Transfer in HRM: Definitions, Objectives, Purpose, Types and Policy

Transfer is a process of placing employees in positions where they are likely to be more effective or where they are to get more job satisfaction.

In transfers, there is no change in the responsibility, designation, status or salary. It is a process of employee’s adjustment with the work, time and place. Transfer may also be made as a disciplinary action.

According to Edwin Flippo, a transfer, “is a change in job where the new job is substantially equal to the old in terms of pay, status and responsibilities”.

Transfer is a movement of the employee from one job to another job or some other place without change in status, responsibilities and salary.

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Transfer causes a shift of individual from one job to another without there being any marked change in his responsibilities, skills and other benefits.

Even if management takes the right decisions, some employees may take exception to them. Thus, management must frame a transfer policy and follow the same.

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Learn about:-

1. Meaning of Transfer in HRM 2. Definitions of Transfer in HRM 3. Objectives 4. Purpose 5. Reasons 6. Principles 7. Procedure 8. Types 9. Transfer Policy 10. Benefits 11. Problems

Transfer in HRM: Definitions, Objectives, Purpose, Principles, Types and Policy

Transfer in HRM – Meaning

Transfer means a change in job assignment. It refers to a horizontal or lateral movement of an employee from one job to another in the same organization without much change in his status or pay package. Transfer causes a shift of individual from one job to another without there being any marked change in his responsibilities, skills and other benefits.

Transfer is the movement of an employee from one job to another. “A transfer involves a change of job without any significant increase in responsibility or income, and a promotion involves a change in which a significant increase in responsibility or income occurs.”

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However, this difference between promotion and transfer should be treated as a broadly conceived idea only. Sometimes, transfers may (and often do) involve some changes in responsibilities and duties.

Sometimes they may involve change in pay also. For example, in permanent personnel transfers, an employee normally receives the rate of pay on the job to which he is transferred.

In case of production transfers rate of the earlier job, or that of the new job whichever is higher, is paid. On temporary transfers, employees may continue receiving their usual rate.

Transfers are an important source for internal recruiting. Often the most suitable candidate for an existing opening may be someone already working in one or the other department of the working organisation. Transfer of such an employee to fill the job is preferred by managers of the organisation.

If a newly hired employee, assigned to a certain job at the initial stage of placement is left there in spite of his desire for a change, it may create resentment This resentment may be expressed in terms of reduced work, formal complaints or increased rate of labour-turnover. By transferring such an employee maladjustment problem can be solved.

Transfers may be initiated by the organization or employee. When the organization feels that an employee is required at another job in the same department or another, it transfers him/her there where they are likely to be more effective. But sometimes, employees demand it on account of their ill health, change in their work load, family issues etc. General public these days is empowered to initiate transfer if an employee’s behaviour has been proved to be objectionable, or against the public interest.

Changes in organization structure, technology and also changes in the knowledge, skill, aptitudes and values of employees need movement of employees from one job to another and from one place to another. This movement, of an employee from one job to another in the same organisation without any change in the nature of duty, responsibility and pay is called transfer.

Transfer may be permanent or temporary and it may be within the same department or across the department. Transfer takes place due to change in work load or death, retirement or resignation of employees.

Transfer in HRM – Definition

Transfer is a process of placing employees in positions where they are likely to be more effective or where they are to get more job satisfaction. In transfers, there is no change in the responsibility, designation, status or salary. It is a process of employee’s adjustment with the work, time and place. Transfer may also be made as a disciplinary action. In Government service, employees are transferred due to administrative reasons. Transfer is a movement of the employee from one job to another job or some other place without change in status, responsibilities and salary.

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It is the movement of an employee from one job to another without involving substantial change in his duties, responsibilities required skill, status and compensation.

In this definition the terms substantially equal means that the general nature of duties and responsibilities remain the same through these may be a change in pay. It is a horizontal shift of an employee from one place to another.

According to Edwin Flippo, a transfer, “is a change in job where the new job is substantially equal to the old in terms of pay, status and responsibilities”.

Yoder and Associates have defined transfer as, “a lateral shift causing movement of individuals from one position to another usually without involving any marked change in duties, responsibilities, skills needed or compensation”.

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An important function of personnel management is to be help the all-around development of the employee of the enterprise. Transfer makes a great contribution in the all-around development of employees. Placement of an employee from one place to another, from one developed department to another, for one job to another, is called transfer. Transfer does not involve any change in the responsibility, salary, status or facilities of the employees.

Dale Yoder, “A transfer involves the shifting of an employee from any job to another without special reference to change responsibility or compensation”.

Transfer involves change of job assignment. It is simply shifting of an employee from one job to another job without any change in status and pay. In the words of Edwin. B. Flippo “transfer is a change in job where the new job is substantially the equal to the old in terms of pay, status and responsibilities.”

A transfer is a horizontal or lateral movement of an employee from one job, section, department, shift, plant or position to another at the same or another place where his salary, status and responsibility are the same. It generally does not involve a promotion, demotion or a change in job status other than movement from one job or place to another.

Transfer in HRM – 8 Main Objectives

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Transfer may be made to achieve the following objectives:

1. To meet or fulfill organizational needs – To fulfill organisational needs arising out of change in technology, volume of production, production schedule, quality of product etc., an employee may have to be transferred.

2. To satisfy employee needs – Sometimes employees themselves demand transfer due to their personal problems like ill health, family problem native attractiveness or non-co-operation from boss or fellow workers. To satisfy their needs employees may have to be transferred.

3. To adjust the workforce – Employees for excess or surplus in one department may have to be transferred to other department or section where there is shortage of workforce.

4. To reduce monotony and to make the employees versatile – If the employees have stayed on a job continuously for a longer duration, to reduce their monotony and to widen their knowledge and skill, employees are transferred.

5. For effective use of employees – If the management feels that the service of the able employee is to be used in different branches of the same organisation, then such employees will have to be transferred.

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6. To punish Employees – If employees are found indulged in undesirable activities like fraud, bribery, duping etc., such employees are transferred to remote places as a disciplinary action.

7. To give the relief to the employees – Employees who are overburdened and doing complicated or risky work for long period are relieved from such work by transferring such employees to a place of their choice.

8. To improve employees background by placing them in different jobs of various departments and units.

Objectives of Transfer of Employees in a Company:

The following are some of the objectives of transfer of employees in a company:

1. To meet the exigencies of the company’s business.

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2. To meet the request of an employee.

3. To correct incompatibilities of employee relations.

4. To suit the age and health of an employee.

5. To provide creative opportunities to deserving employees.

6. To train the employee for later advancement and promotion. This involves actually job rotation.

7. To deal with fluctuations in work requirements or exigencies at work, such as situations when there is slackness in the work in one department and an overload of work in another, an employee from the first department may be temporarily transferred to the other department as found necessary.

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8. To correct erroneous placement.

9. To place the employee in another department where he/she would be more suitable.

Transfer in HRM – Purpose

Transfers are generally effected to build up a more satisfactory work team and to achieve the following purposes:

(a) To Meet an Employee’s Own-request, when he feels uncomfortable on the job because of his dislike of his boss, or his fellow workers, or because better opportunities for his future advancement do not exist there, or because of family Circumstances which may compel him to change the place of his residence. Such transfers generally have their rot in faulty selection and erroneous placement, and are known as personal transfers. They enable employees to feel at home in the work of their choice.

(b) To Utilise Properly the Services of an Employee, when he is not performing satisfactorily and adequately and when the management feels that he may be more useful or suitable elsewhere, where his capacities would be better utilised. Such transfers are called remedial transfers. They act as a follow-up measure of the selection-and- placement procedure and help employees to adjust themselves to suitable jobs.

(c) To Satisfy Such Needs of an Organisation, as may arise out of change in the quantity of promotion, fluctuations in work requirements, and changes in the organisational structure; the introduction of new lines of promotion, the dropping of existing product lines, the reallocation of, or reduction in the work force due to a shortage or a surplus in same section so that lay-offs may be avoided; filling in of the vacancies which may occur because of separations or because of the need for suitable adjustments in business operations.

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Such transfers are known as promotion transfers, flexibility transfers, or organisational transfers. The purpose of such transfers is to stabilise employment in an organisation. They are generally controlled centrally through and by the personnel department.

(d) To Increase the Versatility of the Employee, by shifting him from one job to another so that he may have ample opportunities for gaining a varied and broader experience of work. Such transfers are known as versatility transfers. They make it possible for an employee to enjoy the facility of job enrichment, which in turn gives to the management a more effective and experienced employee for a higher job.

(e) To Adjust the Work Force of One Plant with that of another, particularly when one is closed down for reasons beyond the control of the employer. Such transfers are known as plant transfers and are generally effected on humanitarian grounds to ensure that persons who have been long in service of an organisation are not thrown out of employment.

(f) To Penalise the Employee Transfers are Also Done, under which either a difficult trade union activist or intriguer or sea lawyer may be transferred to a remote branch or office where he cannot continue his activities. In Government organisations, this practice is widespread, and is also preferred by the employee to the grim alternative of disciplinary action.

(g) To Help Employees Work, according to their convenience so far as timings are concerned; for example, an employee is transferred from night shift to morning shift or from the first to the second shift (as in the case of women workers who may like to look after their children and do the necessary domestic work in the morning hours). Such transfers are known as shift transfers.

(h) Transfer for the Maintenance of a Tenure System, in senior administrative services of the Government and also in industries, or where there is a system of annual intake of management trainees such transfers are common. Here the employee holds a certain job for a fixed tenure but he is made to move from job to job with a view to enabling him to acquire a variety of experience and skills and also to ensure that he does not get involved in politicking informal groups.

(i) To Replace a New Employee by An Employee, who has been in the organisation for a sufficiently long time. Such transfers are known as replacement transfers, the purpose being to give some relief to an old employee from the heavy presser of work.

Transfers are generally made to acquire some purposes that are as follows:

1. To Increase Productivity of Employees:

Transfer may be made for the proper utilsation of the services of an employee when he is not performing satisfactorily and ample and when the management feels that he may be more beneficial or suitable elsewhere, where his capacities would be better utilised.

2. To Fulfil Employee’s Request:

Sometimes transfers is made to meet an employee’s own request, when he feels uncomfortable on the job because of his dislike of his boss or his fellow workers or because better opportunities for his future advancement do not exist there or because of family circumstances which may compel him to change the place of his residence.

3. To Meet Organisational Requirements:

Sometimes transfers are made to satisfy such needs of an organisation as may arise out of a change in the quantity of production, fluctuations in work requirements and changes in the organisational structure; the introduction of new lines of production, etc.

4. Maintenance of a Tenure System:

Transfer may be made for the maintenance of a tenure system. In senior administrative services of the government and also in industries or where there is a system of annual intake of management trainees such transfers are generally exist.

5. For Adjusting the Work Force:

Transfer may be made to adjust the workforce of one plant with that of another, particularly when one is closed down for reasons beyond the control of the employer.

6. For Penalising Employees:

Transfer may be made to penalise employee under which either a difficult trade union activist or sea lawyer may be transferred to a remote branch or office where he cannot continue his further activities.

7. For Adjusting the Employee’s Timing:

Transfer may be made at the requests of the employees to help work according to their convenience so far as timings are concerned, e.g., an employee is transferred from night shift to morning shift or from the first to the second shift (as in the case of women workers who may like to look after their children and do the necessary household work in the morning hours).

8. To Make Employee’s more Versatile:

Transfer may be made to increase the versatility of the employee, by shifting him from one job to another so that he may have sufficient chances for gaining a varied and broader experience of work.

Purposes of Transfer according to Mamoria and Gankar:

Transfers are generally purported to build up a more satisfactory work team and to achieve the following objectives.

According to Mamoria and Gankar, major purposes of transfer are:

1. To meet an employee’s initiative, when he feels uncomfortable on the job because of maladjustment with his fellow workers, or because better opportunities for his future advancement do not exist there, or because of family circumstances which may force him to change the place of his residence. Such transfers generally are because of faulty selection and erroneous placement, and are known as personal transfers.

2. Transfers aim to satisfy such needs of an organization as may arise out of a change in the quality of production, fluctuations in work requirements, and changes in the organizational structure; the introduction of new lines of production, the dropping of existing product lines, the reallocation of, or reduction in the work force due to a shortage or a surplus in the same section so that lay-offs may be avoided; filling in of the vacancies which may occur because of separations or because of the need for suitable adjustments in business operations. Such transfers are termed as organizational transfers, flexibility transfers or production transfers.

The purpose of such transfers is to stabilize employment in the organization and is generally controlled centrally through and by the personnel department.

3. To improve employee’s background by placing him in different jobs of various departments, units, regions etc. This develops the employee and enables him to accept any job without any hesitation.

4. For proper utilization of the services of an employee when he is not performing well and the management feels that he may be more useful elsewhere. Such transfers are known as remedial transfers and act as a follow-up measure of the selection and placement procedure and help employees to adjust themselves to appropriate jobs.

5. Transfers help employees working according to their convenience so far as timings are concerned for example an employee is transferred from night shift to morning shift. Such transfers are known as shift transfers.

6. To adjust the workforce of one section/plant in other section/plant during lay-off, closure or adverse business conditions or due to technological change.

Transfer in HRM – Personal Transfer and Organisation Initiated Transfer

There is a well-structured transfer policy in organistions. Employee may be transferred either because of the needs of the organisation or at their own request. Quite often the management makes remedial transfer in case an individual is not performing satisfactorily on his/her present assignment and management feels that he/she will be more suitable on a different job considering his/her qualifications.

The transfers are generally affected for the following reasons:

A. Personal Transfer:

Personal Transfers are those which occur by desire of the employee and are primarily in his interest.

The reasons for such requests could be:

(1) To correct erroneous placement.

(2) To relieve the monotony of a job, acquire better working conditions and join friends/spouse.

(3) To avoid interpersonal conflicts.

(4) In consideration of the interests of age/health, education of children, housing difficulties or to join immobile dependents.

(5) The feeling that opportunity for advancement is better in another department.

(6) A search for creative opportunities.

B. Organisation Initiated Transfer:

The organisation may initiate transfers for the following reasons:

(1) The need for temporary adjustment for the convenience or benefit of the organisation or the employee, such as leave replacement or very short assignments.

(2) To meet emergencies or charges in operations or to deal with fluctuations in works requirements, necessitate either by volume of output or separation.

(3) To make use of the increasing versatility and competence of key employees.

Transfer in HRM – Some of the Important Principles of a Transfer in an Organisation

Transfers must be ordered based on certain company-specific principles or dogma. Transferring an employee without adhering to policies or norms may lead to deteriorated industrial relations. The management might think of issuing transfer orders, treating each case on its own merit. Even if management takes the right decisions, some employees may take exception to them. Thus, management must frame a transfer policy and follow the same.

Some principles of a transfer are as follows:

a. In a usual phenomenon, a transfer causes some disturbance to the transferee. Hence, a minimum period between transfers and the frequency of transfer must be decided upon by the HR department and made known to all the employees. A company should develop its administrative manual to endorse the policies and objectives relating to administration.

b. Authorities of the manager who will handle transfer must be earmarked and responsibilities must be defined. In an organization, the authority to handle transfers should be centralized to ensure uniformity in practices.

c. Transfers on individual employees’ requests should be based on documented transfer system.

d. Transfer orders must clearly specify whether the transfer is of permanent or temporary nature.

e. Prior to transfer, the performance of an employee needs to be assessed. The assessment helps management to assign new tasks to the employee as per the job description.

f. While developing the transfer policy, the interest of the organization must always be remembered.

Transfer in HRM – Procedure Followed for Transfer in an Organisation

Transfers within the same section of the same department are decided by the foreman or plant manager, and they are effected without the use of any transfer order to the employee. He may be given oral instruction. The personnel manager must be inform such transfers.

Transfers from one department to another are decided by member consultation among the departments heads/plant manager when such transfers are of a permanent nature of long duration. Written orders signed by the personal manager are issued / informed to the employee.

Transfers from one place or unit to another place or unit involving a considerable change in working conditioner cost to the company have to be made in writing after giving due notice to the employee.

1. Intra-departmental transfers or transfers within the same section of the same department are decided by the foreman or plant manager, and these are effected without the issue of any transfer order to the employee. He may be given oral instructions. The personnel manager, however, must be informed of such transfers.

2. Interdepartmental transfers or transfers from one department to another are decided by mutual consultations among the departmental heads/plant managers when such transfers are of a permanent nature or of long duration. Written orders, signed by the personnel manager are issued to the employee.

Transfers from one place or unit to another place or unit, involving a considerable change in working conditions and cost to the company, have to be made in writing, after giving due notice to the employees. But, as far as possible, such transfers are generally discouraged.

Senior administrative officers of Government generally hold a post for a fixed tenure. This is done to ensure that they do not get involved in any favoritism vis-a-vis employees, vendors and customers.

Transfer in HRM – 5 Types of Transfer Proposed by Aswathappa

Aswathappa (2006) proposed the following five types of transfers:

Type # 1. Production Transfer:

Employees are posted in different departments, based on their interests and qualifications. This also depends on the work load that a department possesses. However, this load keeps fluctuating, and the demand for manpower keeps changing with time.

For departments with surplus manpower, lay-off is a solution. However, a better solution is the interdepartmental transfer to balance the manpower allocation. In simpler terms, production transfer refers to the transfers ordered to avoid such unavoidable lay-offs.

Type # 2. Replacement Transfer:

When an employee leaves a department for a particular reason, the department needs a replacement. In such scenarios, especially in demanding situations, a senior employee might have to function in place of the junior employee, till the time a replacement is found. Senior employees are required to work in place of junior employees even in situations of declining production. Thus, replacement transfer also helps in reducing the organizational need for lay-off; particularly for long-service employee.

Type # 3. Versatility Transfer:

Some organizations believe that the workforce needs to have multiple skills capable to perform multiple tasks. People can achieve multiple skills only by working in different departments. In learning organizations such as ordnance factories, banks, and many private companies, people get the scope of working in different departments and can learn different systems, procedures, and rules and regulations.

They gain the necessary skills to attend to the activities in the departments, and ultimately become versatile. People who pick up their tasks quickly emerge to become the company’s assets. During rush periods, they are able to contribute greatly to achieve business goals. Versatile transfer may comprise production transfer or replacement transfer.

Type # 4. Shift Transfer:

In order to enhance capacity utilization, industrial organizations, operate in multiple shifts—generally morning, evening, and night shifts. Some organizations allot employees to staggered shifts as well. Employees are engaged in all the shifts on a rotational basis. Requests of employees for transfers on a particularly shift are also entertained, considering the importance of ground of requests. However, conformance to law and administrative procedures are essential requirements to avoid employee unrest.

Type # 5. Remedial Transfer:

After induction, employees are placed in a department and jobs are assigned to him/ her, and their performance and behavioural dispositions are recorded. Some employees may emerge as good performers, while many others may emerge as underperformers. In course of time, an employee’s inclination to work is also observed. The objective of remedial transfer is therapeutic in nature, that is, to rectify the wrong placement.

In other words, remedial transfer is an act of transferring an employee to a more suitable job after they have failed to perform well in their present position. Poor performance could be attributed to reasons such as an employee being uncomfortable in his job as he may not possess good relations with his senior or suffer from ill health.

Transfer in HRM – Transfer Policy: Meaning, Features, Elements and Principles

A sound personnel policy requires that there is a clear policy regarding transfers. If there is arbitrariness in the policy, the superiors can misuse the “transfer” of subordinates for their personal reasons. Similarly, subordinates can also misuse the policy by asking for transfers on trivial issues.

They may want transfers to jobs which are fairly easy e.g., a person working in a bank may ask for transfer to a remote place where his workload will be very less as compared to the job in a big metropolitan city. Organizations find it very difficult to find solutions to such problems. Hence, every organization should formulate a systematic transfer policy containing rules, regulations and circumstances where it will be allowed.

For successful transfer policies, it is a must to have a proper job description and job analysis. Care should be taken to ensure that frequent or large-scale transfers are avoided by laying down adequate selection and placement procedures for the purpose. Entire organisations should have a just and impartial transfer policy.

The policy should be known to each employee. The responsibility for effecting transfers is usually entrusted to an executive with a power to prescribe the conditions under which requests for transfers are to be approved.

Every organisation must frame a systematic and sound transfer policy. It must be clear and unambiguous.

Organizations should have a just and fair transfer policy which should be communicated to each employee. Otherwise superiors may transfer their subordinates arbitrarily if they happen to dislike them. This may cause frustration among employees.

Similarly, subordinates may also request for transfer even for petty reasons. Most of the employees may ask for transfer to risk-less and easy jobs and places. The responsibility for effecting transfers is usually entrusted to an executive with power to prescribe the conditions under which requests for transfer are to be approved.

For a transfer policy to succeed, it is necessary to have a proper job description and job analysis.

According to Prof. Subba Rao, a systematic transfer policy should contain the following features:

(i) Specification of circumstances under which an employee will be transferred in the case of company initiated transfer.

(ii) Specification of a superior who is authorized and responsible to initiate a transfer.

(iii) Jobs from and to which transfers will be made based on the job specification, description and classification etc.

(iv) The region or unit of the organization within which transfers will be administered.

(v) Reasons to be considered for personal transfers, their order of priority etc.

(vi) Reasons for mutual transfer of employees.

(vii) Norms to decide priority when two or more employees request for transfer like priority of reason, seniority.

(viii) Specification of basis for transfer like job analysis, merit and length of service.

(ix) Specification of pay, allowances, benefits etc. that are to be allowed to the employee in the new job.

(x) Other facilities to be extended to the transferee like special leave during the period of transfer, special allowance for packaging luggage, transportation etc.

Elements of a Sound Transfer Policy:

A sound transfer policy must be based on following elements:

1. In case of production and replacement transfers operations in different departments must be sufficiently similar.

2. Jobs to which transfers are contemplated should be clearly indicated with the help of job description and job analysis.

3. Responsibility for initiating and approving transfer decisions should be clearly defined and properly located. Such decisions may originate from the first-line supervisor subject to the review and approval of the foreman or the personnel department.

4. The area or unit within which transfers are to be made should be decided.

5. It should be made clear if the seniority to the credit of the employee prior to his transfer will remain to his credit even after transfer.

6. The rate of remuneration for the employee on the new job (to which he is transferred) must be decided.

7. The basis for transfers should be properly chosen. This problem is of particular importance when more than one employees request for transfer to the same job or same shift.

Principles of Transfer Policy:

Every organization should have a clear, unambiguous and sound transfer policy.

It must be based on the following principles:

(i) It should clearly indicate the types and circumstances under which a transfer will be made.

(ii) It should state the frequency of transfers and minimum time period between the transfers.

(iii) It should tell who will be responsible for initiating and approving the transfers.

(iv) It should indicate the criteria or the basis of transfer and follow it strictly.

(v) It should point out the effect of transfer on the pay and seniority of the transferred employee.

(vi) It should indicate whether this transfer is temporary or permanent.

(vii) It should make a provision for timely communicating the transfer decision.

(viii) It should specify the area of the organization over which the transfers can be made.

It is the responsibility of the management to formulate a fair and impartial transfer policy for the transfers of employees from the one positions or places to another positions or places and which should be known to the employees to avoid any ambiguity and arbitrary manner transfers.

The policy should contain the following information:

(a) Special circumstances where the company will allow transfer/ initiate it.

(b) Name of superiors who are empowered to initiate transfers.

(d) Region or unit of the organization within which transfer will be administered.

(e) Assurance given to employee about his seniority being kept intact and the benefits of the new job.

(f) The minimum time that an employee will have to be on the new job before he/she is again transferred.

(g) Norms to decide priority when more employees ask for transfer.

(h) Order of priority or reasons which will be considered for transfer.

(i) Type of training which will be imparted on transferred employee on new job.

(j) If transfer has to be made in a hostile area like, for defence personnel, in a troubled border area, then details of special allowance, luggage packing allowance, transport allowance etc. should be clearly mentioned in the transfer policy.

A sound transfer policy must be clear on the following points:

(a) Circumstances under which transfers can be made.

(b) The area or unit over which transfer will take place.

(d) Responsibility of initiating and approving the transfers.

(e) Type of training to be imparted on the new job.

(f) The pay to be received by the transferee on the new job.

(g) Assurance about keeping employee’s seniority intact.

Transfer in HRM – Benefits: To Both the Employees and the Organisation

Transfers benefit both the employees and the organisation. Transfers reduce employees’ monotony, boredom etc. and increase employees’ job satisfaction. Further, they improve employees’ skills, knowledge etc. They correct erroneous placement and interpersonal conflicts.

Thus, they improve employees’ morale. Further, they prepare the employee to meet organisational exigencies including fluctuations in business and organisational requirements. Thus, they enhance human resources contribution to organisational effectiveness.

Transfer does not imply any promotion or demotion of an employee, yet they are very often done in all organizations for the benefits that they have for organizations as well as employees –

(a) To meet the organizational needs – Organizations have to keep up with the changes in technology, changes in demand, changes in organizational structure, government policies etc. They transfer employees to adjust to these changes because these changes bring about changes in job assignments. It is important thus, to have right man in the right job.

(b) To meet employee needs – Transfers are also done at the request of employees. Employees request for transfer on account of better opportunities in some departments, or because of personal/family reasons. Organizations, if feel that the transfer would not lead to any major imbalance, do allow such transfers. Sometimes, they encourage it because of reasons of employee’s adaptability in new set up.

(c) To make optimum use of employee’s talent – An employee’s transfer makes his talents and skills get used optimally on other jobs. Some jobs become monotonous for an employee after a while. To encourage him or motivate him not to leave the organization, he is asked to use his talents in some other department.

(d) To avoid conflicts – Some employees find it difficult to work with their colleagues in a particular department. They could be transferred to another department to reduce conflicts.

(e) To take punitive action against employees – Organizations have behavioural norms for all employees. If some employees refute them, they are transferred to less important jobs. It is a punitive measure taken up against an employee to maintain discipline in the organization.

Transfer in HRM – 5 Major Problems Associated with Transfer

Despite these benefits, some problems are associated with transfer.

They are:

i. Adjustment problems to the employee to the new job, place, environment, superiors and colleagues,

ii. Transfers from one place to another cause much inconvenience and cost to the employee and his family members relating to housing, education of children etc.,

iii. Transfer from one place to another result in loss of man-days,

iv. Company initiated transfers result in reduction in employee contribution, and

v. Discriminatory transfers affect employee morale, job satisfaction, commitment and contribution.