The Secret to Stronger Teams? Offboard and Onboard Your Internal Talent

When an employee is hired into an organization, employers often rejoice. They offer elaborate onboarding journeys, training plans, and buddy-pairing introductions to ensure this new hire is assimilated into life at their company.

But when someone moves laterally or is promoted internally, their experience is notably different. If there is an onboarding process, typically it is somewhat ‘hands-off’, short-lived, or vague. What huge, missed opportunities! First, for employers to retain and motivate the talent deemed good enough to promote, and second, to sustain employee and work unit productivity during this transition.

Treat Internal Mobility Like New Hiring

Internal mobility matters, and research supports this concept. Employees who move internally tend to stay significantly longer. On average, internal movers stay about 3.2 years, versus 1.7 years for external hires. In addition, companies that promote internally see a 70 % higher likelihood of long-term retention. This is not just those workers moving upwards; the same study found that lateral movers carry a 62 % higher retention rate than external hires. So this begs the question: how will you capitalize on this worker goodwill to strengthen the workforce and enhance the employee experience?

When someone changes roles inside your organization, you are not just giving them a new job, you’re communicating how much they are valued in your company. What is said and done during the move sends a strong message to the employee about their worth and future with the organization. Yet many firms don’t have formal pipelines for internal mobility. In fact, data suggests only about one-third of companies run a formal internal mobility program.

When internal transitions are poorly managed, employers risk losing more than goodwill. They risk wide knowledge gaps, rippling team disruption, and general disengagement. That’s why offboarding the old role and onboarding the new one should be a strategic priority.

Why ‘Offboard’ Someone Who’s Staying?

It may sound counterintuitive to offboard someone who’s not leaving the company. But a thoughtful offboarding of the prior role can be immensely beneficial for a variety of reasons:

• Knowledge Capture and Handover – a structured ‘exit interview’ or knowledge transfer session helps to ensure continuity. Many organizations cite “institutional knowledge loss” as their top risk during transitions, and so by consciously capturing this knowledge during an internal offboard, companies mitigate this risk significantly.
• Emotional Closure and Respect – internal promotions still represent endings. If this ending goes unacknowledged, an employee may feel somewhat abandoned (particularly by their old team). A formal offboarding gives psychological closure and reinforces respect for past contributions. It’s also an opportunity to celebrate wins, set the new direction, and encourage employee retention.
• Signal Clarity to the Team – the transition is going to affect the team being left as much as the new team being formed and the individual changing roles. By acknowledging the move formally, companies underscore the importance of the role change and set clear expectations for both old and new teams.
• Feedback Loop – just like exit interviews for departing employees, internal offboarding yields important insights, such as what worked in the old role, what obstacles they faced, and how the team can improve going forward.

Why ‘Onboard’ Someone Who Already Works For You?

While offboarding an employee from their old team can help smooth the transition between old and new, it is just as important for employers to have an onboarding process in place for those employees who are moving from one position to another – whether this be a lateral or promotional change.

It seems obvious that if an employee has been awarded a new role, they have likely shown they are capable of succeeding in it. But being capable is only one part of it; the idea that they will land feet first in this new role and hit the ground running isn’t realistic. However, it could become a reality with some dedicated onboarding time.

The new team members should be introduced to the ins and outs of the team they are joining. This means giving them clear milestones to work towards, ensuring there is clarity around the priorities of their role, and giving them a heads up on the culture of the new team. Yes, they are still working for the same company, but individual teams have different ways of working, and there may be a micro-culture operating under the macro-culture of the workplace that the transitioning employee needs to be onboarded into to help them perform the new job to the best of their ability.

A great way of doing this? Offer the promoted or transferred employee a mentor or buddy (much like what is commonly offered to brand new hires). The employee’s transition still involves learning a new social network and unwritten rules,  Having a buddy to guide them can help to accelerate their integration and act as a great sounding board for any questions or feedback they may have.

If the organization treats this new job as a ‘set them loose’ moment, employees may feel isolated or unsure, and then those retention benefits of internal mobility will begin to erode.

In a talent environment where retention is gold, treating internal movement casually is a missed opportunity. But when done thoughtfully, offboarding the old role and onboarding the new one lets you leverage internal promotions as a powerful retention anchor, knowledge accelerator, and culture builder. If you would like to discuss how we can help set up an efficient and productive internal onboarding process, please get in touch with me at amanda@orgshakers.com