Job Rotation

WHAT IS JOB ROTATION? Job rotation is the surest way of keeping the employee away from complacency and boredom of routine. It is difficult for an employee to sustain his interest in a given Job for any substantial length of time as humans have the tendency of outgrowing their jobs through the learning and experience that they gain over a period of time. Stimulating human mind through diversity of challenges is a sure way to bring to forefront its creative instincts and in taking the individual and organizational performance to a higher plane. This is where Job rotation can prove to be a handy tool. Job rotation involves the movement of employees through a range of jobs in order to increase interest and motivation. It can also be described as an approach to Management Development where an individual is moved through a schedule of assignments designed to give him/her a breadth of exposure to the entire operation. Job rotation can improve “multi-skilling” but also involves the need for greater training. In a sense, Job rotation is similar to Job enlargement. This approach widens the activities of a worker by switching him or her around a range of work. For example, an administrative employee might spend part of the week looking after the reception area of a business, dealing with customers and enquiries. Some time might then be spent manning the company telephone switchboard and then inputting data onto a database. Job rotation may offer the advantage of making it easier to cover for absent colleagues, but it may also reduce ' productivity as workers are initially unfamiliar with a new task. Job rotation is also practiced to allow qualified employees to gain more insights into the processes of a company, and to reduce boredom and increase job satisfaction through job variation. POTENTIAL OF JOB ROTATION A well planned Job rotation programme in an organization has immense potential of positive impact on job satisfaction/motivation, engagement and finally on retention