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What are the essentials of a sound promotion policy?
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A sound promotion policy should be based on the following principles:
(1) Uniformity—A promotion policy must provide for a uniform distribution of promotional opportunities throughout the organisation. The ratio of internal promotions to external recruitment must be the same at various levels in all the departments otherwise morale of employees will be seriously impaired in the department notorious for its low rate of promotions.
(2) Consistency — A promotion policy should enjoy consistency i.e., it should be applied irrespective of the persons concerned. Policy should be correlated to career planning so that there should not be a sudden spurt of promotion conferring premature benefits on a number of persons followed by a long period of absence of promotion.
(3) Fair and Impartial — Promotion policy should be fair and impartial i.e., management should be able to remove all suspicion of arbitrariness, adhocism to suit particular individuals, nepotism etc.
(4) Planned Activity — Promotion should be a planned activity i.e., management should make a correct assessment of the requirements or opportunities of promotion within the organisation so that there is no underestimation or overestimation. For this, promotion charts may be prepared.
(5) Definite Basis—There should a definite criterion for promotion. In the absence of a contract to the contrary, the employer has the right to establish any criteria for evaluation of promotability if they are reasonable, pertinent to the job and not applied in a discriminatory manner. The two criterion often used for making promotion decisions are merit and seniority.
(6) Sanction — All promotions should be finally sanctioned by the concerned line heads. The personnel department may only propose the names of potential candidates and send their history records to the department making the requisition to fill vacancies. In this way, the staff position of the personnel department does not intrude upon the authority of the department served. In addition subordinates are impressed favourably by their line superior's concern for their progress.
(7) Follow up — A sound promotion policy should provide for a suitable system of follow up, counseling and review. Say, month or two after the change, the personnel department should hold a brief interview with the promoted employee and his new superior to determine whether all is going on well. All promotions should be made for a trial period so that if the promoted employee is not found capable of handling the job he can be reverted to his former post and his former pay scale.
