NigCareers

There are different types of job promotions. Job promotion is one of the effective ways of improving the productivity level of employees in an organization.

What is Promotion?

Strauss and Sayles(1976) define promotion as a movement to a position in which responsibility and prestige increase. It is a job with more prestige and income.

In the words of Edwin B. Flippo, promotion involves a change from one job to another that is better in terms of status and responsibilities while Scott and Spiegel noted that promotion is the transfer of an employee to a job that pays more money or that enjoys some better status.

A job promotion can also be seen as the process whereby an employee is transferred to a new position that comes with higher pay, and privileges than the previous one.

 

Objectives of Job Promotion

Researchers (Khan, and Akkas 1990; Kokemuller, 2013) pointed out the objectives of different job promotions. The objectives are:

1. To provide an incentive for initiatives and ambition.
2. To make the best use of skills and abilities.
3. To reduce discontent and unrest.
4. To attract suitable and competent workers.
5. To suggest logical training for advancement.
6. To recognize outstanding achievements.
7. To improve morale, motivation and job satisfaction of employees.

 

Types of Job Promotion

In every aspect of life, it is in human nature to grow. A job promotion requires more work and effort in a job. The most exciting part of pursuing a career and working in an organization is the promotion aspect.

When an employee knows that the reward of hard work translates to promotion at the workplace, he/she will go the extra mile to ensure that they carry out the roles of their present position effectively.

There are different types of Job promotion. The different types of job promotion are:

1. Vertical promotion: Vertical promotion is an upward movement of employees that requires a change in experience and skills. It comes with a change in salary, responsibility, benefits, etc.
2. Horizontal promotion: Horizontal promotion is the type of promotion that rewards an employee with an increase in the salary package, but with little or no change in responsibilities. For example; In the educational sector, the promotion of a lecturer to a senior lecturer.
3. Dry promotion: Dry promotion is the type of promotion that employees do not always look forward to. It is the type of promotion that comes with an increase in responsibilities and status without any benefit attached to it. This connotes that there is no increase to the present monthly salary of the employee nor are there any financial benefits.
4. Open promotion: Open promotion is the situation where every employee of an organization is eligible for vacant positions in an organization.
5. Closed promotion: Closed promotion is a situation where only selected employees are eligible for a promotion.
6. Seniority based job promotion: Seniority-based job promotion is the duration of service in a particular position for the same organization. In this type of job promotion, employees are promoted based on how long they have served in an organization. It can best be described as “first come, first served” there are advantages and disadvantages associated with promoting employees through the seniority-based job promotion procedure/process.

 

Advantages of Seniority-Based Promotion

According to Nair and Nair (1999) and Hall (1998), the merits of seniority criteria in the promotion include:

• • • Easy and simple:  It is easy to measure the service and review the seniority. It is a system that allows employees to be promoted without judgement, nepotism and prejudice.
    • It focuses on individual career prospects and security.
    • It avoids favouritism and arbitrariness by management.
    • Risk is reduced.
    • The policy is more acceptable to the majority of employees and unions.
    • It reduces employee turnover.
    • It is compatible with the oriental culture of respecting age and experience.

Disadvantages Of Seniority-Based Promotion

• • • Promotes mediocrity: Promoting employees based on seniority can lead to mediocrity: This is to say that an organization can be managed by people who are not capable of handling the position.
    • There is no incentive for training and development for employees.
    • There is no guarantee that experience or length of service increases an employees expertise in a field.

 

7. Merit-based job promotion: Merit-based promotion occurs when an employee is promoted based on the high performance in the current position.
8. Opportunity promotion: This is a type of promotion that allows the best candidate to be selected for a new job role that is vacant in the organization.
9. Favouritism promotion: Favouritism promotion is an unfair process of promoting an employee. It favours an employee at the expense of another employee.

 

Benefits Of Employee Promotion

As an employer, promoting your employee increases his/her productivity and improves the profits earned by the organization. Employees appreciate opportunities for career advancement.

The benefits of employee promotion are:

1. Reward: Employee promotion is one of the main goals that drive employees to work hard. Regardless of the structure of an organization, every employee wants to be rewarded for their hard work. When employers do not meet up these expectations, they end up losing employees.

Research shows that 40% of millennials expect a promotion in one or two years. It further explained that if a promotion is not provided, the employee will quit his/her job.

2. Reduce attrition: Employee promotion often includes a raise in salary which motivates an employee. When people are not appreciated for what they do, they quit their jobs. A study shows that 35% of employees quit their job because of no raise in salary in a year.
3. Motivation and productivity: Employee promotion is a great way to retain employees which in turn leads to career advancement in the case of the employee. When employees get opportunities to grow in an organization they stick with the organization. The motivation that comes with a job promotion leads to higher productivity in the workplace.
4. Career growth: As an employer, promoting an employee in your organization helps to facilitate the career path and growth of your employee.

 

Other benefits include:

• Promotion of good human relations.
• To promote employees’ satisfaction and boost their productivity.
• To utilize an employee’s knowledge and skills to improve organizational effectiveness.
• To encourage the other employees that opportunities are available to them if they work hard.
• To create a healthy work environment.

Finally, job promotion is beneficial to both the employee and the employer. It increases the commitment and passion of the employee leading to increased productivity which in turn helps the organization retain their best employees.

 

Career Advice

Tags: Career advice, Career Development