In a market where attracting new talent is costly and competitive, organisations that invest in internal mobility gain a powerful edge. By supporting employees to grow, shift, and develop through structured career coaching, companies reduce recruitment costs and improve their culture, while unlocking the full potential of their current workforce. This approach directly addresses one of HR’s biggest challenges: retaining talented employees.
When internal progression stalls, it’s easy to see why retention suffers. People move on when they feel their growth has plateaued or their skills aren’t recognised, leaving behind costly gaps in capability and culture.
The Retention Imperative: Why Are Companies Struggling to Retain Talent?
Employee turnover in the UK remains high. According to the CIPD’s employee turnover report, average churn sits at around 34%. According to the Oxford Economics Cost of Brain Drain report, it estimates that replacing an employee earning £25,000+ costs £30,614 on average – largely due to the 28 weeks it takes for a new hire to reach full productivity.
So what’s driving this?
Many employees leave because they can’t see a clear future where they are. They experience limited internal mobility and often encounter the same barriers as external applicants, from lengthy application processes and a lack of hiring transparency to bias or inconsistent selection criteria.
Without structured career conversations, employees rarely see tangible growth paths. Add to that weak feedback loops, such as exit interviews conducted too late, and external pull factors like higher pay or better flexibility elsewhere, and the challenge becomes clear.
Research from Aptitude Research found that 77% of organisations have lost talent due to limited development opportunities, and only one in four feel confident in their internal mobility strategy. The message is clear: without visible career growth, retention suffers and costs rise.
Internal Mobility and Career Coaching: A Powerful Retention Combination
Internal mobility isn’t just about promotions; it’s about creating visible, flexible career pathways across departments and functions. A skills-based approach allows organisations to match people to future roles based on strengths, interests, and aspirations.
Career coaching complements this by helping employees understand their motivations, identify transferable skills, and take ownership of their next steps. Together, these practices foster engagement, clarity, and loyalty.
Key benefits include:
- Lower recruitment costs and faster time-to-fill, through internal movement.
- Higher engagement and productivity, employees feel supported in their growth.
- Better skills alignment and fewer mis-hires.
- Stronger employer brand built on development and care.
At Chiumento, we see how internal mobility and coaching drive retention every day. Our personalised Career Coaching programmes help organisations build future-ready pathways and retain their top talent.
Exit Interviews, Stay Interviews and Continuous Listening
Exit interviews can surface valuable patterns, but they’re only part of the story. The most effective retention strategies also use stay interviews, where leaders ask current employees what keeps them engaged and what might tempt them away.
According to the CMI, stay interviews surface issues early and help prevent avoidable exits, making them a powerful tool for proactive retention. When combined with regular career coaching, they create a feedback loop of listening, learning, and action.
A practical approach:
- Review turnover and mobility data regularly.
- Run stay interviews to understand motivation and friction points.
- Share findings transparently and act swiftly.
- Provide coaching to support development plans.
This approach not only improves retention but also shows employees that their voice matters as a crucial driver of long-term commitment.
Overcoming Barriers to Internal Mobility
Even the best strategies face hurdles, but most are solvable with the right mindset and systems in place:
- Visibility and awareness gaps: Many employees simply don’t know what roles or pathways exist. Internal job boards, talent marketplaces, and coaching conversations can close that gap.
- Siloed teams and manager hesitation: When departments “hoard” talent, mobility suffers. Reward leaders who support internal movement and celebrate cross-team success stories.
- Complex processes: If internal applicants face the same red tape as external hires, they’ll disengage. Streamline and simplify the process.
- Lack of integration: EY’s Mobility Reimagined survey found that companies aligning mobility with business strategy are over twice as likely to achieve 10% revenue growth.
- Talent shortages and cost pressures: In tight labour markets, internal mobility isn’t just a retention tool – it’s a strategic necessity.
Building a culture of mobility takes time and consistency, but the rewards are significant: stronger succession pipelines, higher engagement, and sustained performance.
The organisations leading in retention aren’t those spending most on recruitment, they’re those investing consistently in their people’s growth.
If you want to reduce turnover, build engagement, and support employees at every stage of their career journey, we can help.
Get in touch to explore how career coaching and internal mobility can power your people-first strategy.
Iona works across Chiumento’s Digital Marketing Executive. Working on blog and comms projects, Iona helps to shape how the organisation talks about change, redundancy, and the employee experience. With experience in the education, law, and HR sectors, she brings a cross-industry perspective to workforce planning and organisational change. Iona contributes to content that supports HR leaders through restructuring and is particularly interested in how clear, human communication builds trust during times of uncertainty. She holds a BA in Illustration and brings a creative, insight-led approach to everything she writes.