Job Rotation: A Full Guide with

5 Examples
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Posted by Erik van Vulpen

Job rotation is a technique used to increase employee learning and motivation.

In this article, we will explain what job rotation is, list its benefits and
drawbacks, and give 5 examples of companies who successfully apply job
rotation in their activities.

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Contents
What is job rotation? A definition
Job rotation benefits
Disadvantages of job rotation
Job rotation best practices
Five job rotation program examples
Before you go
FAQ

What is job rotation? A definition

Job rotation is the practice of moving employees between jobs in an organization.
These rotations are predominantly lateral, meaning that they happen between jobs
on the same level and are not considered promotions. They are also often
temporary with people moving back to their original job after a certain time.

Rotating jobs has a number of key benefits that we will cover later in more detail,
think for instance of; starting a new job is exciting and challenging, it reduces
boredom, stimulates motivation, helps to assess person-job fit, and it’s a great way
to acquire new knowledge and competencies through practicing different jobs.

Job rotation is a well-known organizational development technique. It is an

essential part of job (re)design, together with job simplification, job enrichment,
and job enlargement. Let’s take a closer look at the benefits of job rotation.

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 Job rotation is a an essential part of job (re) design.

Job rotation benefits

Rotating jobs has a long list of benefits for both the employer and the employee.
Although there is some overlap between the two, let’s first focus on the benefits of
job rotation for the employer:

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Learning. Job rotation is an excellent way to transfer specific skills,

knowledge, and competencies, leading to human capital accumulation. For
example, an employee may learn the full production process because they
have served in different roles that provide them with a holistic perspective.
Similarly, managers may need to experience different departments before
they’re ready for a senior leadership position in which they need this
experience.
Another example is that many HR professionals lack business skills. A good
way to build these skills is by rotating HR professionals outside the HR
department – and having people from the business rotate in the HR
department. This is a practice recommended by John Boudreau and Ed
Lawler.

Flexibility. Rotation allows employees to do different jobs leading to a more

flexible workforce. If people can be deployed into two or three roles, your
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 total available workforce will be larger and much more flexible to fill any of
the available roles.

Employee replacement. When a critical employee suddenly leaves, their role

will have to be replaced by someone in the company. Here, job rotation can
play a role. By (temporarily) deploying a peer who is somewhat familiar with
the role and very familiar with the company, the critical role can be filled
quickly.

Orientation and placement. An area where rotation is often applied is in

traineeships. During a traineeship, a graduate usually works four different
roles in the timespan of two years. This enables the graduate to explore
hidden talents and identify the roles that they like and are good at.
At the same time, it enables the organization to explore where in the
organization the new hire can add the most value, which is also referred to as
job-employee matching. This is a great way to ensure that new talent will be
optimally deployed. Similarly, when someone desires a different role, they
can be rotated in the company to try this new role. If it does not work, the
person is free to come back. This may prevent a talented employee from
leaving.

Satisfaction & attrition. When someone is stuck in a job for 4 or 5 years,

they may be at a high risk of leaving. Job rotation offers the opportunity for a
change of scenery and challenge people, leading to increased satisfaction and
lower employee attrition.

Similarly, job rotation also has benefits for the employee:

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 Motivation. One of the drawbacks of staying in a role for too long is a loss of
motivation. Job rotation ensures a change of scenery with new responsibilities
that challenge the employee to learn and adapt. This is a great way to reduce
boredom, motivate employees, and increase their personal agility.

Learning. Learning is not only a benefit for the employer but also to the
employee. Especially people who entered the workforce recently have a
strong need for learning and development. Job rotation – for instance in
combination with peer coaching – can offer these opportunities.

Disadvantages of job rotation

We cannot conclude this article without briefly mentioning the disadvantages of
job rotation.

Inefficiencies. When an employee joins a new role, they need to learn the
ropes before reaching their optimum productivity level. Because of this,
rotation can lead to frequent interruptions in work and corresponding
inefficiencies

Misunderstanding. Another disadvantage is that the person who rotates out

of a role may still have superior (tacit) knowledge and connections. This may
result in this person staying (partially) involved in the role, leading to role
unclarity. One way to tackle this issue is by having a peer mentoring program
in place.

Disgruntled employee. Rotating people out of a job they like, may reduce
their motivation. A potential disadvantage is disgruntled employees who will

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 not like the new job, lack motivation, and may even consider leaving the
organization.

Lack of opportunity. Job rotation is often horizontal, meaning that people

will not get a promotion but rather a different role on the same level. This
may feel like a sidestep instead of a next step, throwing people off their
envisioned career path. Assessing their level of ambition and framing the
rotation as an opportunity to learn more diverse skills that will benefit them
later in their career is a best practice here.

Job rotation best practices

As you have now realized, it is absolutely possible to ‘rotate the wrong way’. Let’s
go over a series of best practices on how to create a more positive impact while
reducing negative effects.

A means to an end. Rotation can be used for many different purposes. What
is important to keep in mind is that the goal of job rotation should be clear
from the beginning. Mindlessly rotating employees into different jobs creates

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inefficiencies, role unclarity, and interrupts work. These inefficiencies can onlyv
 be justified when there is a clear goal, or benefit, to this practice of job
rotation.

Employee buy-in. Another potential disadvantage is that rotation may lead

to disgruntled employees. It is, therefore, crucial to create buy-in. This can be
done by clearly explaining the benefits of job rotation for the employee and
convincing the employee rather than coercing them. Creating employee buy-
in can turn something perceived as a bad situation into an opportunity.

Training. Third, ensure that people are properly trained before they are
rotated into a different job. Entering a job while lacking the required
knowledge and skills to perform well will decrease motivation and increase
the time required to reach optimum productivity level. As mentioned above,
both peer coaching and peer mentoring can be very valuable here.

Monitoring and feedback. Once someone has rotated into a role, ensure
you monitor them closely, and provide ample feedback. Over time, people will
become more independent and require less structure. In addition, create
clear success criteria for the job and communicate these. This helps the
employee understand what is expected of them.

Planned job rotation. A more formalized approach to job rotation is called

job pathing or career pathing. Here, a specific sequence of jobs is lined up to
reach a career objective. 

Five job rotation program examples

Let’s now go over five real-life job rotation examples.

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The Slumber Yard * J d v
 Traineeships where people rotate

Job rotation in factories

The effect of rotation on nurses

Edelman

1. The Slumber Yard

Our first job rotation example comes from a company named The Slumber Yard,
which is the biggest online resource for mattress reviews. The main reason for The
Slumber Yard to launch a rotation program was to try and reduce the company’s
turnover. As Matthew Ross, co-owner and COO puts it: “By training employees to
be competent in multiple disciplines, we’re able to reduce the negative effects
associated with employee turnover. If an employee leaves, we have other
employees who can easily slide in and assume the role.”

Naturally, different jobs take different amounts of time to learn. This implies that
it’s important to determine accurate training times and the corresponding length
of the rotation program. At The Slumber Yard, people rotate once every quarter.

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2. Heineken’s Technologist Program

Our second job rotation example comes from Dutch beer brewer Heineken. The
company has several traineeships for graduates, including a Technologist Program.
Selected trainees will get several assignments and each assignment lasts 6 months.
As such, they’ll be rotating in various departments such as Packaging, Product
development, Brewing, Quality Assurance, and Packaging development.

Projects Technologist trainees could be working on include:

Safeguarding product safety and assessing quality risks; 

Developing new beers or packaging; 

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 Tackling day-to-day production issues through thorough analysis and
elimination;

Coming up with creative solutions for new problems.

Once they’ve completed the program, trainees are equipped to start as a

Technologist in various Heineken departments. This traineeship is a good example
of how rotation enables people to obtain different skills and competencies, leading
to a more flexible workforce in which people are able to do more than one job.

3. Job rotation in factories

In factories and on plant floors, there can be an important additional reason for job
rotation: providing physical injuries and chronic work-related musculoskeletal
issues. While rotating jobs can indeed help with this (and also to cope with
boredom), it’s no miracle solution and should ideally be part of a larger effort of
redesigning work.

4. The effect of rotation on nurses

A study among nurses in the US investigated whether or not a rotation system
would encourage nurses to understand, relate to and share the vision of the
organization, consequently increasing their job satisfaction and stimulating them
to willingly remain in their jobs and commit themselves to the organization. 

According to the nurses themselves, job rotation inspired them to achieve higher
performance, allowed for continuous growth at work, extended knowledge and
skill, and increasing clinic patient care-taking quality. They agreed that it could help
employees to acquire multiple capabilities and expand vision and that it could be

kan approach to areduce job burnout. 

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 5. Edelman
There are many different job rotation programs. At Edelman, an American PR and
marketing consultancy firm, they have a rotation program for their high-
performing, high-potential employees. Employees who are selected are sent to an
international location to work, live, and learn for up to 18 months.

The idea behind Edelman’s program is to give people the opportunity to learn from
varying perspectives around the world and to diversify their work experience (to
ultimately better serve the company’s clients).

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Before you go
As you know by now, rotating jobs can have many benefits for both the
organization and the employee. However, when done randomly, it will reduce

kefficiency, introduce
a errors, and *lead to role unclarity.
J It is therefored key to clearly v
specify the reason why rotation should be leveraged. These and (many) more tips
about job rotation, job design, and organizational development can be found in
our upcoming certificate program about organizational development!

FAQ
What is job rotation?
Job rotation is the practice of moving employees between jobs in an
organization. These rotations are often temporary and predominantly lateral,
meaning that they happen between jobs on the same level and are not
considered promotions.

What is the main strength of job rotation?

One of the main benefits of job rotation is the fact that it is an excellent way to
transfer specific skills, knowledge, and competencies, leading to human capital
accumulation and a more flexible workforce.

What is a drawback of job rotation?

One of the disadvantages of job rotation lies in the fact that it can lead to
disgruntled employees if they are rotated out of a job they enjoy.

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Erik van Vulpen

Erik van Vulpen is an expert in shaping modern HR practices by
bringing technological innovations into the HR context. He
receives global recognition as an HR thought leader and regularly
speaks on topics like HR Analytics, Digital HR, and the Future of
Work. In his passion to share his ideas, he founded AIHR, the
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