What Is Job Shadowing and Why Is It Great for Businesses?

Job shadowing provides employees with valuable opportunities to develop their skills and careers. Job shadowing can also create additional benefits for your organization, such as providing opportunities to junior team members, filling in knowledge gaps, and ensuring a smooth onboarding process.

However, this training strategy is often underused. Failing to recognize the importance of job shadowing, or creating valuable job shadowing opportunities for employees, could see your organization and staff miss out.

Read on as we cover what job shadowing is, the benefits, and why it’s something every business should develop a process for.

Key takeaways

• Job shadowing is a training method where existing employees observe co-workers, providing real-world insight into specific roles and required skills.
• Offering job shadowing opportunities promotes professional development, strengthens cross-departmental collaboration, and helps identify employees ready for promotion.
• Job shadowing is especially valuable during onboarding, helping new hires understand expectations and quickly pick up necessary skills.
• To ensure a productive experience, establish a program with clear objectives, a balanced schedule, and a consistent process for debriefing and feedback.

What is job shadowing?

Job shadowing is a type of on-the-job training where an employee learns from a more experienced co-worker by following (“shadowing”) them. Job shadowing creates opportunities for the employee to closely observe another professional as they perform their daily duties. This can help to provide them with a better understanding of the role.

Depending on the situation, this can last anywhere from a few hours to weeks. One of the benefits of job shadowing is that it focuses on developing skills employees need to carry out tasks for a certain position. As opposed to just reading a job description or being given verbal instructions.

Is job shadowing the same as an internship?

No, job shadowing isn’t the same as an internship. Job shadowing is usually carried out by existing employees who need to learn a new skill or are moving to a different role within the company.

Meanwhile, internships are a popular education initiative typically aimed at students and new graduates to help them gain experience in the working world.

However, job shadowing can sometimes be offered to new employees to help them quickly transition into a role.

What are the benefits of job shadowing?

Job shadowing can be beneficial for the observing employee and your organization overall.

Offering job shadowing opportunities can:

• Help the observer develop a deeper understanding of the role and business. This can help them transition into a new role more quickly or pick up new skills more easily.
• Allow the observer to progress in their professional development. Observing another employee in their job (perhaps someone who is more senior) can help people learn different skills and ways of working they may not have been exposed to before. This can help them advance their professional development.
• Encourage networking between different departments. Having an employee shadow a co-worker in a different department can help to strengthen cross-department collaboration, making it easier for people to work together towards shared goals.
• Build camaraderie between staff members. Job shadowing encourages employees to strengthen team relationships and establish a sense of mutual trust.
• Help management identify employees who qualify for promotions. Employees who undergo job shadowing are likely to pick up new skills, which can help them grow and develop within your organization. This can make these employees stand out when it comes to promotion decisions.

Are there any disadvantages to job shadowing?

While job shadowing can offer several benefits for your organization and employees, there are potential disadvantages to consider. For example:

• It can take time. Teaching individuals skills to pivot to a new direction within the company, or showing new hires what a typical day in the role entails, can take time. Usually, the process lasts anything from a day to a week.
• The arrangement isn’t always paid. Since the observer is simply monitoring a co-worker, job shadowing opportunities can be unpaid.
• No guarantees. While job shadowing provides a chance for observers to learn from more experienced co-workers, there’s still a chance they may not understand what’s expected of them.

When should you introduce job shadowing?

Job shadowing can be useful in many situations, such as:

• Recruiting: Allowing top candidates to observe co-workers for even 15 minutes during the interview process (either as an in-person or virtual job shadow) is a great way to set clear expectations. This can help hiring managers gauge if the candidate is right for the role, just as it can help the candidate decide if the job is right for them
• Onboarding: After new hires complete the onboarding process, job-shadowing more experienced colleagues can help them quickly pick up the necessary information and skills needed
• Cross-training: Job shadowing allows employees to expand their skill sets and become more flexible in other areas of the company. This can help your company maintain productivity, allowing observers to possibly fill in for co-workers when absences occur
• Professional development: Offering job shadowing opportunities encourages employees to grow within the organization, as it helps them identify what positions and departments they might want to transfer to. It also helps them learn what skills they need to get there. In the long run, prioritizing employees’ professional development can help improve job satisfaction and overall retention.

How to set up a job shadow program

Planning for the job shadowing process beforehand helps the observer and the coaching employee have productive experiences.

Consider the following job shadowing best practices:

Step 1: Identify coaches

An observing employee will need to be matched with an experienced employee who has a deep understanding of the role. However, not every employee is comfortable being shadowed. Ask top performers if they’d be interested in being a coach and consider offering incentives for their time.

Step 2: Discuss objectives

Host a preparation call beforehand with the observer and the coach. Invite the observer to share what they hope to learn from the job shadowing experience. This information can help the coach determine the duration of the training and what key topics to cover. Also, ask the coach what preparation the observer should do beforehand, if any.

Step 3: Make a schedule

The observer doesn’t need to necessarily shadow their coach all day, every day. For example, their coach might have confidential meetings with colleagues or clients. Help the observer and coach make a schedule that balances the observer’s learning and the demands of the coach’s job.

Step 4: Encourage notetaking and questions

Taking notes can help the observer retain all the new information and processes they’re learning. The coach should also welcome questions to make the experience more engaging and ensure the observer has a clear understanding of the position.

Step 5: Debrief and collect feedback

After the job shadow process is complete, host separate meetings with the observer and coach. Ask the observer to share what they learned from the experience (either verbally or through a written summary), any concerns they might have, and any suggestions to improve the process for future employees.

Also debrief with the coach to see how the observer handled the training and gather their feedback on how the program can be improved.

Job shadowing tips

Here are some top tips to help you create a successful job shadowing experience:

• Match observing employees and coaches based on their skills and career interests.
• Gather regular feedback from employees and coaches to see where you can make any necessary adjustments.
• Provide support for shadows and coaches, so they know who and where if an issue arises.
• Offer incentives to coaches and employees. How will you reward coaches for their time, and what happens once participants finish the shadow program? Will they be able to progress to the next role, for example?
• Foster an open and collaborative culture that encourages employees to work together.
• Set clear expectations. Help employees and coaches prepare by outlining what the process will entail and answering any questions or concerns in advance.

Job shadowing FAQs

Whether you’re trialing job shadowing for the first time or looking to improve your existing process, we’re here to help. We’ve answered some common queries around job shadowing, which should cover any last questions you have.

How long should people job shadow for?

The exact amount of time an employee shadows a co-worker often depends on the role and the skills they are looking to learn. However, job shadowing is typically carried out on a short-term basis, with the process lasting anywhere from a day to a week.

What are some examples of job shadowing?

When job shadowing, an employee closely follows, observes and shadows the tasks of another worker, or a coach. This may involve:

• Sitting in on meetings
• Observing a day in the life of the employee
• Watching the employee perform specific tasks
• Performing job tasks themselves and gaining feedback from the coach

How should the employee or guest prepare for job shadowing?

Employees can prepare for job shadowing by:

• Thinking about what they want to learn from the experience
• Preparing questions to ask during job shadowing
• Checking their availability and when they can attend sessions
• Being ready to take lots of notes to retain all the new information they’ll be learning

Next steps: Set up a job shadowing process

Make the most of this effective training technique and encourage your experience team members to support and mentor others in your business. Job shadowing offers development opportunities and the chance for people to gain experience, with a reduced overall cost. Start putting a process in place to make the most of it.