Making Career Mobility Work for Your Team
IS' Ritesh Ahuja Successfully Uses Career Mobility to Support Associate Growth
Career Mobility can be a win/win for both associates and managers. It is an effective way for associates to advance in their careers by pursuing challenging and rewarding positions; and it is an effective way for managers to keep talented associates within the company and lower attrition rates.
Ritesh Ahuja
IS Service Desk Mgr.
Noida, India |
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Before the Career Mobility process became institutionalized in mid-2007, Ritesh Ahuja, IS Service Desk Manager, India, realized the value of assisting his team in pursuing their career goals. In 2006 Ritesh, with the support of his senior leaders and India IS Country Manager Dan Leonard, began proactively assisting associates in pursuing internal opportunities. He achieved success with his approach - out of over 50 people in his organization, currently 15 have taken new positions.
�When I first began my career with Perot Systems I learned that we truly value our associates and have a responsibility to provide growth opportunities for them,� said Ritesh. �I am pleased that we now have a company-wide Career Mobility process and I am confident that others will soon experience the benefits my team has enjoyed from putting this process in place.�
A few of the associates who benefited from Ritesh�s efforts provided the following feedback on their experience:
Vinayak Soni � transitioned from Service Desk to Enterprise Command Center
�The career mobility process provided me with a lot of motivation and it shows that Perot Systems really does value its people. I am glad I was given an opportunity to move into a different position and I thank Robert Holguin, Rajesh MG and Ritesh Ahuja for recognizing my performance and showing trust in me to perform well in this new position.�
Pankaj Sharma � transitioned from Service Desk to Intel Team
�I would like to take this opportunity to thank Ritesh Ahuja , Adity Bhogra, Paul Shainian and Ken McPhail for their efforts in recognizing my skills and moving my career forward through Career Mobility process. �
Amber Alam - transitioned from Service Desk to Global Customer Service Training Team
�Transitioning from the Noida Service Desk to the Global Customer Service Training Team was the most wonderful experience. It was a paycheck to my hard work and dedication. I admire Perot Systems� Career Mobility process which turned my dream into reality. Career Mobility offers associates immense opportunities and a wide range of career options to keep growing with the organization. I am thankful to all my colleagues and superiors who made this journey a smooth sail for me.� |
Scott Barnes, vice president of IS, remarked, �I am extremely proud of the Career Mobility efforts made by Ritesh and our India Service Desk team. By providing career development and growth, and utilizing the tools available, we retain our best associates and foster a positive working environment. Career Mobility is a key component of the IS DNA , and supports our mission of Operational Excellence by promoting a Culture of Excellence for our associates.�
Ritesh offered the following observations and advice on fostering Career Mobility:
Benefits:
- Lowers the attrition rate for not only the team, but for the company as a whole.
- Provides savings by filling positions through internal transfers rather than by hiring externally.
- Helps attract people to the company because the recruiting message is that they will have a good chance to advance.
- Helps keep associates enthusiastic about their career at Perot Systems.
Lessons Learned:
- Career mobility must be carefully balanced with business requirements to ensure there is no reduction in service quality.
- Expectations, both of the associates and the manager, must be managed effectively.
- If we do not promote from within, our associates will simply leave the company for other opportunities.
Advice:
- Associates and Managers should sit down together to develop a career plan. This will help managers know what direction an associate wishes to go and will help manage expectations and achieve goals in a mutually beneficial timeframe.
- Knowledge sharing sessions such as Brown Bag lunches and career seminars are an excellent way for associates to explore new positions. Having a leader from another team or business unit come in to discuss what the job requires, what skills are needed, etc. is a good way to provide business knowledge.
- Managers should encourage team members to network within the company to learn more about positions they are interested in.
- Leadership support is needed. Ritesh credits much of the success of his team to the support of IS leaders Dan Leonard and Cynthia Wilkins.