What is job rotation

What is job rotation? Job Rotation definition and its meaning?

Job rotation is a process where employees are shifted between two or more assignments at regular intervals of time in order to give them exposure to all verticals of an organization. It is a pre planned approach to test the skills of the employees so that they can be placed at the right place in an organization. This reduces the monotony of the job and gives them wider experience.

Job Rotation Definition

According to Wikipedia Job rotation is a technique used by some employers to rotate their employees' assigned jobs throughout their employment. Employers practice this technique for a number of reasons. It was designed to promote flexibility of employees and to keep employees interested into staying with the company/organization which employs them. There is also research that shows how job rotations help relieve the stress of employees who work in a job that requires manual labor.

Edward describes job rotation as “the process of switching a person from job to job” which increases an employee’s capability and value to an organisation. Job rotation can be defined as the performance by an employee of a new assignment on a temporary basis for an agreed period of time. Job rotation is position-oriented, with management determining the need for a specific job to be done.

Job Rotation Meaning

Job rotation is a system where employees work at several jobs in a business working on each job for a short period of time. Job rotation allow employees to learn about different types of work giving individual employees a better sense of understanding of an overall organization.

Why job Rotation Policy is important in hrm?

Job rotation is very important in hrm. It helps for the development of employees in the organization or company. Job rotation helps the employees learn about different jobs and improve their skills and knowledge about jobs. It helps to increase the profits in an organization. Job rotation is the easiest way of keeping the employee away from complaint and daily routine. The employees are bored working in the same profile so job rotation helps to develop interest in the job profile as the profile is new and interesting. Through job rotation the candidates get experience and learning in different jobs in a specified period. Few outcomes of job rotation with respect to individual are :

·         Job enrichment

·         Overall development

·         Motivation to perform better caused by new challenges

·         Career development

·         Leadership development

·         Low attrition rates

·         Performance improvement

Benefits and purpose of job rotation?

 The benefits of job rotation are:

·         Raises intrinsic reward potential of a job:

Job rotation is likely to raise reward potential of a job due to different skill and abilities needed to perform the job. An employee becomes a versatile employee due to job rotation. Management gets the benefit of job rotation as workers become competent in several jobs instead of one job. Staff adjustment in different department also increases due to job rotation.

·         Beneficial to organization

Job rotation is very much beneficial as organization gain as their employees are versatile. Employees develop various skills due to job rotation and hence it is very much beneficial to the organization.

·         Employee becomes competent in various jobs

Due to job rotation workers know about a variety of jobs. It facilitates the growth of the employees and makes them more useful to the organization. The organization benefit as the workers becomes competent in several jobs.

·         Improves inter departmental bonding

Job rotation helps to improve the inter-departmental cooperation and bonding. Employees understand each other well and this increases cooperation between them

·         Job rotation motivates employees

Job rotation technique is used for motivating employees in the organization.

·         Reduces boredom

Job rotation reduces boredom and disinterest among employees. Due to job rotation an employee works on different profiles for short period of time hence it reduces boredom.

·         Skill development

Job rotation helps in skill development of employee as employee are trained on different jobs profiles hence broadening knowledge and skills of an employee.

What are the types and objectives of job rotation

Types of job rotation

The two types of job rotation are vertical and horizontal. Vertical job rotation occurs when the organization promotes an employee to a new position. Horizontal job rotation occurs when an employee is given an opportunity in a different position in a short-term lateral position.

Objectives of job rotation are:

·         Reducing monotony of the job

The most important objective of job rotation is to reduce the monotony and repetitiveness in the job. Job rotation allows employees to experience different types of jobs and gain experience thus motivates them to perform well at each stage of job rotation.

·         Succession Planning

Succession planning means who will replace someone at senior position. The concept of job rotation is to develop pool of employees who can be placed at a senior level when someone gets retired or leaves the organization.

·         Creating right employee job fit

The organization is successful because of on job productivity of the employees. If they are placed correctly they will give maximum output. If the employee is not assigned the role that they are good at it reduces the organization profit hence adjusting employee at right job role is the main objective of job rotation

·         Developing a wider range of work experience

Employees are unwilling to change their job profile once they start performing a specific task. Through job rotation their manager prepares them to have a wider range of experience and develop different skills and competencies.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of job rotation?

The advantages of job rotation are:

·         Allows managers to see the hidden talents

·         Helps in exploring interests and ideas

·         Identifies skills

·         All employees are motivated to deal with new challenges

·         Boosts satisfaction level and reduces attrition rates

·         Fradulent practices are minimized

·         Eliminates boredom

·         Encourages development

·         Job rotation gives a backup plan when an employee leaves

The disadvantages of job rotation are:

·         Waste of time and efforts

·         Employees take time to adjust to new job role

·         Job rotation sometimes leads to lot of stress and anxiety

·         It is costly and time consuming

·         It does not addresses all the problems

·         It is not feasible for some industries

·         The business may suffer losses sometimes

How is job rotation help organization to improve performance of the employee?

Job rotation is a technique where in employees are moved between two or more jobs in a planned manner. Through job rotation employees are shifted to new job profiles hence they get exposure to different roles in the organization which increases the performance of the employee. Frequent job rotation helps reducing the fatigue and boredom on jobs in order to maintain productivity.

Rothwell et al, states that organizations use job rotation to alleviate the physical and mental stresses endured by employees when working the same position, year after year. Job rotation helps reducing the monotony of job experienced by employees who work the same position for longer period of time.

Job rotation improves employer brand image in a tight economy. The job security increases due to job rotation. The increased security may increase the retention rate of employees.