What is career mobility? Defining career mobility and its critical implications for employers

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Why is internal mobility top of mind for talent leaders everywhere?

Tight labor markets, growing skills gaps, and the growing emphasis of cultural diversity in the workplace have business leaders looking to career mobility to solve their toughest talent probelms.

In this complete guide, we'll cover:

→ What is career mobility?
→ Why do company cultures of career mobility attract and retain more talent?
→ What steps can employers take to create career mobility?

Table of contents

• Chapter 1: Introduction – What is career mobility?
• Chapter 2: How does career mobility impact a company’s talent strategy?
• Chapter 3: How employers can create career mobility for their employees
• Chapter 4: Key takeaways

Chapter 1

What is career mobility?

Career mobility is the professional movement of an individual into a new role.

Or as we like to put it, it’s any job movement that makes someone’s life better – whether that’s through higher wages, growth opportunities, or simply finding a better fit for an individual’s interests and strengths.

In this chapter, we’ll go over: 

→ Common misconceptions around mobility
→ Examples of different types of mobility
→ Why it matters to employers

The different types of career mobility

There are different types of career mobility – like vertical, lateral, and hybrid. 

Career movement can entail moving up vertically within a given path into a senior or management position, or it can be a lateral movement into an entirely new field, for example:

• A retail cashier becoming an HR coordinator
• A bank teller moving into a data analytics role

Common misconceptions around career mobility

In the HR and talent development world, many assume career mobility means only moving up in one’s lane or job family.

They associate mobility with advancement into management — or they think that it means building a career outside of one’s current organization.

Career mobility can include but is not limited to:

• Advancing into a senior or management role
• Acquiring new skills
• Getting a promotion 
• Moving into a new career outside of one’s current company 
• Growing into a new role from a blue collar job to a white collar job

Why does this matter to you?

These misconceptions can hold back the potential of talent within an organization.

At every level, employees want to — and are very capable of — pursuing opportunities to grow or change their careers.

Chapter 2

How does career mobility impact a company’s talent strategy?

Employees want career mobility. Employers save costs when they fill open roles internally. And yet few employers really know how to execute on internal mobility.

In this chapter, we'll cover:

→ The benefits of investing in career mobility at scale
→ The costs of not investing in it
→ The population that most stands to benefit from it: your frontline workforce

Why is career mobility important to an organization’s talent strategy?

For employers, instilling career mobility – both as a concrete practice or program and as part of culture – can help fill talent pipelines for in-demand roles while building a stronger employer value proposition that attracts and retains top talent.

Powering career mobility across the organization benefits employers in two mutually reinforcing ways: 

• Talent retention & mobility: It helps you to fill high-demand roles with talent you already have, saving cost and time on external hires.
• Talent attraction: It strengthens your employer value proposition, helping you bring in more talent that stays to grow.

Frontline talent can no longer be overlooked for career mobility opportunities.

Historically, the population of US frontline workers – which McKinsey estimates to be 70% of all U.S. jobs – workers have been broadly overlooked by HR, L&D and Talent Acquisition teams alike.

A 2022 HBS study published that 33% of low wage workers surveyed see no opportunity to move upward within their organization. 

And while three out of four frontline workers want to be promoted, less than one in four actually achieve it.

Recent research on frontline talent reveals that:

• 78% of employees feel they lack the skills to advance their career
• 70% of employees feel unprepared for the future of work
• 47% of workers are concerned they’ve been held back by not having the right experience, the right education, or access to training programs

While three out of four frontline workers want to be promoted, less than one in four actually achieve it.

Race in the Workplace: The Frontline Experience, McKinsey & Co (2022)

Employers who are willing to invest in the career mobility of their frontline workers not only tap into a goldmine of talent, but also provide economic mobility to some of our most vulnerable populations.

For a deeper dive on this subject, here’s an overview of the impact of investment in frontline talent.

The benefits of career mobility for employers

We’ve touched on the many ways career mobility can uplevel your talent strategy by: 

• EVP: Boosting your employee value proposition
• Attraction: Attracting motivated talent
• Retention: Retaining top employees
• More predictable pipelines: Filling internal talent pipelines 

But there are other benefits to consider as well. 

1. Productivity, stability, and profitability

When you attract, retain, and grow employees, you improve:

• Productivity
• Store stability
• Customer service
• And even profitability

Recent research from Harvard Business Review shows that a better employee experience directly impacts profitability.

Similarly, a recent Career Pathways study conducted by The Josh Bersin Company that surveyed more than 1,000 global organizations, researchers found that the #1 most impactful practice for driving business, talent, and innovation outcomes was creating extensive opportunities for career growth.

#1 most impactful practice for driving business, talent, and innovation outcomes was creating extensive opportunities for career growth.

Career Pathways: Building Tomorrow's Workforce Today, The Josh Bersin Company (2022)

On the flip side, not investing in career mobility can be extremely detrimental.

Gartner estimates that failing to develop current staff costs an average-sized organization $49 million annually in lost productivity and recruitment costs.

2. Employee retention 

Career mobility is what employees want, and they primarily want it at their organization. According to Guild’s American Workforce Survey, two-thirds of workers want to move into a new role — and more than half of them hope it’s at their same company.

On average, Guild learners were 2.1x less likely to leave their employer in the last 12 months relative to non-engaged employees, at no cost to the employer.²

Guild learners were 2.1x less likely to leave their employer in the last 12 months relative to non-engaged employees – at no cost to the employer.²

Employees stay when they’re empowered to grow.

Creating career mobility motivates workers and shows them they’re valued — fostering company loyalty and boosting engagement and loyalty.

We’ll touch on this more in Chapter 3.

3. Talent attraction 

The opportunity to grow and advance their careers is largely what motivates workers to seek out employment opportunities. 

Guild’s American Worker Survey found that 74% of workers said they would be "very likely" or "somewhat likely" to leave their employer if they were offered another job with more education and career opportunities.

And our partners have seen the same results: 

• Waste Management: 50% of surveyed applicants in a WM hiring campaign cited the tuition-free college offer as a reason for applying (as of May 2021)
• Chipotle: 46% increase in job applicants attributed to a 2021 Chipotle campaign promoting the Guild benefit
• Disney: 1 in 4 applicants cite Disney Aspire as their primary reason for applying to hourly roles at The Walt Disney Company (as of August 2022)

Benefits of career mobility for employees

The benefits of career mobility for employees is also clear – they get the opportunity to expand their skill sets and move into a new role that may:

• Income: Pay higher wages
• Flexibility: Offer more flexibility in terms of schedule or location
• Skills-aligned: Align with skills that will be necessary for the future of work
• Interest-aligned: Or be a better fit for an employees’ interests

Chapter 3

How employers can create career mobility for their employees + examples

Now it's time to talk strategy.

Career mobility can only be pulled off at scale with the right policies, programs, and people in place.

In this chapter, we'll cover:

→ How leadership can unite to make career mobility an internal priority
→ The top internal mobility programs to implement
→ Examples of successful programs

HR and Talent Development teams must help employees explore internal mobility opportunities 

Human resources – in partnership with other business units (notably L&D) – can roll out certain programs to help employees grow in their careers and explore internal mobility opportunities. 

Internal mobility can help every strategic business unit in the organization meet its goals, so its scope is much wider than just HR.

Internal mobility can help every strategic business unit in the organization meet its goals, so its scope is much wider than just HR.

However, ideally someone in the HR department should be responsible for building out this function.

Today, only 1 in 5 organizations feel they are creating extensive opportunities for career growth, according to a 2022 report by Josh Bersin.  

One of those organizations that is doing it successfully is Rocket Companies — watch this on-demand webinar to hear how their Chief Learning Officer worked across business units to align internal mobility with their company strategy.

What goes into a successful career mobility program?

Some key elements from our successful career mobility program guide include:

• Executive leadership: An executive accountable for internal mobility, particularly if they have a measurable goal (i.e. 50% of roles filled with internal talent)
• Clarity on their talent needs: A deep understanding of current talent needs, including what roles are open, which roles have the longest time to hire, etc
• Skills aligned to strategy: A view into what skills and roles are needed to support future business strategy, such as cybersecurity, supply chain, tech roles to support digital transformation, etc
• Career mobility platform: A platform that helps connect employees with the visibility into the skills and education needed, access to that education, and the roles and careers they can move into
• Culture of opportunity: A culture of internal recruiting, with the right policies and hiring practices in place

Top 8 internal mobility programs and initiatives for employers

There are a number of internal mobility initiatives you can launch at your organization. We have picked a few to highlight here, but this is by no means an exhaustive list. 

1. Skills mapping and gap analysis

Conduct skills mapping exercises to identify the skills and competencies required for different roles within the organization.

This information can then be used to assess employees' current skills and identify any gaps. Employers can use the exercises in this career mobility workbook.

2. Education benefits

Offer funding for employees to go back to school and learn new skills that can help fuel career growth.

These kinds of benefits can cover foundational courses, short-form learning, and degrees.

Expert tip: Just make sure you offer tuition assistance instead of tuition reimbursement.

It's important to note that if you are going to invest in fully-funded education programs, you should make sure to align them with the skills your business needs.

For Guild partners: Guild helps employers build a personalized catalog of programs from our Learning Marketplace that are vetted for superior adult learner outcomes, and then house them all in our Career Opportunity Platform for employees to explore.

3. Career pathways

In addition to education benefits, create career pathways to ensure education and new skills learned today map to tomorrow’s careers.

At Guild, for example, we help employers map out career pathways from frontline roles into destination roles. An example of this could be:

• Frontline: Inbound call center representative
• Gateway: Junior data analyst
• Entry-level: Data analyst
• Destination: Senior data analytics lead

4. Dedicated career growth coaching

Provide support for employees in navigating programs, and make sure they know which programs can lead to which jobs.

For Guild partners, find out how our enhanced coaching services are accelerating career mobility.

5. Talent development programs

Create targeted development programs that focus on enhancing the skills and competencies needed for different career paths within the organization.

These programs can include workshops, training sessions, mentoring, coaching, apprenticeships, and stretch assignments.

Here are some additional tips on how to make talent development programs that motivate and engage employees.

6. Recognition and rewards for internal mobility

Recognize and reward employees who transition to new roles or advance their careers internally.

This can be done through:

• Public recognition
• Bonuses
• Promotions
• Other forms of incentives that acknowledge their efforts

7. Lunch and learn sessions

Organize regular lunch and learn sessions where employees can share their knowledge, expertise, and experiences with their colleagues.

These sessions promote cross-functional learning and provide employees with insights into different roles and career paths within the organization.

8. Internal mentorship programs

Establish mentorship programs that pair employees with more experienced colleagues or leaders within the organization.

Mentors can provide guidance, share their experiences, and help mentees navigate their career paths.

If you want to learn more about what career mobility initiatives are moving the needle at Fortune 1000 companies, check our beginner’s guide to career mobility programs or contact a Guild expert.

Examples of successful career development programs

Case Studies

How Bon Secours Mercy Health is creating its future workforce through career pathways

Read article

Case Studies

Walmart paves the way from jobs to life-long careers

Read article

Case Studies

How Rocket Companies transformed an unused tuition benefit into a world-class career growth program

Read article

How to retain employees through career development and mobility opportunities

To effectively retain employees, your skilling and career development programs need to be carefully designed. Start with these principles:

1. Make them accessible 

Your largest employee base — your frontline workforce — tends to have the highest turnover rates, so they should have equal access to the programs and benefits you are offering.

That means paying directly for education and skilling programs upfront — instead of offering tuition reimbursement — so that employees don’t have to pay their tuition out-of-pocket.

Doing so opens the door to historically disadvantaged workers who may not have been able to afford higher education. For more information, check out our complete guide on inclusive career mobility.

Hourly employees 5.4X more likely to engage in tuition-free education

Offering fully funded programs is also one of the most effective ways to improve the employee adoption rate of your education programs. In fact, hourly employees at our employee partners are 5.4X more likely to select tuition assistance over tuition reimbursement programs when their employers offer both funding options.³

Hourly employees at our employee partners are 5.4X more likely to select tuition assistance over tuition reimbursement programs when their employers offer both funding options.³ 

2. Make them highly visible

Make sure everyone knows about the opportunities by creating a culture of mobility. That means encouraging managers to hire internally and marketing the program broadly.

Guild has found that employees who create an account with us (what we call members) are more likely to retain — before they even actually enroll in a course.

To be precise, on average, members were 1.5x less likely to leave their employer in the last 12 months relative to non-engaged employees, at no cost to the employer.

3. Make them future-driven

Nobody wants to worry about their job becoming obsolete. As an employer, think about what skills will be valuable tomorrow as well as today.

This benefits both employees and your business as we move into the future of work together.

Chapter 4

Key takeaway? Cultures of career mobility attract and retain workers, while solving for complex talent needs.

The future of work depends on innovative employers creating resilient, agile workforces that respond to the changing needs of the market.

Well-designed career mobility programs can help employers stay ahead of the evolving skills landscape, while unlocking new opportunities for the populations who need it most.

Career mobility sets both employers and employees up for success in the future of work

As we’ve laid out in this complete guide, strategic career mobility benefits both employees and employers by:

• Culture: Creating cultures of opportunity where employees thrive 
• Talent pipeline: Helping employers fill open roles internally and reduce HR acquisition and training costs 
• Resilience: Building resilient workforces that support company strategy both now and in the future
• Retention: Retaining employees longer by providing the growth they seek, instilling loyalty and engagement in the process
• DE&I: Advancing DE&I initiatives through equitable access to opportunity for your diverse frontline workforce

For a deeper dive, visit our complete guide on how to build a career mobility strategy for your entire workforce, or download the e-book below.