According to the Chartered Management Institute and salary data provider CELRE, there is currently an internal transfer rate of 8.1% compared with 4.3% in 2008. In the last major recession of 1991, internal transfers peaked at 1.6%.
Over the past year, the report shows 5.2% of department heads have been transferred compared with 1.2% being made redundant. Among junior staff, 6.6% have been transferred while 1.3% face redundancy.
But 61% of staff are struggling to retain staff - 46% believe this is because of job insecurity in their organisation and 47% blame the salaries on offer.
In HR specifically, pay rises average 4.8%, marking a drop from the 6.6% recorded as average this time last year.
Lord John Eatwell, chief economist at the Chartered Management Institute, said: "It is encouraging to see employers looking for ways to avoid redundancy rather than adding length to the dole queue without a second thought. Perhaps it is because employers are finally beginning to recognise retaining competence is a far more cost-effective option than rebuilding a talented team from scratch."
But he added: "The longer the recession goes on the more likely it is that employers will be forced to lay off staff - creating the possibility of skill shortages in the recovery."
More human resources staff are redeployed rather than made redundant
Redeployment levels across the human resources sector have doubled over the past year as employers try to transfer staff internally as a means of avoiding redundancy.
