Achieve business agility through redeployment and upskilling

Change is a constant in business at the moment. Technology, particularly AI, is evolving at an incredible rate, the global economy is creating persistent pressure, cyberthreats are a constant backdrop, and sustainable practices are becoming more critical than ever. Add to that an on-going talent shortage, and it’s clear that businesses need to develop more agile practices to keep up. 

Static roles and traditional talent pipelines are no longer enough for businesses to stay competitive and productive. Alongside these legacy workforce models, companies need to implement practices that help their existing employees to adapt, grow, and develop. That’s where redeployment and upskilling come in. 

This article explores how redeployment and upskilling can help employers to meet changing business needs whilst at the same time providing their employees with a wider range of development paths. We’ll look at the basics of redeployment and upskilling, why they’re relevant at the moment, how they work together, how and when to implement them, and the key benefits and challenges of these strategies.

Redeployment should not be confused with other internal staff movement, particularly transfers and promotions. Redeployment is a separate strategy in itself. 

Previously, redeployment was seen as a last resort – something implemented in an attempt to avoid layoffs. It has traditionally been associated with restructures or workforce downsizing. As a proactive strategy, however, redeployment can: 

• Build long-term capability. 
• Address skill shortages.
• Improve talent retention.
• Offer additional internal career pathways.

As a deliberate choice, redeployment is a sign of business maturity. It signals to employees that the company values its people while prioritising long-term performance over short-term fixes.

The key differences between a redeployment and an internal transfer are timing and purpose. 

• Redeployment places an employee into a strategically important role to avoid redundancy, fill a skills gap, or support a business transformation.
• An internal transfer places an employee in a similar role to their original position, with comparable responsibilities and similar skill requirements.

In other words, redeployment is a more strategic option, undertaken to align people with evolving business needs. 

While internal transfers maximise an employee’s existing skillset, redeployment often requires reskilling.

• Reskilling equips the employee with the new skills and capabilities they will need to transition into a new role.
• Redeployment is the actual movement of the employee into the new role.

In short, reskilling is the preparation, redeployment is the action. 

As with any new strategy, redeployment has its advantages and disadvantages. On the plus side, redeployment:

• Reduces recruitment costs.
• Keeps institutional knowledge within the business.
• Provides additional career paths that support retention and loyalty. 
• Reflects positively on the employer brand.

On the other hand: 

• Employees may not wish to transfer to the areas where they’re needed.
• The business loses the fresh perspective new hires may bring.
• Employees may not have the skills required, at the level required, for the new role.

Although redeployment is no longer only used to avoid redundancy, that is still a valid case. Redeployment can also be used:

• When roles become obsolete due to technical advancements.
• When health or disability mean employees can no longer perform their original role.
• When new roles open up within the business.

At Careerminds, our coaches leverage their extensive experience and their in-depth workforce expertise to support your staff and your business through career transitions. Find out about the Careerminds approach to redeployment by talking to one of our experts. 

Upskilling expands the capabilities of an existing employee to match the demands of the business. That could be skills they need either for the evolution of their current role or in preparation for another role within the business. It’s not about training them to leave their job, but about training them to excel wherever they are in the business. 

Investing in talent upskilling helps employers to stay competitive and employees to stay relevant. It ensures that both the people and the company have the technical, digital, and strategic skills ready for the next phase of the role and the business. 

By investing in upskilling, companies can: 

• Reduce reliance on external hiring and the associated costs.
• Build a culture of continuous learning.
• Improve retention.
• Build flexibility into workforce planning.

Effective upskilling requires the business to identify skills gaps and future requirements. They must ask: 

• Which skills will be most important to the business over the next two to four years?
• How will emerging technologies change workflows?
• What skills gaps exist currently and what will be required in the future?
• Which roles are at risk of automation?
• Which roles will expand?

Currently, in-demand skills are focused on digital transformation, including AI literacy, cybersecurity, data analytics, and online collaboration.  

Different learning styles require different approaches to upskilling. Employees retain more when learning opportunities are varied and align with their individual learning needs. The business may also need to accommodate remote or hybrid workers. 

Consider the following options to enable employees to upskill accessibly: 

• Instructor-led training.
• On-demand online courses.
• Coaching and mentoring.
• Job shadowing.
• Formal certifications.
• Microlearning opportunities.
• Stretch projects.

As with redeployment, upskilling also has its pros and cons. Firstly, the advantages: 

• Employees can access new roles and career growth.
• Employees can move to the areas they’re most needed.
• It improves productivity, efficiency, and performance. 
• It positions the business to adapt quickly to market change and technological innovation.

Now the disadvantages: 

• There is a cost involved in providing training.
• Time spent upskilling is taken away from immediate business needs.
• Highly skilled employees risk being poached by competitors or other departments.

To keep pace with innovation, employees should be continuously upskilled. 

Particular scenarios include: 

• When new technology is introduced.
• When skill gaps are identified.
• When redeployment is on the cards.
• When it’s used as part of a talent retention strategy.
• When industry demands evolve.

In 2021, Woolworths announced a $50million fund to reskill its 60,000 staff due to advances in automation, predictive analytics, AI, and cloud computing. Recognising that the day-to-day work of staff was changing, they took action to ensure no employee was left behind. By investing in an online learning platform and partnering with education providers, they enabled staff to take on new technical and supervisory roles, including those involving robotics and automation. 

To summarise: 

	What is is	When to use it
Redeployment	A strategic internal transfer	To build long-term capability within the business
Upskilling	Expanding the skills of existing employees	To equip employees for redeployment or promotion
Reskilling	Equipping employees with an entirely new skillset	To equip employees for lateral moves due to role obsolescence or transfers

Current challenges in the workplace make redeployment and upskilling two powerful allies for HR teams, helping them to futureproof the workforce and position the business for success. These strategies should be considered sooner rather than later, because:

With the advancement of technology, organisations are experiencing a disconnect between the skills that already exist within the business and the skills they need. AI and automation are transforming the workplace, with many tasks being eliminated whilst others are becoming more important. In some cases, it seems that roles are disappearing when, actually, they’re just evolving. Continuous upskilling is required to stay ahead of this trend. 

By prioritising internal mobility, businesses can reduce the cost of external hiring, move people into roles faster, avoid layoffs, preserve institutional knowledge, and improve employee morale and loyalty. It’s a win all round. 

Career stagnation is one of the top reasons for employees quitting. Redeployment and upskilling strategies signal that the business values its staff and is willing to invest in them. When employees can see the path they desire within the company, they are less likely to leave, which in turn supports engagement, succession pipelines, and performance.

When employees transition between departments or functions, they take the knowledge they’ve gained from another part of the business. That helps to break down silos, improve cross-functional understanding, and strengthen employee networks.

The ability to move talent quickly, whether during a restructure, a downturn, or an innovation cycle, means that the business is better positioned to navigate change. Redeployment and upskilling offer a fast response without relying on external hires. 

Click below to access the Careerminds Guide to Workforce Planning. This easy-to-use resource will help you to optimise your workforce by outlining steps to create a more efficient and productive structure. 

Image: Download the guide to workforce planning. Careerminds will walk you through the workforce planning processes to ensure your business has a solid employee structure that supports productivity.

The strength of these strategies lies in their combined force. Where redeployment provides the direction, upskilling provides the capability. Together, they enable the business to anticipate and prepare for challenges, rather than responding at short notice when they occur. Integrating redeployment and upskilling brings a wealth of benefits: 

As roles evolve or vanish, businesses can prepare talent for structured transitions. This looks like:

• Identifying potential high-demand roles for the short- to medium-term.
• Mapping skills needed within those roles.
• Providing upskilling opportunities to close gaps between old and new roles.
• Redeploying employees into newly-opening positions.

This process helps to avoid layoffs, reduce external hiring costs, minimise business disruption, and create additional career paths. 

When employees can see a future within the company, in the form of learning and movement, they are more likely to stay. A clear redeployment and upskilling strategy shows them that individuals won’t become obsolete, mobility is supported, and the company is a safe and stable place to work. The resulting loyalty, engagement, and knowledge retention positively impact performance.

Through upskilling, candidates can be prepared for roles that would previously have been out of reach. As well as reducing bias associated with tenure and networks, an upskilling and redeployment policy can open pathways for less visible employees and protect vulnerable groups during periods of organisational growth. Additionally, it promotes transparency in decision-making. 

Upskilling and redeployment, paired with technology, can foster an agile talent pool. Internal platforms can match employees with projects, roles, stretch assignments, and learning opportunities. This information can: 

• Increase visibility of skills and aspirations.
• Identify candidates for redeployment at an early stage.
• Ensure equitable career development.

An employer that is seen to value its employees is often viewed as an employer of choice, attracting top candidates to open vacancies. Strong redeployment and upskilling policies can improve perception of the company externally, as well as internally. 

Follow these five key steps to integrate redeployment and upskilling strategies into your organisation. 

1. Conduct a workforce assessment

Start with a baseline understanding of current organisational capabilities to provide the visibility necessary to create the foundation of a redeployment and upskilling strategy. 

• Define the objective of the assessment and the assessment method.
• Communicate the plan to create a skill inventory.
• Collect data.
• Identify emerging and at-risk positions.
• Assess current skills against predicted workforce requirements. 

Pitfalls to avoid: Ignoring soft skills, using biased or vague questions, lack of focus, and inaccurate data.

2. Develop learning pathways

Structured programmes will enable employees to progress into new roles or expand existing skills. 

• Offer job-specific training. 
• Deliver foundational training in digital skills.
• Provide coaching and mentoring opportunities. 
• Allocate working hours to learning and development. 

Pitfalls to avoid: Ignoring stakeholder input, treating learning as a one-time event, relying on a single format, not seeking feedback following learning, and not securing management buy-in.

3. Identify opportunities for redeployment 

The point of a redeployment strategy is to prepare for the future instead of reacting as situations arise. Partnering with business leaders will enable HR teams to stay abreast of emerging gaps in the workforce. 

• Which departments are expanding? 
• Which roles are shrinking or may become obsolete?
• Which employees have adjacent or transferable skills? 
• Where might internal talent perform better than external hires?

Pitfalls to avoid: Poor communication, lack of legal insight, unclear rationale, unfair selection criteria and insufficient skills visibility. 

4. Support employees into new roles 

Success happens when employees are confident when transitioning into their new roles. Companies can build confidence by providing appropriate support. 

• Offer career coaching and role onboarding.
• Encourage managers and leaders to champion internal mobility.
• Actively source feedback during transitions.
• Build psychological safety into redeployments.

Pitfalls to avoid: Unclear communication, surprise announcements, skill mismatches, neglecting emotional impact, and not following up. 

5. Assess and refine strategies

Remember to track data at every stage. Workforce data analytics can inform improvements to talent strategies and ensure value to the business. Monitor data such as: 

• Spend on external hiring.
• Retention rates.
• Time taken to fill vacancies.
• Results of employee engagement surveys.
• Performance of redeployed staff.

Pitfalls to avoid: Inaccurate data, failing to set measurable goals at the outset, and neglecting on-going support.

Implementing a redeployment and upskilling strategy takes time and effort, so it needs to be worth it. Take a look at the statistics: 

• Internal redeployment can be more cost effective than external hiring – around $7,300 lower for a $90,000 role (source).
• Internal recruitment can reduce time-to-hire – from 45-70 days to 31-45 days (source).
• Employees who have made an internal move at the 2-year mark are more likely to stay with the company (source).
• 30% of CEOs reported that upskilling improved productivity (source).

These statistics show that redeployment and upskilling can positively affect executive KPIs such as cost avoidance, efficiency, retention, and productivity. Strategically, it makes sense for companies to invest in their existing employees. 

Any new organisational strategy can face obstacles and challenges. These are some of the most common hurdles faced when implementing redeployment and upskilling strategies:

Change can create stress at any level. Leaders may be anxious about losing their top talent to other departments and employees may be concerned about involuntary redeployment. To overcome resistance, it is imperative that companies communicate clearly, fairly, and transparently. 

Businesses may not have a full understanding of the skills possessed by their employees. Skills gained in previous roles or during extra-curricular activities, for example, may not be evident. To identify untapped expertise, create skills inventories and use internal talent platforms. 

Not every department or business has structured training opportunities in place. Ensure no employee is disadvantaged by offering accessible, flexible, and diverse learning options. 

The view still exists that redeployment is only used during layoffs or restructures. Before implementing a redeployment policy, leaders must reinforce that it is not a crisis response, but rather a growth strategy.  

Redeployment and upskilling aren’t optional any more – they’re essential to workforce agility and performance. The future belongs to organisations that invest in their talent and enable employees to grow and adapt as roles evolve. 

Together, redeployment and upskilling create winning outcomes for employees and employers alike. Employees benefit from meaningful career pathways, leaders strengthen organisational resilience, hiring costs, and turnover drop, and businesses remain agile and equipped to cope with a constantly changing landscape. 

Embracing this strategy positions businesses to innovate, adapt, and lead, whilst building a culture that allows people to thrive. When faced with fast-moving modern workplace challenges, such as the advancement of AI, the global economy, sustainability, compliance, talent shortages, and technical innovation, an agile workforce makes sense. The pace of change shows no sign of slowing, so businesses must adapt to survive. 

To summarise: 

• Redeployment and upskilling enable companies to proactively meet business change and challenges. 
• Redeployment is a strategic business choice.
• Upskilling prepares employees for internal moves.
• The two strategies used together can increase workforce agility, leading to a stronger business.
• Preparation and open communication are vital to the success of redeployment and upskilling.  

Are you ready to explore redeployment and upskilling programmes within your business? To start building an agile workforce, speak to our experts. Careerminds’ workforce redeployment and outplacement services combine a people-first approach with AI-driven tools to help you retain, motivate, and engage your best talent whilst ensuring that any departing employees land on their feet.