Dear Simmi,
Job Rotation is a movement between different jobs. This avoids employees from becoming bored with their job and helps them in learning new skills. It has a number of positive impacts as well as negative impacts on employees and the organization. A multiskilled employee may perform well in one organization but may not be suitable at all in a precision/specialty-based organization. I do not know the size or nature of your organization.
I also want to know why your organization is considering introducing this policy. To my knowledge, there are many reasons for introducing job rotation in an organization. These reasons may include evolving potential for increased product quality, employee satisfaction, and lower cumulative trauma disorder.
Implementing this change all at once is not easy. It is suggested that a job rotation program should start slowly at first and, if necessary, can be further refined for full implementation.
The positives of the policy in general are:
- Reduced boredom
- Reduced work stress
- Increased innovation
- Increased free time activity
- Increased production
- Reduced absenteeism
- Reduced turnover
Some potential negative impacts may include:
- Experienced workers not wanting to learn new types of work
- Machine operators not wanting to "lend" their machines to others
- Practical problems in physically transitioning from one job to the next
- Unsuitable wage forms
- Education and training of workers for new jobs
- Difficulties in finding appropriate jobs to rotate to
- Inappropriate use of job rotation by management
Please reply to the above, and then I will be in a position to provide suggestions on the policy and assessment of job rotation in an organization.
Regards,
Anil Anand