When Should You Promote an Employee?

September 04, 2020

Everyone wants a promotion. As a manager or business owner, you probably recognize that promoting your top employees is a great way to recognize them for the effort they’ve put into your business. But how can you know when the timing is right to use this motivational tool? 

Benefits of Promoting Your Best Workers 

Offering your employee a promotion is a way to keep them engaged in the business. There are all kinds of benefits: 

• It’s a way to boost employee morale and motivation. 
• It rewards ambitious employees with a path up the financial ladder. 
• It can make the worker more loyal to your company. 
• You can groom future leaders and retain them longer. 
• It can even foster a competitive spirit between workers, which can increase your productivity.  

Benefits aside, there are great times to use the tool of employee promotion to benefit your business. How do you know the time is right? 

Timing for Employee Promotion is Everything 

If you provide your employee with an annual review, that’s a logical time to offer a raise or promotion. But there are really three types of promotion that can be used throughout the year to motivate your workforce. For example: 

1. A competitive promotion could happen after a big push to reach a goal. Competitive promotions reward employees that have proven their worth in comparison to everyone else on the job. These promotions are related to productivity, skills, effort, and performance. 
2. A non-competitive promotion is an individual reward for meeting established milestones. This could be part of an annual or six-month review process. 
3. An up-gradation promotion increases the worker’s pay, but the rank or job title stays the same. 

Each of these types of promotions could be used throughout the year to inspire your workers’ productivity and loyalty. In addition to using these types of promotions as part of a regular review, you would use them when: 

• An employee goes above and beyond to reach a goal. 
• An employee is reliable and takes on added responsibilities to help the team. 
• An employee trains other workers to do the job well. 

Knowing when to promote is just as important as knowing who to promote. Keep in mind these factors when considering your next employee reward. If you haven’t promoted employees lately, perhaps you have the wrong employees. The Custom Group of Companies helps employers with the best talent in your area. Start the conversation today to reach your hiring goals.