Cross-Boarding

Andy was a marketing person, but he’s Cross-Boarding into a role on our sales team.

• What are the benefits of Cross-Boarding?Cross-Boarding offers numerous benefits to companies: for one, Cross-Boarding is typically more cost-effective than hiring a new employee from outside the organization, as an existing employee has a baseline understanding of the company’s operations already and will likely require less time and labor to become fully trained in their new position. Cross-Boarding is also often more successful than hiring from outside, as there’s inherently less risk in moving an existing employee (who is a known quantity) to a new role rather than bringing in a stranger.
• How is Cross-Boarding different from Onboarding?Fundamentally, Cross-Boarding and Onboarding describe the same process: getting a new hire integrated, fully trained, and up-to-speed in their new position. However, whereas Onboarding describes the process as it relates to bringing in someone from outside the company, Cross-Boarding is this process as it applies to an existing employee who’s accepting a new role within the company.
• Is Cross-Boarding the same as Cross-Training?While they sound similar and may contain some similar processes, Cross-Boarding and Cross-Training are not the same. Cross-Training is training an existing employee to be able to perform a new skill or role when necessary (eg: training an office manager to fill in for an administrative assistant when needed), while Cross-Boarding is training an existing employee to take over/transfer to a new role entirely.
• What are the risks of Cross-Boarding?Cross-Boarding is typically considered far less risky than hiring from outside, but that doesn’t mean it’s risk-free. There’s always the chance that an employee who excels at their current role may falter in a new role, or that when they transfer to the new role that whoever fills in the old role may not be as effective. However, most organizations find that the benefits of Cross-Boarding far outweigh the risks!