2023 is looking to be a year of contractions in the labor market. Companies are conducting layoffs, planning layoffs or freezing headcount to address shrinking growth in revenue that is forecast for the year ahead. With tougher economic conditions ahead, organizations are redeploying and re-assigning headcount. Just a quick look at the list of companies who conducted layoffs in the back half of 2022 is a pretty strong indicator of what lies ahead in 2023.

During the frenzy of hiring that was done over the past few years many companies came to recognize the importance of effective onboarding to employee engagement and retention. With such a war for talent, it was critical to make new hires feel special and to quickly assimilate them into the company or risk having them accept other offers. While the leverage might be shifting back to the employer with fewer job openings available, effective onboarding is still extremely important. Rather than focusing this article on the onboarding of external talent, I want to focus on internal talent moves. If you are interested in onboarding check out our All Aboard Onboarding Workshop with a free download.

What is Crossboarding?

Crossboarding is the act of onboarding internal hires. When an employee changes jobs to a new department, a new function or a new manager, an onboarding process should be implemented to ensure their success in the new role. According to HCI

81% of organizations agree that onboarding internal hires is just as important as onboarding external hires.

Onboarding is the first chance to show new employees why you do what you do and to set them up for success within your company culture. Onboarding develops your brand and can build a positive reputation for your company. This same definition applies to crossboarding. It is equally important to welcome an internal transfer to a new team and to set them up for success. With the redeployment of employees this can be even more critical. Layoffs and overall marketplace fears are creating paranoia amongst employees. If an organization has done layoffs and is redeploying talent there is also survivor syndrome that might exist. This happens when employees who were not let go feel remorse and mourn the loss of their colleagues. Moving employees between teams and departments can be exciting for some and traumatic for others. In either case a well orchestrated move will set the employee up for success in the new role.

3 Steps to Crossboarding Success

To make the transferred employee feel welcome and valued is the most important part of the process. Below are three steps that leaders can take to ensure a smooth transition.

1. Welcome the Employee- The direct manager should be present day one. Preferably they should be the first person to greet the transferred employee. If it is a virtual team, then start the first day in the new job with a video call to welcome the employee to the team and to introduce the person to their teammates.

2. Set clear Goals- The transferring employee must have clear deliverables in the new role. It is important to differentiate between the role they had and the new role. Outline what is different and how things will operate. Include metrics in the goals that are both quantitative and qualitative.

3. Create a Culture of Feedback- From day one in the new role, make it clear that feedback is a two way street. Offer direct feedback of both praise and corrective actions. At the same time encourage the employee to provide their own feedback. Schedule weekly one on ones so that an ongoing dialogue is created.

While there three are critical, it is also important to make the person feel part of the team. Are there team norms? Does the team do anything fun together that they should know about? Can you leverage someone on the team to help them assimilate?

Make them feel welcome!

In the end, employees have options. Engaged employees provide discretionary effort and it all starts with how they are made to feel. If your organization plans to move talent around in 2023, be deliberate about the change management and how you want employees to feel in their new roles. Keeping this in mind will create a culture where employees embrace opportunities to move internally rather than feeling like pawns being moved around on a chess board.