Workers say they'll quit rather than navigate unfair internal hiring practices

Dive Brief:

Employees are largely looking for their next opportunities outside their current organizations because of perceived unfairness in internal hiring processes, according to a Gartner report published Jan. 27.
Of 3,000 job candidates surveyed in June 2021, only 33% of those looking for a job in the past 12 months searched within their organization first. Notably, in a separate Gartner survey from Q3 2021, only 18% of 3,500 employees surveyed said they worked in a "high fairness environment," defined as an environment "where employees perceive that their manager and organization treat them fairly," Gartner said.
To create a more fair organization, Gartner suggested employers use tech to improve awareness of internal opportunities; provide more open access to opportunities through professional coaching; and encourage support for career mobility by giving managers the means to share career pathways with direct reports.

Dive Insight:

Finding the "hidden skills" within an organization and encouraging internal moves may be key to weathering 2022's tough talent market, various predictions have noted.

Improving internal mobility through upskilling and horizontal career paths are ways leaders can keep talent on board while also making up for gaps that may have appeared during the Great Resignation, one LinkedIn exec said recently. According to LinkedIn data, companies with low internal mobility have an average employee tenure of 2.9 years, while companies with high internal mobility have an average tenure of 5.4 years.

Focusing on skills rather than job titles may be the future of talent management overall, experts have written for HR Dive. Such a point of view is supposed to allow for internal flexibility, improved diversity and a more agile company overall.

Fairness more broadly is a larger focus of talent management, especially in the pandemic era. Compensation strategy is but one part of the fairness paradigm, but it is an important framework that directly affects retention and company culture, sources have said. Pay may be a piece of that puzzle as well; since the start of the pandemic, wages have risen — and workers are generally expecting more money from their employers.