Employee Promotions – When, How, and Why?

Knowing when to promote a hardworking, loyal employee can be a challenge for any manager. Promoting deserving employees not only strengthens the company but also boosts morale and motivation. The result is higher productivity for your company. However, choosing the right time to offer an employee is also essential to make sure that he or she doesn’t become disengaged.

In this article, you will find the answer to 3 questions:

• Why promote employees?
• When to promote employees?
• How to promote employees?

The importance of promoting employees

There are a number of reasons to promote employees who show themselves to be motivated and competent at their job.

1. Strengthens your workforce

Promoting employees from within the company strengthens the workforce. For example, the employee already knows the values and goals of the company. This saves a lot of time on training up new staff to take on important roles.

Employee promotion also boosts the morale of the team in general. When others see that chances for promotion are available, they will be highly motivated to work hard.

2. Encourages retention

Promoting employees also helps to reduce staff turnover in a company. Highly skilled workers don’t go unnoticed by other companies. Also, a worker who is highly motivated and engaged is constantly looking for new challenges. If they can’t find them in their current place of employment, then they may start looking elsewhere.

When to offer employee promotions?

It can be a challenge for a manager to know the best time to promote an employee. Sometimes, managers fall into the trap of thinking that because a worker has been a long time at the company they are in line for a promotion.

First of all, if you are thinking about a management position, then it’s good to remember that not all employees are right for management. So, if they are not polite, too passive, or look down on others, then there may never be the right time to promote that kind of employee to a management position.

There are 3 positive qualities to look for when thinking about offering a promotion to an employee:

• being on time
• they receive good feedback from clients or other employees
• they have a good attitude towards hard work

So, when should you offer the promotion if a position is available?

Usually, employee appraisals help to identify strengths and weakness of the employee. So, it is good to give constructive feedback and monitor the employee to strengthen their qualities. It is also advantageous to speak to the person about the potential promotion. You can then monitor their progress to decide when they meet the criteria for the position.

How to promote an employee

There are various methods on how to promote employee depending on the structure of the company. Some companies decide to incorporate a combination of methods. Here are the main methods of promoting employees.

Competitive promotion

This method involves the employee having to prove their worth to the company. This method takes into account their skills, experience, performance, and productivity. This type of promotion can motivate employees to work hard to climb the corporate ladder.

Non-competitive promotion

Unlike competitive promotions, the non-competitive promotion method doesn’t take into account how one employee is better than another one. Usually, employees are promoted when they have been for a certain number of years at the company. It could also take into account the need to assign more duties, irrespective of their previous track record.

Recognising the potential in employees and nurturing their skills can create a strong workforce and help boost productivity in the company.