Appraisals are common knowledge to Talent Acquisitionists and the similar fields in the Recruitment Sphere. We’ve all had our appraisals for the present year. Ever wondered what happens during the appraisals and when the performers are rewarded for their hard work via promotions and what processes are followed by organisations?

This seems a lot to take in at the beginning, well don’t get overwhelmed just yet, as our popular Wednesday discussions just got better. The discussion topic was on, “What are the Employee Promotion Processes Organisations follow based on the pointers i.e. timeframes, eligibility frequency and performance management?” and was suggested by our Pune group member Karnika. If you’ve been wondering the same things as us then you’ve come to the right place and here’s what we’ve come across…

If you’re looking for guidelines as to how does one go about promoting an Employee then you’re in luck as we’ll be highlighting just that based on the discussion above. So be sure to have a pen and paper handy, therefore here we go…

Definition and Meaning of Promotion Plan

Promotion plan is also called succession plan, meaning to recruit, train and up skill existing employees. Promotions take place for 2 reasons; one is to encourage talent and the other is to retain talent. Promotions are a combination of performance, potential and attitude. E.g. A person might have had a great year in terms of performance, but may not have the potential to take up a larger role thus he will not get a promotion. But we need to ensure that we don’t lose out on Talent with the right calibre.

Points to keep in mind when deciding to promote an Employee

Performance has various parameters, employee contribution to the target, SLA adherence, value add inputs by the employee, team attributes. After considering multiple factors an employee should be given an appraisal, sometimes in a growing organisation it's about the potential of the individual, their hunger appetite to achieve targets, overall does that person add to the average of the company. Hence, first…

• Identify the purpose of a promotion
• What is the long term business goal of the company?
• Current skills and profiles of employees
• New skills required and trends outside
• Impact of not promoting capable employees
• Overhead of training and hiring new skills from outside the company
• Performance, seniority or merit
• Focus on what the individual contributes to the overall team's success is very important than just individual growth.
• A time bound promotion with preference given to performance management or appraisal process application. 

Criteria by which to promote an Employee

Promoting by giving more opportunities to use individual skills like on-site opportunity technical knowledge expansion is preferred. Most company’s focus is behind cost reduction, so there can be different criteria’s set at different levels, namely 3 levels... 

Lower Level

If it’s a lower level profile it should be based on the value-add brought in but at an organisation level

Middle Level

If at a middle level it should be more in line with the roles performed and challenges met in the respective roles which can lead to organisational change.

Higher Level

At a higher level it should focus more on succession planning. 

The common criteria for a promotion can be based on -

1. Performance
2. Length of service
3. Merit & Ability
4. Educational & Technical Qualifications
5. Assessment of Potential
6. Spacing of the Promotion & the Career
7. Span of the individual and training
8. Based on the Employees Talent and their Achievement they should be promoted via internal and external sources

Well there you have it all the information you’ll need to help you make an informed decision. Use this information to streamline the procedure while formulating a promotion plan that your organisation will benefit from by promoting the deserved candidate.

If you’ve found this information helpful then you’ll probably find our other Wednesday discussions and events quite enlightening and informative. So why wait to read when you can join in and get first – hand information by being a part of these discussions and get your queries resolved instantly? Be sure to follow us @SourcingAdda to get updates to our upcoming events and activities and don’t forget to leave your views in the comments section.