Changing your workers’ daily routine is one of the great ways of empowering your employees. Allowing employees to work in different but related departments or positions comes with added advantages. One of the main reasons for practicing this, Francis Mwangi, a lecturer at Mount Kenya University teaching human resource management says it’s an opportunity that always sees employees gain new skills, more appreciation for their colleagues’ duties, and a better understanding of the organisation. Meanwhile, job rotation is referred to as a practice where an employer moves employees to a new role that is equal to their previous role, either on an ongoing basis or for a set period. Dr Opiyo Andala, an educator in Kigali says while job rotation requires the person being rotated to have the right qualifications, it is an opportunity for employees to learn new skills. He however says that in a media organisation or setting for example, you cannot rotate a reporter into a marketing role because of the differing qualifications for those roles. He notes that job rotation is one way of making employees learn new skills and other vital information about the organisation they are working for. Andala goes on to note that practicing this is also a good way of proving new perspectives on existing roles. For instance, he says that when an employee takes on a new role, they bring their own work style and way of thinking to the job, which can encourage innovation and problem-solving skills. Move out of function According to Robert Half International Inc, a global human resource consulting firm based in California (USA), even though not every employer is able to offer the possibility of rotating jobs within the organisation, role rotation can be an effective way to strengthen the company by providing access to different points of view, building employees’ skills and grooming future leaders. Also, the firm states that job rotation offers staff exposure to different business areas and that this benefit is one reason many employers encourage their star employees to move out of the function and into the organisation. They know that if those workers come back to the department someday, they will return with knowledge of the organisation that can help them be better employees. And if they decide to stay in another function, their expertise can help them spot business risks, and they can help that team to work more effectively with that department because they understand both points of view. Mwangi notes that job rotation allows an organisation to see employees’ potential and invest in teaching new skills. In addition to this, he says it can also help reduce turnover and keep staff that is familiar with how an organisation works, even if additional training is needed for a specific role. Diana Nawatti, a counsellor and educator believes that job rotation encourages development in all areas. Here, she points out that having a job rotation strategy in any organisation helps employees develop their skills, and that by learning more skills, employees will feel more valuable to the business or organisation. She goes on to point out that for those working in a setting that encourages their development, such individuals might not feel the need to change jobs, and for this reason, it helps an employee to develop. According to Nawatti, this is also one way to identify where employees work best or what suits them well. “With a job rotation strategy in any organisation, it helps identify employee strengths and weaknesses, thus important for personal growth as far as their career is concerned,” she says. On the side of employers, Andala says it gives their company a backup plan in case an employee leaves. “By having a job rotation plan, it means that an employer has multiple employees who know how to do each job, and in case one employee leaves, as an employer you won’t need another person to replace the one who left,” he says.
