Taking an employee to the next level of grade and designation is termed as promotion. A promotion is an upward advancement of an employee which gets him/her to a higher position, better pay and privileges, bigger profile and job responsibilities.
“Promotion is the advancement of an employee to a better job-better in terms of greater responsibilities, more prestige or status, greater skill and especially, increased rate of pay or salary. —Pigors and Myers
An employee’s promotion is elevating him/her to a higher job role with more roles and responsibilities so that he or she is able to meet the specifications of the next profile in cadre.
“Employee Job Promotion refers to the upward movement of employees within the company for a new or higher job role, tasks and responsibilities”.
In human resource management, it is important to have a robust promotion policy communicated explicitly to the employees. Through the job promotion policy, criteria and terms of recommending and approving positions in the organization are governed.
According to a survey, there are a very few organizations, which explicitly announce their job promotion policy and criteria among employees. A well prepared and communicated promotion policy sets the tone for the employees. Sometimes, employee expects a promotion for this performance without realizing his potential.
A promotion should be offered to employees who are prepared and have the potential to take up new roles. However, a good performer should be rewarded and not promoted. Organizations tend to reward performers by promoting them without understanding their potential to take up the new profile which they will be given upon job promotion.
Eg. An individual contributor performing well in his role, if promoted to handle a team with added responsibilities which he or she may not be good at, can result in a wrong decision. At times, employees fail to perform also if they are entrusted with additional responsibilities.
Therefore, it is advised that recommendations for promotion should be well evaluated through a series of competency assessment so as to understand the gap between the current level of performance and expected levels, in order to avoid any organizational fiasco.
Promotion is a critical stage in the life cycle of an employee as well as for the organization. It is very important to select the right candidate at the right time for promotion. Potential to add more responsibilities and exhibiting good performance in the current role are two different things; organizations often misunderstand the Performance and Potential. The two Ps however similar they may sound are different and are to be assessed differently.
Promotion strategies should be carefully crafted at workplace as these depend upon a number of factors other than just performance. Every organization has different strategies of employee promotion. Here are some commonly used criteria which many of the Indian organization follow:
While these are important points to be considered in an organization’s promotion policy, it is favorable for organizations in any industry to promote at least 8-10% of their employees each year in order to rotate employees between the hierarchies and get the new ideas flowing. For a successful organization, getting new perspective for each task and function is as important as getting revenues and numbers. A new person in a new role will give a new perspective to an existing process which may add a lot of value in the overall value chain of the organization. For the employees, the new designation and grade will give higher authority, more responsibilities, larger span of control, decision making, better pay etc.
The process of promotion is important in any organization as without it there will be stagnation in the growth and development of employees. If the employee is made to work in the same role, at the same position for years, there will be monotony in his job which is neither healthy for him/her nor for the environment he or she is working in.
Promotions and change of role helps the employees move forward in their career, gives them more challenges, enhances their learning curve, keeps them engaged with the job.
Many companies practice different types of promotion:
Backfilling a position in the organizational hierarchy through promotions is a great idea for an organization who values its employees as it:
However, it may have some cons as well like:
Introduction
Through this policy, the organization facilitates growth & advancement of its employees. This policy enhances the upward mobility of employees & complements the organization values encouraging employee development.
The organization understands that in the process of meeting company’s objectives, the job responsibilities of an employee may change or enlarge. The organization intends to provide maximum opportunities for promotion, consistent with the business needs & excellence, affirmative action, equal opportunity & a steady performance.
Objective
Scope
Definition
Eligibility
A promotion policy signifies management’s commitment to recognize & reward excellent performance. It motivates people to aspire for advancement opportunities within the organization.
A person is eligible for promotion if:
Ability to multi-task |
Yes |
Right behavior with colleagues, supervisors & subordinates |
Yes |
Good attendance record |
Yes |
Willingness to accept tasks |
Yes |
Honesty & Sincerity |
Yes |
Guidelines
Exception
Any exception to the policy shall have special approvals of the CEO & HR Head.
HR deserves the right to modify/ amend the policy at any point of time without intimation
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