How to correctly use internal mobility to maximize talent ROI

June 5, 2025

 

Alex Oliver

12 min read

Instead of searching externally for the hire that ticks every box on your “ideal candidate” list, try looking inward. Effective internal recruiting strategies help you fill critical positions faster, reduce hiring costs and minimize the time for a hire to become fully productive.

Leveraging internal mobility is also a net win for your employee engagement and retention metrics since promoting from within and investing in career development demonstrates your company values employee growth.

As companies continue to increase their commitment to internal mobility, let’s explore how it can help you get the most return on investment (ROI) from your talent while keeping your company flexible in today’s hiring landscape.

Looking for resources to implement your internal mobility strategy? We got you covered with our internal recruiting template kit.

What is internal mobility in HR?

Internal mobility, also known as talent, employee or career mobility, describes the movement of employees between roles in a company. It includes movements like promotions, demotions, transfers and lateral transitions.

Internal mobility is an often-overlooked talent acquisition strategy. According to LinkedIn’s 2025 Workplace Learning Report, it requires collaboration from cross-functional teams and a company culture that prioritizes learning.

Many companies consider external hiring the easier option since it takes time and resources to develop effective internal mobility programs, like career development initiatives, learning and development (L&D) teams, and manager training.

But done correctly, a strong internal mobility framework boosts employee retention and satisfaction and even lowers labor costs, making it a valuable recruitment lever for enterprises with massive hiring quotas.

Curious about other underutilized recruiting strategies? Learn more about the advantages of employee referral programs for sourcing talent.

Why is internal mobility valuable to business success?

Effective internal recruiting opens your organization to enormous benefits, especially from cost and employee engagement perspectives. For example, internal mobility:

• Retains top talent: LinkedIn’s 2023 Workplace Report shows that helping employees make internal job changes increases retention, with 75% stating they will stay if they’ve had a lateral move in the past two years.
• Reduces hiring costs: Besides job advertising costs, you also save money on employee onboarding and training since current staff are already familiar with your company’s culture and practices.
• Builds a learning culture: Internal mobility allows staff to access training courses and development plans to learn new skills, improve their productivity and foster a positive workplace culture that supports business growth.
• Increases collaboration: Employees can collaborate with other departments and stakeholders on cross-functional projects, gaining expertise in your company’s processes to drive success.
• Prepares for future talent needs: Internal mobility requires workforce planning, enabling you to anticipate upcoming job needs for continued business growth and innovation.

Breaking down the types of internal mobility

Internal mobility encompasses various types: upward, lateral, project-based, geographic and temporary.

Upward mobility (promotions)

Upward or vertical mobility involves employees moving to higher-level positions, often with additional responsibilities. Sometimes, it comes with a pay raise or access to new benefits and company perks.

Effective upward mobility is critical in any business since it serves as the pipeline for mid-level managers. It also increases employee retention since employees who are recognized and compensated for their good work are less likely to look for opportunities elsewhere.

One example of an upward mobility framework is role banding, which groups jobs into categories and levels based on compensation, responsibilities and skills. Role banding clarifies advancement expectations for senior positions, helping employees prepare more effectively.

Lateral mobility

Lateral mobility, also known as role-to-role or horizontal mobility, refers to employees who move from their current position to a new position at the same level. For example, a lateral move could be a recruitment manager moving to an IT manager position — the employee changes departments but retains the same pay and people managing responsibilities.

Supporting lateral mobility allows your employees to pursue roles that better align with their career interests, limiting the chance of disengagement and quiet quitting.

Lateral moves also broaden employees’ skill sets to adapt more easily to changing business demands. For example, a marketer who moves into an outbound sales role can use their advertising skills to craft sales pitches that attract more customers.

You can support lateral mobility in your organization through:

• Frequent one-on-ones with direct reports to assess role alignment.
• Internal job boards that allow staff to apply for positions that meet their interests.
• Continuous learning programs that help employees build up the required skills for lateral transitions.

Project-based mobility

Project-based mobility is when employees temporarily work on short-term projects, usually with cross-functional teams.

For example, say a company decides to launch new sustainable packaging for its products. Traditionally siloed departments — design, marketing, logistics, finance and legal — must collaborate temporarily on this project to achieve success.

Project-based mobility enables stretch assignments that develop innovation, collaboration and leadership skills while building cross-departmental understanding. It also prepares high-potential employees for future opportunities that keep them engaged.

If you want to take advantage of project-based mobility, try building an opportunities marketplace for anyone to post and accept short-term internal projects. This system is an excellent way for current staff to expand their networks, gain fresh perspectives and develop new competencies through hands-on experience.

Geographic mobility (transfers)

Geographic mobility, or transfers, involves moving employees to similar roles in different offices, regions or countries.

While common for multinational enterprises needing top performers in locations where they can make the most impact, it is also typical of companies that hire multiple employees for the same position. Think of a chain restaurant with several locations — a server may travel between all restaurants depending on work needs.

Geographic moves offer significant development opportunities. Sending employees to different locations allows them to enhance their leadership and cultural competency skills when working with diverse coworkers and customers. Ambitious staff also get the chance to advance in their careers through new challenges in unfamiliar environments.

But relocation also includes considerable challenges. Employees may experience financial strain, culture shock and burnout from the adjustment process. Make sure to offer generous relocation support, like relocation assistance packages and cultural training, so your talent thrives in these new surroundings.

Temporary mobility

Temporary mobility involves placing employees in short-term assignments outside their regular roles. These assignments include internships, secondments (a temporary transfer) and cross-functional projects that build capabilities while maintaining business continuity.

Here are two examples of temporary mobility in action:

1. An employee taking on a coworker’s role while that coworker is on parental leave.
2. A marketer working closely with the product team for six weeks to acquire technical knowledge about a new release, enabling more effective marketing campaigns.

The goal of temporary mobility is for employees to learn new competencies, either to improve their performance in their current role or train for future roles. Secondments, in particular, are great ways for employees to explore roles that align with their interests and test their readiness for advancement.

To avoid skill gaps and keep employees engaged, make temporary role changes part of every employee development plan. This makes evaluating promotions easier since employees who’ve completed these assignments have already demonstrated their adaptability and growth potential.

Strategies to measure and maximize talent ROI through internal mobility

In light of the “Big Stay” phenomenon of talent, where talent chooses to remain in their roles amidst economic uncertainty, talent acquisition teams are taking advantage of internal mobility more than ever. A 2024 LinkedIn report even indicates internal mobility is up 30% since 2021.

But it can be challenging to convince executives of the long-term benefits of internal mobility compared to the short-term appeal of external hiring.

That said, you can justify and maximize the ROI of your internal mobility strategies with data:

• Present studies showing the positive impact of internal mobility. One study indicates that internal movers stay longer, outperform and cost 18% less than external hires, which on average cost $4,700.
• Examine current employee metrics and career development programs. What resources would it take to develop structured learning programs and train managers? And what do your metrics indicate about the success of your current recruitment efforts?

Below, we’ll highlight the top recruitment metrics to help you evaluate the ROI of your internal versus external recruitment.

Key metrics for measuring internal mobility ROI

• Retention rate: Higher retention rates for internal hires than external hires can suggest successful matching that lowers turnover costs.
• Time to fill: Internal moves are typically faster to fill since it takes less time to source and assess talent.
• Employee engagement scores: Internal movers often provide higher employee engagement scores since they feel supported by the company in their career development.
• Cost per hire: Hiring internal talent is typically cheaper, with little to no costs for job advertising and onboarding and minimal changes to compensation.
• Time to productivity: Internal hires don’t require the same ramp-up as external hires, meaning they can start contributing to their new roles much faster.

Challenges in measuring internal mobility ROI and how to overcome them

Recruitment teams often struggle to separate metrics like time-to-fill between external and internal hires, complicating the measurement of internal mobility ROI.

Additional challenges include:

• Mobility friction: Companies lacking a learning culture or manager support for career development focus on external hiring for talent gaps.
• Limited performance data: Without skills assessments, performance reviews and nine-box grids for measuring talent potential, evaluating employee readiness for internal moves becomes difficult.
• Siloed HR systems: When applicant tracking systems (ATS) or candidate relationship management platforms don’t sync with performance management or human capital management (HCM) systems, organizations lose access to critical insights like time-to-productivity.

Integrating software tools for an enhanced internal mobility program

A tech stack supporting data synchronization solves most of the measurement challenges mentioned above.

A fully integrated HR system allows you to identify skills gaps, assess employee competencies, and craft headcount and succession plans for filling roles efficiently. Platforms with opportunity marketplaces, skills inventories, internal job boards and AI-powered tools can identify top talent and invite them to apply for roles that match their competencies and interests.

With seamless data flow between your software tools, you can reduce manual tasks like repeated data entry while supporting more strategic decision-making.

If your current recruiting tool prevents holistic internal talent visibility, consider enterprise-grade systems like iCIMS Talent Cloud. Beyond integrating with popular HCM systems, iCIMS features configurable analytics dashboards to make monitoring and acting on your internal mobility data easier.

Internal talent mobility best practices

Methods to enhance your internal talent mobility strategy include fostering a continuous upskilling culture and aligning talent advancement with company objectives.

Ensuring employee readiness for role transitions

Employees seeking new challenges may express interest in role changes, but interest doesn’t guarantee readiness or available positions matching their goals.

To determine transition readiness, examine whether competencies and potential align with new roles. More importantly, train people managers to monitor and support direct reports’ professional ambitions.

Manager training provides tools to prepare employees for career moves through:

• Employee development plans that roadmap and track short- and long-term goals employees must accomplish before changing roles.
• Mentorship programs that develop soft skills, expand networking and share information about open positions.
• Special projects and secondments that build cross-functional collaboration skills and test abilities in real-world scenarios.

Foster a feedback loop for continuous improvement

Encouraging employee feedback following internal moves determines what’s working in your program. Send surveys at set intervals after internal moves to gather insights. Like onboarding surveys, consider multiple touchpoints to gauge satisfaction over time.

Act on feedback to improve program areas. For example, if employees consistently report unclear job expectations post-move, train managers to provide role clarity to internal movers, including key performance indicators (KPIs).

Remember: Feedback loops provide employee perspectives, but pair them with employee readiness metrics for a complete program success picture.

Align internal mobility with business strategy

Not all employee career goals align with open business roles, nor will every opening match current employee skills. However, talent acquisition specialists can work with executive, finance and HR teams to align talent with business needs.

A couple of ways include:

• Headcount planning: Determines optimal employee distribution, skill requirements, labor and recruitment budgets, and possible employee backfills for each role.
• Succession planning: Identifies and develops internal talent to fill key positions when current employees leave.

Under the umbrella of workforce planning, both headcount and succession planning pinpoint talent shortages, drive innovation and prepare for future needs.

Ensure equity and fairness in mobility opportunities

Internal mobility opportunities should be accessible and fair for all employees, but they often aren’t. A 2024 LinkedIn report indicates managers and higher seniority staff are twice as likely to make internal moves than individual contributors, suggesting companies leave lower-level staff behind.

You can address this by:

• Educating managers on the importance of talent mobility, encouraging them to support their direct reports’ career interests and holding them responsible for talent development in their performance evaluations.
• Make open roles, gigs and projects visible to everyone alongside transparent criteria and required skills.
• Monitor internal mover demographics, like backgrounds and job levels, to ensure underrepresented groups receive proportional opportunities.
• Conduct regular audits of your practices to reduce bias.

Pro tip: Make fair internal mobility programs a company goal, like reducing time-to-promotion rates for lower seniority staff. This demonstrates commitment to equitable talent practices and increases company-wide participation.

How iCIMS empowers internal mobility for large enterprises

Successful internal mobility requires more than a simple ATS. Instead, you need a comprehensive and scalable platform that streamlines internal job postings, talent screenings and onboarding for a smooth hiring experience.

iCIMS’ enterprise-grade solution makes short work of identifying top talent through internal talent pools, AI-powered match scoring, and reporting and analytics for tracking internal mobility metrics. Plus, with native integrations with major HCM systems, you get full visibility into how your internal recruitment efforts affect your larger organizational goals.

Schedule a free 15-minute demo to see just how iCIMS accelerates your internal moves and enables strategic workplace planning.