Benefits and Pitfalls of secondments

Blair McPherson

A secondment is a great way for employees to enhance their career prospects. It’s also an effective way of retaining talented employees. In a fast moving business climate organisations need to be able to dedicate people and resources to developing new ways of working and taking advantage of new opportunities. Secondments are quick and effective response. However people are not always offered secondment because they are good for the organisation and good for the individual.

My experience of a two year secondment

My secondment to head up a project really turbo charged my career, broadening my experience and my horizons. It took me out of my comfort zone making me responsible for managing people with specialist skills and knowledge that I had no background in. Convincing me that management skills are transferable. Right from the outset I saw this as a stepping stone and had no intension of returning to my substantive post. My manager was very supportive which was made easier by the organisations commitment to fund the backfilling of the post A two year secondment to my vacancy post proved attractive to internal candidates where 3 or 6 month secondment might have been harder to fill.

An offer I could refuse

As a project manager I experience secondment from the other side as someone offering an opportunity. I had used one of my posts to fund some independent action research so when a manager offered me an experience member of their team who was looking for a new challenge and agreed to fund the post it seemed to good to be true. And so it turned out. The manager described the candidate as a strong character but someone I could manage. That was the first indicator that this might not have been as generous a gesture as it seemed. Asking round I soon discover that the individual whilst very experienced and able to fill some skill gaps in the project team had a reputation of rubbing colleagues up the wrong way and had a cynical attitude particularly towards senior management. Since the project was about developing new ways of working with partner agencies and colleagues clearly I could not risk some one who might antagonise people.

Managers may be understandably reluctant to release a member of their team if they are unable to backfill the post. The length of secondment may also be an issue. The longer the secondment the less likely the individual is to return to their substantive post. The shorter the secondment the less attractive it may be to candidates. Secondment opportunities are good for an individuals development and allow an organisation to retain talented individuals and put their abilities to good use. However managers motives for encouraging a secondment may not always be what they seem.

Blair Mcpherson former director author and blogger www.blairmcpherson.co.uk

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