Backfill Meaning: What is Backfill
Backfilling is basically filling a position of an employee who has left their job for another role within the same company, has been promoted, has taken a sabbatical leave for justified reasons, or left their job altogether.
It basically means replacing an employee in your company.
Here, we will discover:
Reasons to Backfill a Job Position
There are multiple reasons for backfilling a job position.
- The most basic reason is that the position holder of that job role is on a long leave—for instance, jury leaves, military leaves, or for any other reason. If you can estimate the number of days that person will be on leave, you can replace them by backfilling their job position.
- If your employee gets sick, got in an unfortunate accident, or has gone on a long vacation, that can also be a reason to backfill their position.
- If any of your employees gets promoted and their former position is still vacant, then you’ll need to fill that position.
- If an employee gets terminated, resigns, or gets retired, then you have to fill that position.
Why is Backfilling Beneficial
Backfilling is beneficial for a number of reasons:
- It keeps the cost in check. For instance, when an employee leaves, other employees have to handle the workload of the individual who has left. Now, you either hire a temporary worker for it or your other staff work overtime. Both of them become the reason for a hike in cost—filling that position at once can save you from this extra cost.
- It can lead to decreased productivity of the employees. For instance, if other employees take up the work of the employee who has got promoted, it can increase their workload and lead to burnout, reducing their productivity in the process.
- It will still be impossible to get everything done and some of the tasks may get neglected in the process. For instance, the tasks which are needed in the current time may get done, but the ones that will have an effect on certain growth of the company in the long run may get ignored.
What is Backfilling in the Context of Employment
Backfilling, in the context of employment, means filling a position that another employee has left, which may have been done for any of the various reasons like they moved to another role within the same company, got promoted, went on a leave, resigned from their job, or got terminated.
Why do Organizations Engage in Backfilling
Most organizations engage in backfilling to reduce the overall cost to the company for that position, to prevent their other employees from burnout due to extra workload of the employee who has left and keep the company’s growth unaffected.
When is Backfilling Typically Necessary or Required
Backfilling is typically required when a position is vacant, which has numerous tasks that either directly or indirectly affect the company’s growth.
What Challenges or Considerations are Associated with the Backfilling Process
When it comes to backfilling, it has its own challenges.
- Even though we recently talked about how backfilling can reduce your overall cost, it can also be expensive in certain cases. For instance, if an employee is on temporary paid leave, then backfilling their position will mean paying two people for the same job. In that sense, it can get expensive.
- Sometimes, it can get a little messy. For instance, replacing the current employee who is on leave to maintain the headcount can be a bit complex when they return as it may lead to arguments. Remember when Rachel Green got backfilled by Gavin when she was on a maternity leave? Oh, just how messy it got when she returned to work.
How Does the Backfilling Process Differ for Temporary and Permanent Positions
Backfilling is for filling a vacant position for various reasons. Sometimes these reasons can be temporary, for instance, if someone is on a leave or a vacation; other times, it can be due to permanent reasons like backfilling a position for an employee who got promoted, left the current role for another position in a different department, resigned, or terminated.
What Role Does Succession Planning Play in the Backfilling Strategy
If you have a succession planning in place for your backfilling strategy, you can think ahead and be prepared by finding and training people to step into key roles when needed within the organization.