In case of the school syllabus, we often get bored reading only one subject and to kill that boredom we switch between various subjects so that we can study for longer hours in case of job similar thing happens when we continue doing the same job for many years and get bored of that subject leading to inefficiency creeping into our work and that is where job rotation comes into play. Job rotation in simple words refers to that process where company reshuffle its workforce between various jobs which are of different nature thus giving employees break from their regular jobs and allowing them to learn new process and work. In order to get a better idea about this concept, one should look at some of the advantages and disadvantages of job rotation –
Advantages of Job Rotation
Job Rotation gives Break from Regular Work
The first and foremost advantage of job rotation is that it gives employees a break from their regular work because when employee keep doing the same work for many years it becomes monotonous resulting in inefficiency and lack of interest in the work but due to job rotation employees are on their toes and not complacent which can result in employees getting motivated to excel in new responsibility given to them by the company.
Job Rotation provides Good Learning Curve
Employees get the opportunity to learn new things due to job rotation which can be a good learning curve as far career development and growth of the employee is concerned because if an individual knows only one thing due to lack of job rotation then his or her growth will be limited because companies look for those people who can do multitask which can happen only if the employee knows different aspects of the job and not only one aspect of the job. In simple words just like if a student is good in maths but weak in other subjects then his overall performance will be not that good in the same way if the employee is good in one job but does not has any knowledge about other departments and jobs then he or she will be of no use if the company decides to discontinue that department or job which the employee was doing.
Backup Workforce
It helps the company in creating a backup workforce because many times employees leave the company and if other employees do not know the work of that particular person then it will lead to complete disruption of the work. In simple words by having job rotation in place company ensures that its work will never get hampered due to a lack of a backup workforce in the company.
Disadvantages of Job Rotation
Time and Energy Consuming
The biggest disadvantage of job rotation is that it consumes a lot of time and energy of the company because it is not easy for workers to shift from their job to another job quickly and efficiently which in turn makes the whole process of job rotation times consuming besides company has to also supervise the work of people who are getting rotated which in turn results in further time and energy-consuming for the company.
Resistance from Employees
Another limitation of job rotation is that not all employees love the change rather they are happy in doing the job which they are doing for the past many years and any talk of job rotation will face resistance from such employees as it is not easy for everyone to change their job or duties overnight. In simple words, just like as a student if you love science subjects but if you are asked to learn some arts subjects also then you will not be happy in the same way employees also have this problem of doing others job.
Inefficiency
While job rotation sounds good on paper but when actual implementation happens than chances of inefficiency rises because when workers are working on the same job for years then they become specialist of that job and have their shortcuts of doing the job which results in work getting completed swiftly and efficiency but when others do the same job than they will not be able to match the efficiency of workers who were doing that job for past many years resulting in inefficiency in the working of the company.
As one can see from the above that job rotation has pros as well as cons and that is the reason why any company thinking of adopting the job rotation concept in its company should carefully read the above points and then take any decision regarding this process.