Few Employers use Promotions for Recruitment and Retention

The 2012 Promotional Guidelines report from WorldatWork has found that just 16 percent of employers use opportunities for promotions as recruitment and retention tools.

“WorldatWork has been studying promotional practices for several years and have found that organizations consistently under communicate promotional guidelines and policies to the general employee population,”Kerry Chou, a Certified Compensation Professional and practice leader at WorldatWork, said. “Employers may be missing out on an opportunity to enhance its ability to attract, motivate and retain employees by not sharing general information about the guidelines or processes associated with promotions.”

The survey found that employers were not forthcoming with communications about promotional guidelines with employees while still budgeting for advancement programs promotions. On average, respondents promoted 8 percent of employees per year granting a salary increase of an average 8.7 percent. Officers and executives see pay bumps of 10.2 percent. Promotions were defined by 81 percent of survey participants as an “increase in pay, band, grade, or level,” and 76 percent said promotions include more responsibilities.

The majority of respondents (57 percent) said that employees are ineligible for promotional increases if their new job is a lateral move while about 20 percent give promotions without offering pay increases. Kerry Chou continued:

“While a bigger title and recognition from peers are nice, employees will usually not feel completely satisfied with a promotion unless there is a meaningful increase in base pay.”