Transfer of employee is regularly done for the multi-various purposes, some are positive and some are negative. Generally, transfer is a development tool by which employees are made versatile and competent in all respect to deal with the situations that needs to have a company-wide view.
Definition
Transfer is a lateral shift causing movement of individuals form one position to another usually without involving any marked change in duties, responsibilities , skills needed or compensation. – Yoder
Transfer is a reassignment of employees from one job to another,, one department to another, one shift to another or one geographic location to another. – Wendell French (1997:253).
Why transfer?
1. Utilize the employee’s service. Transfer is executed to reassign an employee with a history of poor performance or problem behavior whom the department head does not want to keep on staff , while management feels that he/she may be more useful or suitable elsewhere.
2. Match job with person. It is done to ensure a close match between an employee’s qualifications and the demand of the new position. The job requirements fit the merit and experience of the person.
3. Adjust pay and position. It is undertaken to relate the employee’s present wage or salary to the compensation offered in the new position.
4. Make employees versatile. It is done to make an employee versatile or knowledgeable about the various jobs of the organization with varied and broader experience of work.
5. Meet employee’s own request. It is done to meet an employee’s own request, when he/she feels uncomfortable on the job because of his/her dislike of boss, or fellow worker or because of better opportunities for his/her future advancement does not exist in the present place of work or for any other family problem. It enables employees to feel at home in the place of work.
6. Work convenience. It is done to help employees work according to their convenience, like shifting a person from night to day shift of work to a woman employee to help her caring her child.
7. Penalise an employee. Transfer is executed to penalize an employee for his/her misdeed.
8. Adjust workforce. Transfer of workers from one plant to another is executed to adjust the shortage of one plant with the surplus of another plant without making layoff.
Problems of Transfer
1. Transfer is costly. It is estimated that $37,000 is needed per transfer within USA in 1991.
2. It creates human problem. Families with school going children face relocation of children in new schools. They also face the family adjustment problems with the new community.
3. It is creates special problem to dual career couples. Dual career refers to a situation in which husband and wife doing jobs in different firms in a locality or in the same firm. The transfer of one causes special problem for them. One has to lose job.