Congratulations On Your Promotion
It is often referred to as the American success story. An individual starts in out in the mail room, and through hard work with dedicated service, the diligent worker becomes the company president. Career growth up through the ranks continues to be highly respected. The individual who began a career "in the trenches," and then achieved key management responsibility often is seen as more responsive to the needs of the workers because of that past experience.
But, employees often complain that key job opportunities are given to outsiders. Often, rising stars move on to other jobs in other organizations because they feel that they were passed over for promotion. Another common complaint is that unqualified workers or "favorites" receive the promotions.
While the concept of promotion from within is generally favored by employees and management alike, the implementation of such a policy requires much care and consideration.
In work environments where there is a union agreement, job advancement often was keyed to seniority. The worker with the longest time on the job was typically promoted to the next senior position.
Union progression systems are limited to jobs in the bargaining unit. To move up further into management jobs, the individual would have to leave the security of the union job to accept the added responsibility of a management job.
Some companies prefer a practice of posting open jobs and inviting qualified workers to apply or bid on the posted opportunity. Under a posting policy, a job opening is usually posted on the company bulletin board for a few days or week. Interested candidates are invited to contact human resources, and interviews are arranged to select an individual for promotion.
While such a job posting procedure encourages employee participation in the advancement process, some managers lament that the process is time consuming and unwieldy. Non-selected workers will be disappointed when they are not awarded the new job.
And, then, when one job filled by promotion, then each succeeding job is bid and another employee has an opportunity to bid for promotion. This can create a chain of promotions and job changes. It also creates the need for training of each employee who moves into a new job.
Because a job posting procedure can create a chain of job changes, some managers prefer to avoid job posting plans. These managers typically prefer to select deserving employees for promotion and fill other job from outside the company.
But, human resources specialists suggest that when a current employee sees workers hired from outside the company for a jobs for which the employee feel qualified, the individual passed over for promotion is likely to seek work elsewhere.
Clearly, a promotion from within process is extra work for management and human resources personnel. But when current workers are advanced, their learning curve is faster because the are familiar with the company, procedures, and operations.
Everyone likes to hear those words, "Congratulations on your promotion."
About the Author . . .
. . . William S. Hubbartt is president of Hubbartt & Associates, a St. Charles, IL consulting firm specializing in employee compensation, employee handbooks, personnel policies and supervisory training. (www.Hubbartt.com) Mr. Hubbartt is author "The Medical Privacy Rule - A Guide for Employers and Health Care Providers."
