Walk into any FTSE 500 boardroom and mention internal mobility, and you’ll get enthusiastic nods all round. Yet walk the corridors of those same companies and you’ll find talent quietly browsing LinkedIn, convinced their career growth lies elsewhere. There’s a disconnect here that’s costing us dearly.
We’ve all witnessed it: brilliant employees who could transform teams if given the chance, but instead they’re trapped in roles that no longer challenge them. Meanwhile, we’re spending eye-watering sums on external hires who take months to understand what our existing people already know instinctively.
The Hidden Price of Always Looking Outside
Here’s what keeps me awake at night: we’ve become addicted to external recruitment. There’s something seductive about that perfect CV landing in your inbox, isn’t there? The promise of fresh thinking, new networks, different perspectives.
But let’s crunch the numbers properly. When you factor in recruitment fees, lengthy onboarding periods, the productivity dip whilst new hires find their feet, and the inevitable early departures, external hiring becomes an expensive gamble. The research shows upskilling someone internally costs roughly one-sixth of hiring externally. One-sixth.
What’s more telling? LinkedIn’s data reveals that employees who move internally are 40% more likely to stick around for three years or more. These aren’t just statistics; they represent real people who feel valued enough to build their careers within your organisation rather than taking their knowledge elsewhere.
Every time we overlook internal talent, we’re not just wasting budget. We’re eroding the very foundation of what makes organisations resilient: institutional memory, cultural alignment, and deep relationship networks.
So What’s Actually Stopping Us?
If internal mobility makes such obvious sense, why do so many of us struggle to make it work? After two decades in this field, I can tell you it’s rarely about lacking the right technology or processes. The barriers run much deeper.
1. The Talent Hoarding Mentality
You know the type: managers who clutch their star performers like precious possessions. “I can’t lose Sarah; she’s the only one who really understands our clients.” But here’s the irony: this protective instinct often drives exactly the outcome they’re trying to avoid. Talented people don’t stay where they feel trapped.
2. The Invisible Opportunity Problem
How many brilliant roles in your organisation right now are being filled through quiet conversations rather than open processes? When opportunities circulate through informal networks, we’re essentially telling a large portion of our workforce that their aspirations don’t matter.
3. The Confidence Crisis
Even your most capable employees can hesitate to put themselves forward without clear support structures. Why? Because moving internally feels riskier than it should. They worry about burning bridges, appearing disloyal, or simply not being qualified enough.
4. The Silo Straightjacket
Departmental boundaries that made sense decades ago now feel like prison walls to ambitious employees. When did we decide that someone in finance couldn’t possibly contribute to product development, or that a brilliant operations manager couldn’t transition into client services?
Why This Matters More in 2024
The business case for internal mobility has never been stronger. Think about the challenges you’re facing right now:
- Cost Pressures: With budgets tighter than ever, upskilling existing talent offers immediate ROI without the hefty recruitment price tag.
- Retention Challenges: Clear progression paths aren’t just nice to have; they’re your strongest weapon against the ongoing talent exodus.
- Knowledge Preservation: Every internal move spreads institutional wisdom across teams, making your organisation more resilient.
- Adaptability Requirements: In rapidly changing markets, employees who can move between functions are your secret weapon for innovation and agility.
Consider this: organisations with robust internal mobility programmes see 79% more leadership promotions from within. When people believe their future lies with you, they stop shopping their skills elsewhere. They invest in your success because they see it as their own.
Making Internal Mobility Actually Work
Creating genuine mobility requires more than adding a careers page to your intranet. It demands fundamental shifts in how we think about talent, performance and success.
1. Redefine Management Success
What if we measured managers not just on their team’s delivery, but on their ability to develop and progress talent? Imagine performance reviews that celebrated the number of team members who’d successfully moved into stretch roles. Suddenly, talent hoarding becomes career limiting rather than career enhancing.
2. Make Opportunities Visible
Transparency isn’t just about fairness; it’s about possibility. When employees can see clear pathways and understand what skills they need to develop, they become active participants in their own growth rather than passive recipients of whatever comes their way.
3. Build Skills Systematically
Mobility without capability building is just musical chairs. The real magic happens when you create stretch assignments, mentoring programmes, and learning opportunities that deliberately prepare people for their next move, even if you don’t know exactly what that move will be.
4. Demolish the Departmental Walls
Some of the most successful internal moves I’ve witnessed have been sideways shifts that nobody saw coming. Encourage secondments, cross-functional projects, and job shadowing. Career progression doesn’t have to look like a ladder; it can be a well-connected network of possibilities.
5. Champion the Success Stories
Nothing changes mindsets like seeing peers succeed. When you celebrate internal moves publicly, you’re not just recognising individuals; you’re signalling to everyone that growth happens here. Make the unconventional paths as celebrated as the traditional ones.
Learning from the Pioneers
Some organisations are already getting this right, and their approaches offer valuable insights for the rest of us.
Take a pharmaceutical giant I’ve been following: they fill nearly one-third of all roles internally. Their secret weapon isn’t sophisticated technology; it’s psychological safety. Employees feel genuinely supported to explore new directions, and managers view talent movement as a shared achievement rather than a personal loss.
Or consider a global consumer goods company that’s completely reimagined career paths as “squiggly lines” rather than straight ladders. They’ve built systems that map individual aspirations against emerging business needs, supported by AI tools that suggest unexpected but viable career moves.
The results speak for themselves: engaged employees, strengthened teams, and a leadership pipeline that’s been cultivated from within rather than imported from outside.
Building Your Organisation’s Future Today
In a talent market that remains stubbornly competitive, internal mobility isn’t just an HR initiative. It’s your competitive advantage, your retention strategy, and your succession planning all rolled into one.
We need to stop thinking of career development as something that happens to people and start creating environments where it happens with them. Where movement is expected, supported and celebrated. Where the question isn’t whether someone will grow, but how and where.
Because here’s what I’ve learned after years of watching organisations succeed and fail at this: when your people believe their best opportunities lie within your walls, everything changes. They bring different energy. They take ownership differently. They invest in collective success because they see themselves as part of the long-term story.
That’s not just good for retention figures. That’s how you build organisations that thrive, not just survive, whatever the market throws at them.
Continue the Conversation
These challenges don’t have simple solutions, but they do have workable ones. If you’re grappling with similar questions about talent development and organisational culture, I’d welcome the chance to explore these ideas further. You can find more of my thinking on workforce strategy and leadership development through LinkedIn, where I regularly share insights on building workplaces where both people and performance flourish.
The future belongs to organisations that can grow their own talent. Let’s make sure yours is one of them.
