggest challenge to their internal mobility program. This underscores the need for better tools to support and scale mobility efforts.
    • Most organizations also struggle to provide managers with visibility into employee skills. Only 39% say their organization is highly effective at providing managers with visibility into employee skills, interests, and development needs. Nearly 20% of respondents say their organization is minimally effective or not effective at providing managers with visibility into employee skills, interests, and development needs.

    4. Data is critical or important for making mobility decisions.

    • Nearly 90% of respondents say data is important or critical in making mobility decisions – with just over half of these respondents indicating that managerial judgements also contribute to decisions.
    • A striking difference between mobility leaders and laggards is their use of data-driven insights.
    • Mobility leaders are more than twice as likely as laggards to say data-driven insights are critical to most mobility decisions.
    • Despite this, the most commonly used data for evaluating an employee’s potential for an internal move is the performance review (44%) rather than a skills-based assessment (29%).
    • 39% of respondents say data is critical and that data-driven insights are central to most mobility decisions, guiding strategy and actions.
    • 48% say data is important and that data is considered, but qualitative factors like managers’ judgments also influence decisions.

    5. Technology is important for talent mobility programs.

    • 48% use internal HR systems (e.g. HRIS) to facilitate mobility.
    • Nearly 40% of respondents are keeping pace with the changing nature of work by embracing technology.
    • 43% say AI and data-driven decisions are the most important trend in talent mobility. For 42% of respondents, AI is used in some aspects of talent mobility such as data analysis or matching.

    6. Skills frameworks can be challenging to get right, but are important because reskilling is part of the talent mobility strategy. Some are streamlining role profiles to make the skills framework more adaptable.

    • 26% of respondents say using their skills framework is very challenging because the framework includes thousands of skills, making it difficult to ensure consistency and efficiency.
    • 34% say using their skills framework is somewhat challenging because although their framework is comprehensive, translating and measuring skills still requires significant effort.
    • More than half of the respondents find it somewhat or very challenging to translate and measure skills using their current skills framework
    • Fewer than 10% say their skills framework is concise and well-structured, allowing for easy translation and measurement.
    • In response to ever-evolving role profiles and changing skill demands, one-quarter of respondents are streamlining role profiles to focus on core skills and flexible responsibilities for future adaptability. Another 24% of respondents are choosing to emphasize adaptable human skills.
    • Nearly 70% of respondents report that employees’ reskilling potential is an important part of their talent mobility strategy.

    7. Compared to mobility laggards (those whose maturity is “developing”), mobility leaders (those whose maturity is “advanced”) are:

    • over 2X more likely to
      • say talent mobility is “critical” to talent strategy
      • very effectively address employee aspirations for career progression
      • be highly effective at providing visibility into employee skills, interests, and development needs
      • say data-driven insights are critical to most mobility decisions, guiding strategy and actions
      • say AI is having a significant impact on their talent mobility program
    • 2X more likely to say talent mobility has had a significant impact on organizational performance and employee retention
    • 1.5X more likely to say, “learning potential”, "upskilling/reskilling potential" or "willingness to learn” is essential for success
    • about 1.5X more likely to be highly confident about the accuracy and reliability of skills data
    • significantly less likely to identify resource constraints as a major challenge
    Editor’s Note: We define talent mobility leaders and laggards in detail in the first section. Please note that the findings and recommendations contained in this report are informational only. Nothing in this report should be construed as constituting legal opinions or advice. Please consult an attorney if you have questions about the legal requirements, rules, or regulations associated with any content discussed in this report.

    Talent Mobility Maturity

    Almost all respondent organizations (98%) have some talent mobility programs in place.

    But that doesn’t mean these practices are all high functioning. Although two-thirds have advanced programs with a well-integrated mobility framework, about a third have programs that lack integration, consistency, or a measurable impact.

    Moreover, as we will see when we analyze respondent answers to other questions in the survey, some of the participants that claim to have advanced programs may be overestimating their organizational capabilities.

    In the absence of measurable impact, HR may struggle to get the support needed to take their mobility program to the advanced level.

    chart

    Defining mobility leaders and mobility laggards

    Throughout the report, we used data from the above question to break respondents into two cohorts.

    • Mobility leaders: Those organizations that responded that their maturity was “Advanced: A well-integrated talent mobility framework, enabling seamless internal movement with clear alignment to business goals” to the question “How would you describe the maturity of your organization's internal talent mobility strategy and practice?”
    • Mobility laggards: Those organizations that responded that their maturity was “Developing: Our programs are in place but lack full integration, consistency, or measurable impact” to the same question.

    Correlation does not mean causation, but by analyzing the two cohorts, we can compare and contrast how these two employer groups view and strategize their talent mobility function.

    Finding: Over a third of respondents say internal talent mobility is a critical part of the overall talent strategy

    One reason that so many organizations have advanced programs is that they prioritize them. In fact, 84% rate these programs as either significant or critical to their organization’s overall talent strategy. Only 16% rate the priority of their programs as “emerging,” meaning that the program is recognized as valuable but not a strategic priority.

    chart

    Finding: Mobility leaders are more than twice as likely as laggards to say internal talent mobility is “critical” to talent strategy

    One important difference between mobility leaders and laggards is that mobility leaders are much more likely to say that internal mobility is of critical importance to the organization’s overall talent strategy. This will likely lead to a greater investment of time and energy into the program and hence a greater likelihood of creating a positive impact.

    chart

    HRRI Strategic Recommendations

    Start by defining mobility programs. Run the definition by all your key internal stakeholders to ensure everyone shares the same conceptual understanding. For example, here is one possible definition:

    Talent mobility refers to the strategic movement of employees—internally and externally—across roles, departments, geographies, or business units to meet organizational needs and support employee development.

    Given your definition, determine if your organization has a true talent mobility strategy. If so, evaluate your current approaches to gauge their maturity and sophistication, especially in comparison to competing organizations.

    Ask key questions to better understand stakeholder views. For example:

    • Are these programs more of a priority for employees than managers?
    • Are managers leery of those programs because they don’t want to lose talented team members?
    • How do top executives view these programs, and do they prioritize them?
    • Do HR professionals need to make a case for the value of these programs, and how would they do so?

    The Outcomes of Talent Mobility Programs

    Finding: About half of the respondents use employee engagement and satisfaction as a measure of the effectiveness of their talent mobility program

    Employers are better able to manage talent mobility programs if they have metrics. The most common approach, used by almost half of the respondent organizations, is to look at employee engagement and satisfaction. In particular, feedback on mobility experiences helps separate the value of talent mobility from other actions affecting engagement.

    Just 1 in 4 respondents look at business performance and project outcomes. If HR can show that internal talent moves lead to greater business outcomes, then that will reassure managers that an internal hire is a good alternative to hiring externally.

    Another quarter of respondents look at retention and internal promotion metrics. This analysis can potentially get quite granular by looking at departments with high and low rates of internal movement and seeing how that affects retention.

    Note that in this survey the respondents were asked to identify one measurement method they use. In practice, of course, many organizations likely use more than one set of measures to get insight into how well the talent mobility program is working, and we recommend using multiple measures.

    When comparing the talent mobility leaders and laggards, we found that leaders are considerably more likely to point to business performance and project outcomes as the way they measure the success of their talent mobility programs.

    chart

    Finding: More than half of the respondents say talent mobility has a significant positive impact on business outcomes and retention

    The data paints an encouraging picture: over half of respondents report that talent mobility delivers a significant positive impact on both business performance and employee retention. An additional 38% note a moderate impact—underscoring the growing strategic value of internal movement.

    However, the results aren’t universally positive. 8% of respondents say their talent mobility efforts have had minimal or no impact, highlighting the need for intentional design, leadership alignment, and consistent execution to realize the full benefits.

    chart

    HRRI Strategic Recommendations

    Use a mix of success metrics to determine if your talent mobility programs are working. A mix of measures can provide more insightful data on successes than a single measure can. Use some general measures such as engagement and retention, but also try to leverage more specific ones related to mobility such as:

    • Feedback from employees on the mobility program
    • The performance of employees who have been more mobile
    • The percentage of open positions filled by internal candidates
    • The acquisition of new skills among employees who participate in mobility programs
    • The number of lateral moves employees make within different departments or roles
    • How quickly positions are filled when they involve internal rather than external candidates

    Finding: Mobility leaders are twice as likely as laggards to say talent mobility has had a significant positive impact on organizational performance and employee retention

    Mobility leaders tend to get better results from their talent mobility programs. Specifically, they are twice as likely as laggards to say talent mobility has had a significant positive impact on organizational performance and employee retention. This suggests that the effort required to become a mobility leader (i.e., achieve an advanced level of maturity in talent mobility) pays off.

    chart

    Finding: About half do not feel as if they are meeting employee aspirations for career progression very effectively

    Earlier we saw that about two-thirds claimed to have well-integrated talent mobility frameworks, but here we see that this confidence may well have been overstated. Nearly half say they are only somewhat effective or not effective at all at providing clear internal mobility pathways that align with employee aspirations. Yet, such pathways are a fundamental feature of any mature and well-integrated mobility program. This suggests that some respondents have overestimated the robustness and execution of their talent mobility strategies.

    chart

    Finding: Mobility leaders are more than twice as likely as laggards to very effectively address employee aspirations for career progression

    HR is concerned with organizational outcomes such as performance and retention. They are also concerned with meeting employee aspirations. Mobility leaders are much more likely than laggards to very effectively meet employee aspirations for career progression.

    chart

    HRRI Strategic Recommendations

    • Conduct a career aspiration survey. This can help your organization to better understand employee career goals and desired skills
    • Offer various career growth pathways. Keep in mind that career progression isn't just upward; include lateral moves, cross-functional projects, and gig opportunities
    • Create feedback loops that include employee input. Ensure employees feel that the program meets their aspirations, and listen to their ideas for improvements.

    Challenges to Talent Mobility

    Finding: The most common challenge to internal mobility is managers prioritizing external hiring

    Internal mobility relies mostly on managers who are open to hiring internal talent rather than hiring externally. Unfortunately, our study found one-third of leaders prioritize recruiting externally rather than nurturing existing employees.

    The advantage of looking outside is that it’s a much bigger talent pool. The advantage of hiring from within is that the risk is lower and there are the intangibles of knowledge of the culture and network an internal person has. Furthermore, there is the less visible but still important fact that internal mobility can help motivate, retain, and attract talent. HR must help managers understand the pros and cons of supporting internal mobility.

    The second most likely cited challenge (28%) is limited budget, but this is also an area where leadership buy-in plays a strong role. This often goes hand in hand with another challenge - inadequate technology. In fact, 18% of respondents pointed to inadequate technology as a major barrier to internal mobility, highlighting how outdated or insufficient tools can limit visibility into talent pools, slow internal hiring processes, and hinder scalability.

    chart

    Finding: Limited internal job and skills visibility is cited by 30% of respondents as the main barrier to internal talent mobility

    When asked about the main barriers to internal talent mobility, the responses were mixed. The most common answer was “limited internal jobs and skills visibility,” but the three other options were all cited by at least 20% of respondents. It appears that any one of these potential barriers can be a problem and hence HR leaders might need to work to overcome each of them.

    Limited skills visibility suggests there may be “hidden gems” in the workforce. These could be employees who are perfect for an internal opportunity but are unseen due to lack of data. This lack of visibility could be very costly to organizations.

    chart

    Finding: Only about two-fifths of respondents say their organization is highly effective at providing managers with visibility into employee skills, interests, and development needs

    Organizations can make it easier for managers to support the talent mobility program by providing them with visibility into employee skills, interests, and development needs. But this is challenging to do well. Only 39% of respondents say their organization is highly effective at providing this visibility.

    Unfortunately, not all managers are so lucky. Nearly one in five respondents say their organization is minimally effective or not effective at all providing managers with visibility into employee skills, interests, and development needs.

    chart

    HRRI Strategic Recommendations

    • Be alert to organizational barriers to internal mobility. Even the best mobility program can run into problems due to silos, rigid hierarchies, and regional differences. Write down what specific barriers exist then decide which can be mitigated as part of a broader change management effort. Run scalable skills audits to identify areas of high reskilling potential and pinpoint critical skills that exist within the workforce, thereby enabling smarter talent deployment and role alignment.
    • Educate managers on the benefits of supporting internal talent mobility. Some managers may have an undue preference for external hires which can undermine an internal mobility program. Provide guidance to managers on the benefits of internal mobility and educate them on when it is appropriate to use external hiring. Deploy validated, objective assessments to provide managers with reliable data on employee soft skills, strengths, and development needs, thus closing the visibility gap that hinders effective internal mobility.

    Finding: Mobility leaders are more than twice as likely as laggards to say their organization provides managers with highly effective visibility into employee skills, interests, and development needs

    Providing visibility into employee skills, interests, and development needs is another area where mobility leaders perform far better than laggards. Mobility leaders are more than twice as likely as laggards to say they provide highly effective visibility into employee skills, interests, and development needs.

    chart

    Finding: One in five respondents say rigid hierarchies and silos significantly limit internal mobility

    There is a lot of variability as to whether organization structure supports or inhibits internal mobility. Over a quarter have supportive structures, a fifth have highly restrictive structures, and the remaining 52% sit somewhere between those two extremes.

    It will not be easy for HR leaders wishing to promote internal mobility to change the overall organizational structure, but awareness of how the structure affects mobility will be useful in designing a successful talent mobility program.

    chart

    Addressing Talent Shortages and Skills Gaps

    Finding: The most common approach to dealing with talent shortages is to expand skills development

    Respondents use a variety of methods to deal with talent shortages and skill gaps. The most common approach, used by 35% of respondents, is to expand skills development by investing in upskilling and reskilling programs. Another popular approach, used by 29%, is improving internal talent utilization by enhancing internal mobility to maximize existing talent pools.

    Somewhat less common is focusing on potential, which is cited by 20% of respondents, and relying on maintaining traditional approaches, cited by 17% of respondents.

    chart

    Finding: Nearly 70% of respondents report that employees’ learning potential is an important part of their talent mobility strategy

    Whereas an external hire may potentially have precisely the skills and knowledge required for a job, an internal move normally requires the employee to learn new skills. Hence, we see that most respondents (68%) say “learning potential," "upskilling/reskilling potential," or "willingness to learn" is important and essential for success in their internal talent mobility strategy. A further 31% say it is considered but other factors are prioritized when selecting candidates for mobility.

    chart

    Finding: Mobility leaders are much more likely than laggards to say, “learning potential,” "upskilling/reskilling potential" or "willingness to learn” is essential for success

    Only about half of mobility laggards rate learning potential, upskilling/reskilling potential, or willingness to learn as important for the organization’s overall talent mobility strategy. This number is well below the 78% of mobility leaders who say the same.

    chart

    HRRI Strategic Recommendations

    • Emphasize learning potential. Internal mobility only works if employees are willing and able to learn the new skills, tasks and jobs. HR should emphasize learning potential as a core principle. It should be a factor in making hiring decisions. A learning mindset should be supported by the culture, and managers should be encouraged to see learning potential as more valuable in the long run than already having a needed skill but being poor at acquiring new skills.
    • Integrate upskilling potential into talent strategy. Consider incorporating a targeted reskilling potential score into mobility decisions to help prioritize candidates with strong learning agility.

    Making Talent Movement Decisions

    Finding: Almost 80% of respondents say cultural or regional factors have a moderate or significant impact on mobility decisions and opportunities

    If an organization is spread across the country or globally, then it's almost inevitable that cultural or regional factors will affect mobility decisions and opportunities. About four in five respondents say cultural or regional factors have a moderate or significant impact.

    HR won’t be able to eliminate these cultural or regional factors, so it needs to start with being aware of how they can impact talent mobility. With this understanding, HR can look for ways to mitigate the biggest potential challenges. An overarching objective should be ensuring that there is better visibility of the talent that exists outside the head office.

    chart

    Finding: Nearly 90% of respondents say data is important or critical in making mobility decisions

    As one would hope, the vast majority of respondents (87%) say data is important or critical in making mobility decisions. The difference between “critical” and “important” comes down to the weight given to qualitative factors such as management judgment. Those who rate data as important rather than critical give more weight to managerial judgment.

    Giving weight to qualitative factors is not necessarily good or bad. It depends on the culture, the quality of the objective data, and the quality of management judgment.

    chart

    Finding: Mobility leaders are more than twice as likely as laggards to say data-driven insights are critical to most mobility decisions, guiding strategy and actions

    A striking difference between mobility leaders and laggards is their use of data-driven insights. Mobility leaders are more than twice as likely as laggards to say data-driven insights are critical to most mobility decisions. This difference may reflect both an attitude about data and also the availability of reliable data.

    chart

    HRRI Strategic Recommendations

    • Acquire accurate skills data. Recognize that skills data can be difficult to gather. If your talent mobility program intends to use skills data to help match people to opportunities, then it’s essential to put in the effort to get accurate skills data.
    • Once you have accurate skills data, determine where there are skills gaps. After all, one of the key goals is to be able to determine where there are skills deficits and then formulate plans for closing those gaps.
    • Understand how cultural factors influence talent mobility and upskilling decisions. When possible, try to use cultural norms to your advantage rather than fighting against them. However, if modest culture changes are required to make mobility more acceptable, then enlist the help of senior leaders. They have the greatest leverage when it comes to culture change.

    Finding: Respondents are more likely to use performance reviews to assess an employee’s potential for internal moves than scientific assessments or self-reporting

    The most commonly used tool for evaluating an employee’s potential for an internal move is the performance review. This is a natural choice given that most large organizations have performance reviews for most employees.

    Using scientifically based skills and competency assessments is often considered more accurate at assessing potential than a performance review, yet only 29% of respondents use these.

    Just over one-quarter of respondents rely on employees to self-nominate. This is the simplest process and presumes employees are in fact typically in a good position to assess their suitability for an open role.

    You should note that the survey question asked for a single answer to the question, and it is likely many organizations use more than one method for assessing the potential for an internal move.

    chart

    Finding: Mobility leaders are more likely than laggards to say they are highly confident that their skills data is validated, accurate, up-to-date, and provides a reliable basis for decision-making

    Lack of confidence in skills data can lead to uncertainty that inhibits internal mobility. Over three-quarters of mobility leaders are highly confident that their skills data is valid, accurate, up-to-date, and provides a reliable basis for decision-making. However, just 46% of mobility laggards say the same.

    chart

    Finding: Sixty percent find it somewhat or very challenging to translate and measure skills using their current skills framework

    Skills frameworks tend to be complicated, which may be one reason why 60% of the respondents find it somewhat or very challenging to translate and measure skills using their current skills framework.

    On a more positive note, almost a third describe their situation as “manageable” because they have streamlined their skills framework to minimize complexity and improve measurement.

    Fewer than 10% say their skills framework is concise and well-structured, allowing for easy translation and measurement.

    chart

    HRRI Strategic Recommendations

    • Use experienced experts to build your skills framework. Skills frameworks almost always feel somewhat unsatisfactory because either they seem too complex or not complex enough (or maybe both at once). It takes expertise and experience to find the right level of detail in creating a skills framework. A good skills framework facilitates accurate skill metrics.
    • Work to ensure your skills data is high quality. When possible, it should be validated, accurate, up-to-date, and provide a reliable basis for decision-making.

    Finding: One-quarter of respondents are streamlining role profiles to focus on core skills and flexible responsibilities for future adaptability

    Organizations need to decide how to approach evolving role profiles to meet current skills demands and adapt to future work needs.

    There are several options. The most common option is proactively redefining roles. This involves regularly updating role profiles to focus on both today’s skills and the future of work. Over a third of respondents use this approach.

    One-quarter of respondents are exploring simplification. They are streamlining role profiles to focus on core skills and flexible responsibilities for future adaptability.

    A third option, chosen by 24% of respondents, is to emphasize adaptable human skills alongside technical expertise in role definitions.

    Finally, some respondents, 16%, are not changing their approach. They continue to use static job profiles with limited consideration of changing work dynamics

    chart

    HRRI Strategic Recommendations

    • Focus on key and enduring soft skills. These are often essential to long-term success in the future. Adopt tools and programs that can help provide employees with meaningful insights into their own skills sets and how they can improve those skill sets to succeed in the future.
    • Although updating role profiles is important, streamlining can aid that process. Job tasks may change quickly, especially in an era of rapid technological growth. However, core skills tend to be more stable and adaptable. Indeed, one of the core skills employees need to succeed in the future is adaptability itself.

    Finding: Nearly 40% of respondents are keeping pace with the changing nature of work by embracing technology

    The changing nature of work can put pressure on the talent mobility strategy. A few respondents (16%) say they have not made changes and are continuing to use established processes despite the changing nature of work. However, many more (39%) are embracing technology by leveraging AI and automation to identify redeployment opportunities and optimize mobility decisions.

    Another approach is to support flexible work models by adapting mobility strategies to accommodate hybrid, remote, and gig-based workforces. This approach is used by 24% of respondents.

    Finally, 21% of respondents are redefining roles and skills by moving beyond static job profiles to focus on dynamic skills and evolving work requirements.

    chart

    The Future of Talent Mobility

    Finding: Over 40% of respondents see AI as the most important trend in internal talent mobility

    Respondents were asked to identify a trend shaping internal talent mobility in the next 3-5 years. The most common answer, selected by 43% of respondents, was AI and data-driven decisions. The second most commonly cited trend, selected by 22%, was the expansion of remote and hybrid work.

    chart

    Finding: Only 38% say AI is having a significant impact on talent mobility programs

    Although many expect AI and data analytics to drive mobility decisions in the future, only 38% say it is having a significant impact today. On the other hand, 42% say AI has a moderate impact on talent mobility and is being used in some aspects of talent mobility such as data analysis or matching. Although AI is a helpful tool, it is important to keep the human element in talent mobility related decisions.

    chart

    HRRI Strategic Recommendations

    • Take a fresh look at talent mobility technologies. These technologies can make it much easier to track, measure, and automate key processes. Stay informed about what the latest technology can do by watching demos, talking to peers in other organizations, and attending trade shows. Keep in mind that AI technologies, in particular, are advancing quickly. These are likely to play a growing role in terms of data analysis, identifying talent, matching skills to opportunities, and optimizing mobility decisions.

    Finding: Mobility leaders are more than twice as likely as laggards to say AI is having a significant impact on their talent mobility program

    AI is already having an impact on talent mobility in some organizations and is likely to have a greater impact in the near future. Mobility leaders are ahead of laggards in getting value from AI and are twice as likely as laggards to say AI is already having a significant impact on their talent mobility program.

    chart

    Key Final Takeaways

    1. Make internal mobility a core part of your talent strategy. Don’t treat internal mobility as an add-on or side initiative. To see real results, it must be embedded into the broader talent strategy with clear leadership support, aligned goals, and dedicated resources. This helps ensure that internal hiring, development, and career growth are seen as central to the organization’s success, not just an HR responsibility.

    2. Educate managers on the benefits of internal mobility. Some managers may have an undue preference for external hires which can undermine an internal mobility program. Provide guidance to managers on the benefits of internal mobility and educate them on when it is appropriate to use external hiring.

    3. Take a fresh look at talent mobility and automation technology. Talent mobility technology is advancing and beginning to incorporate AI. Stay informed about what the latest technology can do to automate labor-intensive parts of the talent mobility program by watching demos, talking to peers in other organizations, and attending trade shows.

    4. Be alert to organizational barriers to internal mobility. Even the best mobility program can run into problems due to silos, rigid hierarchies, and regional differences. Treat the internal mobility process as a change management effort to increase buy-in, align stakeholders, and create a structured path for overcoming resistance and driving lasting cultural shifts.

    5. Focus on human skills to build long-term adaptability. As roles continue to evolve rapidly, it becomes harder to define future job requirements with precision. Emphasizing transferable human skills such as collaboration, communication, adaptability, and problem-solving helps create a workforce that can shift with changing demands. Make these skills a core part of hiring, development, and internal mobility decisions.

    6. Use experienced experts to build your skills framework. Skills frameworks almost always feel somewhat unsatisfactory because either they seem too complex or not complex enough. It takes expertise and experience to find the right level of detail in creating a skills framework.

    7. Emphasize learning potential. Internal mobility only works if the employee who is moved can quickly learn the new job. HR needs to emphasize learning potential as a core principle. It should be a factor in making hiring decisions, a learning mindset should be supported by the culture, and managers should be encouraged to see learning potential as more valuable in the long run than already having a needed skill but being poor at acquiring new skills.

    8. Make the effort to get accurate skills data. Recognize that skills data is important while also not easy to gather. If your talent mobility program intends to use skills data to help match people to opportunities, then it’s essential to put in the effort to get accurate skills data.

    9. Train managers to use data when seeking internal candidates. Some managers may not trust data about internal candidates and instead rely on their opinions. Train managers to use the data collected and demonstrate its value.

    Did you know?

    four-circles

    Critical Priority

    A diverse, happy team of employees celebrating together in a modern office space, representing the 80% of leaders who view internal talent mobility as a critical priority.
     

    say internal talent mobility is a critical priority for their talent strategy

    External Recruitment

    A professional, diverse group in a business meeting with a confident Black male leader speaking, symbolizing the 33% of leaders who prioritize external recruitment.
     

    say leaders prioritize recruiting externally rather than internally

    Biggest Barriers

    A frustrated South Asian professional holding his forehead at a desk, representing the 30% who cite limited internal job and skills visibility as a major barrier.
     

    cite limited internal job and skills visibility as the biggest challenge

    Take advantage of this opportunity to gain valuable insights and actionable strategies from our exclusive HR Research Institute research findings.

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