Retaining and motivating experienced middle managers is difficult. We often hear that mid-level employees are extremely frustrated because there is no clear career path for them.
Sure, some are happy to remain at mid-level – but they may make a lateral move to another company after a few years, just for a change of scenery. Others will have ambitions to reach the C-level – which may force them to leave your organization, either to broaden their experience or to take on a C-level role. And sometimes, middle managers decided to change roles all together.
Either way, middle managers are likely to leave after a few years. This is unfortunate, as they are the glue that holds the company together, the leaders that inspire action and nurture high performers, and they’re often costly to replace.
The good news is that you can help middle managers broaden their experience without leaving your organization.
What are internal gigs?
You have probably heard about the ‘gig economy’. It’s describes the fact that many people are moving away from traditional full-time employment by embracing freelancing or taking on ‘gigs’ short contracts or projects for various companies. This type of work is common among developers, designers and writers.
Companies have started to realize that a lot of the skills they currently source from external contractors are available within their own workforces, and that employees value the opportunity to take on additional projects from their own companies.
This has led to a growth in internal gig marketplaces.
Internal gigs create an ‘intrapreneurial’ environment, and are great for motivating top performers, who are driven by intrinsic desires to learn, grow and make a difference.
Internal gigs allow middle managers to gain experience in different disciplines and learn new skills – without leaving your company, or at least without leaving as soon as they otherwise might, or test the ground and make sure that they really do want to follow a new career path.
Other benefits of using an internal gig platform:
- Boost employee retention and engagement: Give people the opportunity to try something new. Our platform matches skills and experience to project – suggesting tasks that people might not have thought about attempting.
- Build stronger social ties: By allowing people to take on projects in other departments, they are building strong relationships that lead to increased retention.
- Staff strategic or time-sensitive projects without having to hire from the outside.
Learn about vi’s internal gig platform
vi’s gig technology platform enables team leaders and managers to create short- and long-term projects and promote them throughout the organization.
To learn more, follow the link below to book a quick demo.