6 Keys To Successful Job Rotation – Interview + Examples

A job rotation is a management approach used in shifting workers between two or more assignments or job lines.

This approach is applied to expose workers to different fields in the workplace.

The objective of this approach is to reduce boredom in the workplace and to test the worker’s skill and level of competence in the workplace.

Talking about boredom in the workplace, do you know when you keep doing the same thing over and over again it would not give you that level of satisfaction you desire.

Coming to the work environment, workers become tired easily when they are made to do the same kind of job every day.

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Although being professional at what you do is quite commendable there is still a need to try out new things in the workplace which brings about additional experience which in turn boosts your Resume.

This also helps the management discover new talents. Some people might be good at some other things but they are not aware but job rotation brings those hidden skills to the limelight and to the individual it reduces the monotony of work and allows exploring of other areas of interest.

Objectives Of Job Rotation 

There are several things job rotation tends to achieve in an organization some of its objectives are explained below

• It brings about exposure:Workers are exposed to different jobs in the organization. Exposure brings with knowledge of new ideas, with the rotation you can gain new ideas which will in turn trigger creativity.

• Increase in productivity:Job rotation creates an avenue where workers are productive in various fields. When there is job rotation the level of interest increases as time goes on and when workers find their job interesting trust me the output will be massive.

• Checkmating employee’s competence: A worker’s ability is being tested when rotation is done. The management tries something new to see how their employees can cope and how they can handle the new working environment they have found themselves in.

• Developing Experience:Job rotation comes with experience because before then the worker had no idea about the current working environment so when rotation happens experience is gained from other tasks which they engage in and they can be proud to say I know different work spheres.

• Succession plans: The organization knows fully well that at some point they can lose their credible staff and some can retire so the plan is to prepare ahead of time. The only way the company can replace such persons within the organization is to carry out the rotation to test workers’ abilities in other fields. When this is done the worker gathers experience and knowledge before time. At this point, the organization needs to worry about succession or going through another recruitment process because they have capable hands within the organization that can easily fit in.

• Reduction of boredom: With job rotation the management wants to create an interesting working environment where workers would be happy to come to work. Boredom kills interest and reduces the productivity of workers. With job rotation in the organization, people are doing different things at different times with this the working environment would be lively.

Keys To Successful Job Rotation

Every job rotation has what it wants to achieve and as such there are some key variables the rotation plan must have to achieve its desired result. Below are six keys to a successful job rotation;

• Job rotation must be properly planned:every good objective must be backed up with a reliable plan. For every rotation that the organization wants to carry out, there must be an organized plan. The organization can have an optimum training plan that can help the employees build upon the skills at each step of the job rotation. The plan is to make sure employees participate in each segment of the rotation and no one is left behind. With this by the end of the series of rotations, workers must have been well-grounded and the organization’s goal is achieved.

• Employees can assess whether the job rotation is achieving the desired goal: Since the workers are the ones involved in the rotation, they should be able to ascertain if the rotation is working or not. This is like a feedback process where the workers give their opinion about the impact of the rotation.

• Job rotation must have an end goal: Before rotation is done there must be an intention. An organization must take into cognizance the end product of the rotation. It can be either to advance employees’ career options, to train capable hands in case of vacancy, or to eradicate boredom in the workplace.

• Both the employees and the organization need to benefit: The organization puts in a lot of effort to make sure the employees gain experience and knowledge in other fields. Job rotation works better when no side feels cheated. In return, the organization wants productivity and massive output in return the employees should be given incentives that would boost their morale and motivate them to work.

Additional compensation is given when employees learn new jobs or undertake difficult jobs in the job rotation process.

• Written documentation or online resource: Some materials are very important during the employee training process. Written documentation about every aspect of the employee’s job will guide them through the process. Also, Online resources should be made available for easy learning.

• There should be a trainer or a mentor at every stage of the training: Resource persons are made available to guide them through all they need to know at every stage.

Examples of Job Rotation 

Explained below are some examples of how job rotation works in an ideal organization.

• Factory job: A factory has different departments and subdivisions. Having worked in a factory I can tell you that rotation is done at the highest level in a factory. For example on Monday, you can work in the bakery, on Tuesday when you come they take you to the loading section, Wednesday when you come you will be taken to the packaging section, it follows the same way until the end of the week. Sometimes this brings about dissatisfaction from the workers, but they have to adapt because of the incentives involved. If you are looking for a factory job, be ready to be moved from place to place.

• Nursing: The hospital is another place where job rotation is at its peak. Nurses can be moved from the labor world to the children’s world and they can be taken from the emergency world to the psychiatric world. This helps them to gain experience.

• Manufacturing job: A manufacturing employee may be moved and taken to another position to reduce the stress. In a manufacturing company, some jobs are more stressful than others so as not to reduce the workload rotation has to be done.

Conclusively, job rotation requires a high level of commitment to achieve and it is a win-win situation for both parties. The workers are rewarded for their extra services and the organization gains productivity and massive output.