To overcome the skills shortage forward thinking employers are increasing their focus on internal mobility and succession planning, and turning to their HR departments to develop and retain talent, a leading recruiter has said.

Worldwide recruitment firm Hays has said that internal mobility is moving to the front of the agenda because it is simply logical to make use of the skills and experience that already exist – and the trend will gain speed in 2012.

Chris Mead, general manager of Hays in Singapore said that that talent mobility has been particularly evident in the financial services sector where many investment banks are looking to relocate senior management from the US and Europe.

"But of course internal mobility involves more than international transfers. It is also about an organisation promoting and hiring from within to retain high performers and provide opportunities for staff to develop and reach their career goals. It’s about developing the right people into the right roles, whether that’s a vertical or a lateral move,” Mead added.

He noted that the benefits to this strategy would be that high performing individuals can be spread across key areas to drive objectives and build knowledge within different teams. Junior staff would also benefit from the expertise of working with someone they would otherwise not have had the opportunity to work with.

"We’re also seeing an increase in the use of short-term mobility assignments, where a staff member works in another department for a set period of time. Not only does this allow the employee to broaden their skills, but the organisation can more efficiently utilise their existing resources and flex to meet short-term needs quickly,” Mead said.

TMS Asia Pacific CEO Andrew Chan previously told HC that a well-planned succession strategy can play a pivotal role in retaining and developing key staff.

“The trick in creating a successful strategy is to recognise what a company needs to do in the event it does lose key employees and combine that with the aspirations and ambitions of employees further down the line,” he said.

By implementing succession planning strategies and recognising in advance the employees who would be suitable for advancement, organisations will be best placed to ‘stay ahead of the game’.

“In this way, not only does management improve employee commitment and retention, it also meets the career development expectations of existing employees,” Chan said.