The Secondment Model: A Complete Guide for Businesses
- gluck1lhr
- 2 days ago
- 9 min read
The secondment model isn't new. But it's evolving. Rapidly. As companies face tighter talent markets, demands for agility, and pressure to scale efficiently, secondment has emerged as a strategic powerhouse: flexible, cost-effective, and capable of fostering innovation.
This guide offers a comprehensive exploration of the secondment model: what it is, why it matters, how it works, and how to adapt it to diverse business contexts and industries. Whether you’re a multinational firm or a lean startup, the secondment model offers advantages worth exploring.
Let’s begin.
What Is Secondment?
Secondment is the temporary transfer of an employee to another role, team, or organization without terminating their original employment contract. It’s a structured arrangement, typically governed by formal agreements and intended to serve specific strategic, operational, or developmental objectives.
Two primary categories define this model:
Internal Secondment: A temporary transfer within the same organization. For example, moving an employee from Finance to Strategy or from one regional office to another.
External Secondment: A temporary transfer to a different organization. This can include client companies, partner organizations, or even non-profits.
The value of secondment lies in its ability to foster collaboration, bridge knowledge gaps, and create dynamic talent mobility. Internal secondments support cross-functional efficiency, while external secondments promote broader organizational alignment.
To explore these variations further, read: Understanding Internal and External Secondment: Which Model is Right for Your Business?
Why Businesses Choose Secondment
Secondment is not simply a workaround for staffing shortages. It is a deliberate, strategic decision. Common motivations include:
Accelerating employee development
Filling temporary skill or leadership gaps
Promoting talent mobility and succession planning
Fostering stronger client relationships through embedded expertise
Testing expansion into new markets or functions
Reducing recruitment and onboarding expenses
Retaining high-performing employees
Industries from logistics to law are seeing measurable ROI from secondment. In fact, Why Trucking Companies Are Turning to the Secondment Model offers an industry-specific case showing how secondment supports leaner, more agile operations in logistics.
How Secondment Works
Effective secondments start with intentionality. The process should be structured, transparent, and governed by mutual benefit.
Implementation Flow:
Identify the Business Need Define the core objective. Is the secondment strategic (market expansion), operational (coverage during leave), or developmental (cross-training)?
Select the Right Secondee Assess both technical competencies and behavioral traits. A successful secondee demonstrates adaptability, emotional intelligence, and effective communication skills.
Set Clear Terms Formalize the duration, responsibilities, reporting structure, performance metrics, and location. Remote secondments are increasingly viable, especially for knowledge-based roles.
Define and Align on KPIs Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are quantifiable metrics used to evaluate the secondee’s success. Examples include:
Revenue growth (sales roles)
Customer satisfaction scores (client-facing roles)
Process efficiency metrics (operational roles)
Learning and development milestones (training-focused secondments) KPIs must be tailored to the role, project, and industry. A secondee supporting client onboarding in SaaS will have different KPIs than one optimizing warehouse logistics.
Sign a Secondment Agreement Include legal protections, scope of work, compensation details, and liabilities. Ensure all parties—original employer, host organization, and employee—agree.
Facilitate Onboarding Provide sufficient handover materials, stakeholder introductions, and access to systems. Expectations should be communicated clearly.
Monitor and Evaluate Ongoing feedback loops are critical. Hold midpoint check-ins and post-secondment reviews.
Support Reintegration or Transition Plan for the secondee’s return or, in some cases, a permanent transition.
For further breakdowns, read: Secondment Model - What, When and How?
Secondment vs. Staff Augmentation
The distinction is fundamental:
Staff Augmentation: Hiring external talent on a temporary basis. These individuals are not on your payroll and often work through an agency or contractor arrangement.
Secondment: Temporarily reallocating existing employees (either internally or externally) while maintaining their original employment relationship.
In short:
Staff augmentation = You buy talent.
Secondment = You borrow or share talent.
Secondment emphasizes trust, collaboration, and long-term value creation.
For a deeper analysis, see: Secondment vs. Staff Augmentation: Which One is Right for You?
What Can You Use a Secondee For?
Secondments are versatile. Here are some practical applications:
Project Launches: Deploy specialized talent for product rollouts or system migrations.
Leadership Coverage: Assign acting managers during sabbaticals or medical leave.
Client Embedding: Embed employees within key client organizations to strengthen partnerships.
Training and Shadowing: Facilitate cross-functional exposure or leadership development.
International Expansion: Place personnel in new markets to test operational viability.
Crisis Response: Mobilize experts to address supply chain issues or internal restructuring.
Process Improvement: Inject innovation into stagnant departments by seconding high-performers.
CRM and How It Can Help Your Business
Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems are essential for managing interactions with customers, improving business relationships, and streamlining processes. By centralizing customer data and automating key tasks, CRMs help businesses maintain consistent communication, enhance customer satisfaction, and drive sales growth. Setting up a CRM system tailored to your specific business needs requires expertise in both software configuration and customer interaction strategies.
How CRM Experts Can Help
Professionals specializing in CRM setup can guide your business through the process of selecting the right tool, customizing it to fit your workflows, and ensuring seamless integration with other business systems. They can also provide training for your team, helping them leverage the full potential of the system. With their help, you can ensure that your CRM works effectively for your business model and customer engagement strategies, allowing for a smoother, more efficient customer journey.
Examples of Popular CRM Tools
Salesforce: One of the most widely used CRMs, Salesforce offers a robust set of features for sales, customer service, and marketing automation. Its flexibility makes it suitable for businesses of all sizes.
HubSpot: A user-friendly CRM designed for growing businesses. HubSpot offers a free version with basic features, making it ideal for small to mid-sized businesses looking to enhance their customer relationships without a heavy initial investment.
Zoho CRM: This CRM offers an affordable and comprehensive suite of tools that work for various business types, from lead management to analytics, and integrates with numerous other business apps.
Industry-Specific Applications of Secondment
1. Education Industry
In the education sector, secondments are often used to bring in specialized knowledge or to support professional development.
How It Works:
Faculty Exchange Programs: Universities and colleges may arrange secondment programs where faculty members temporarily teach at other institutions, allowing them to share their expertise while gaining new insights from different academic environments.
Research Collaborations: Faculty members or researchers are seconded between universities or between universities and private research organizations. This fosters cross-pollination of ideas, access to new research tools, and networking opportunities in a different academic culture.
Professional Development: Educators may be seconded to external training providers or industry partners for development in new teaching techniques, or to deepen knowledge in a specific subject area. This enhances their teaching practices upon returning to their primary roles.
2. Real Estate Industry
Real estate companies often use the secondment model to deploy talent across different markets, geographical regions, or specialized roles to enhance their service offerings and operational efficiency.
How It Works:
Regional Deployment: In large real estate firms with national or international reach, a real estate agent or manager might be seconded to another office in a different region for a set period. This helps the employee understand local markets, expand client networks, and gain expertise in regional property regulations.
Partnership Projects: Real estate firms collaborating with development companies may send their experts as secondees to manage a new project, ensuring that knowledge of company procedures and client expectations is integrated into the project’s leadership.
Market Research: A real estate expert might be seconded to a partner firm to conduct in-depth market analysis or research in a new location, facilitating better decision-making when entering a new market or region.
3. Sales-Oriented Businesses
Sales-driven businesses often rely on secondment models to optimize their sales strategies and achieve business goals through targeted talent deployment.
How It Works:
Sales Force Deployment: Large sales teams in industries like pharmaceuticals, tech, or consumer goods can deploy top salespeople on temporary assignments to partner companies or markets with untapped potential. These secondees bring specific expertise in sales strategies, client acquisition, and territory management.
Cross-Industry Experience: Secondments between sales departments or even between different sectors allow employees to understand different customer bases, products, and strategies. For instance, a tech sales expert could be seconded to a consumer goods company to adapt digital marketing strategies for traditional retail products.
Client Relationships: Salespeople may be seconded to clients in strategic partnerships or joint ventures to manage client relationships directly, providing value through deeper collaboration and more customized service offerings.
4. Marketing and Advertising
Marketing and advertising companies often use secondment models to bring in specific expertise, manage large campaigns, or promote cross-departmental collaboration.
How It Works:
Campaign Management: Marketing teams may second employees to large clients to oversee and manage marketing campaigns, ensuring that the campaign stays aligned with the client’s objectives. It helps create a closer relationship with the client and offers hands-on support, creating an extension of the client’s team.
Digital and Traditional Marketing Integration: Secondments in this sector can allow marketing employees to work across different areas of a company’s marketing strategy. For instance, a digital marketing specialist could be seconded to a team focused on print marketing to help integrate digital and traditional marketing strategies.
Brand Development: Marketing employees may be seconded to a different company within the same group to oversee brand development for a new product or service. This can offer them the chance to innovate, gain new skills, and bring those learnings back to the core company.
5. Healthcare Industry
Healthcare providers and organizations often deploy secondment models to manage specific patient care challenges, improve skill sets, and foster collaboration across different healthcare systems.
How It Works:
Medical Specialists: In large hospital networks, experienced doctors or nurses may be seconded from one branch to another to fill in staffing gaps or provide expertise in specialized departments. This can be particularly beneficial during periods of high patient demand or when new treatment protocols need to be implemented.
Clinical Research Collaborations: Clinical researchers may be seconded to external medical research organizations or pharmaceutical companies to assist with trials, testing, and new treatments. This helps integrate medical research findings directly into patient care, improving health outcomes.
Healthcare Management: Hospital administrators or managers might be seconded to other healthcare systems, helping optimize operations, introduce new procedures, or manage large-scale projects aimed at improving service delivery.
6. Tech Industry
In the rapidly evolving tech industry, the secondment model is especially valuable for fostering innovation, cross-team knowledge sharing, and ensuring business agility.
How It Works:
Cross-Department Knowledge Sharing: Tech companies may second engineers, data scientists, or product managers across different teams (such as product development to marketing, or R&D to product management) to ensure that all departments have up-to-date insights into new technology developments and market needs.
Client-Focused Projects: Tech firms working on joint ventures with clients may send specialists to work directly with the client’s team to ensure that the product or service is integrated seamlessly into their systems, offering tailored solutions and building client relationships.
Innovation Hubs: Large tech companies may second employees to specialized innovation labs, where they can test new products, research emerging technologies, or work with external startups to integrate cutting-edge technologies into their company’s operations.
7. Finance and Consulting
In finance and consulting, the secondment model is used to build relationships, enhance expertise, and provide strategic support to clients, all while fostering professional development.
How It Works:
Client Service: Consulting firms regularly second consultants or analysts to client organizations to manage projects directly, offering valuable insights while deepening the relationship between the consultancy and the client.
Sector-Specific Expertise: Financial services companies may second employees to specific clients or sectors to deepen their industry expertise. This is particularly useful in areas like banking, insurance, or investment, where regulatory knowledge and sector-specific trends are crucial.
Strategic Projects: Consultants may be seconded to a major client to provide on-the-ground insights for strategic projects such as M&A, restructuring, or digital transformation. This allows consultants to work closely with the client while gaining exposure to critical decision-making processes.
Implementation Best Practices
1. Build Internal Policy Infrastructure
Who can initiate or approve a secondment?
Are there limits on duration?
What documentation is required?
2. Create Template Agreements
Include work scope, benefits, and legal provisions.
Account for jurisdictional differences if secondment crosses borders.
3. Train Managers and HR
Equip them to identify high-potential secondees and structure productive secondments.
4. Communicate Across Stakeholders
Inform all relevant parties, including the secondee’s current and host teams.
5. Define and Track KPIs
Use clear metrics to evaluate success.
Adjust expectations based on project and role context.
6. Reintegration Planning
Don’t leave secondees in career limbo.
Support their return with debriefs, recognition, and clarity on next steps.
Benefits to the Business
Cost Efficiency: Reduces the need for new hires.
Increased Agility: Respond to changing conditions quickly.
Knowledge Sharing: Break down silos and foster innovation.
Retention and Engagement: Offer career mobility without attrition.
Client Trust: Demonstrates commitment through embedded talent.
Benefits to the Employee
Career Growth: Gain experience beyond one’s current function or market.
Skill Development: Learn on the job, in real time.
Visibility: Broaden exposure within or beyond the organization.
Autonomy and Empowerment: Foster a sense of trust and ownership.
Employees who experience secondment often return more motivated, skilled, and aligned with business goals.
Common Pitfalls and How to Avoid Them
Unclear Expectations: Leads to disengagement.
Lack of Support: Results in low morale or underperformance.
Ambiguous Agreements: Exposes legal and reputational risk.
No Reintegration Plan: Causes disillusionment post-return.
Mitigation requires robust planning, legal clarity, and sustained communication.
EXAMPLES:
A law firm seconds associates to clients for six months to build sector-specific expertise.
A tech company seconds product managers to innovation labs in emerging markets.
A logistics firm seconds operations leads to partner depots to audit and optimize performance.
A marketing agency seconds art directors to major client brands during campaign development.
Secondment is more than a temporary shift in roles. It’s a strategic lever. One that builds capability, deepens relationships, and drives measurable value across organizations.
Whether you’re a founder navigating rapid growth or an HR director designing global mobility programs, secondment offers a model worth embedding into your strategy.
Let’s talk.
At Hyer Buzz, we help companies implement secondment programs without the complexity. Reach out to us to explore how the secondment model can work for you.
Comments