Do you feel like your boss never seems to acknowledge your efforts?
Don't lose it yet - there are employers who believe in giving
you what you deserve, exactly when you deserve it.
In some organizations, traditional promotion routes have
today been discarded in favor of 'anytime-promotions'. As
the phrase suggests, this practice allows employees to put
themselves up for a promotion whenever they think they deserve
one. Sounds heavenly? It's not as simple as it sounds. An
employee has to make a list of his/her achievements and get
ready to be grilled by a 'review committee' first. So your
immediate boss can sit in on the meeting and validate or run
down claims that you've made in your presentation.
Joy Bhatia is one of the lucky ones. She got promoted from
'Software Developer' to 'Module Leader' at Mastek. Bhatia
gushes, "Earlier, promotions were predominantly dependent
on the immediate manager. However, the new promotion practice
is very much employee-oriented. It gives a chance to Mastekeers
to present and express their views to the review committee.
It also gave me an opportunity to drive my case and put forward
my reasons for asking for a promotion."
Note that an important point here, is that your immediate
manager is not taking the final call, but merely facilitating
and validating the case. This means that it is unbiased, since
the jury set up for reviewing the candidate for a promotion
includes managers from other teams too. Bhatia adds, "It
made me feel that the results were not only based on the individual
judgment that would be made by my manager-cum-supervisor,
but also on the review committee's decision, thereby reducing
the scope of subjective bias and brining a lot of measurable
objectivity in the whole promotion process."
Ked Ambekar, the Recommending Manager in Bhatia's case agrees,
"The conventional format had a major drawback - favoritism.
However, in such a practice, if the neglected employee feels
that he is ready for a promotion, he can go through the role
review sheets and understand where he stands vis-à-vis
organisational standards. If the manager doesn't approve,
it can be escalated one level up. This helps deserving candidates
secure a promotion."
Monthly promotions!
At Cinemax Cinemas, every individual desiring a promotion
presents the required performance-related documents during
monthly meetings with the company directors. Promotions and
perks for deserving employees are based on this interaction.
"Recognizing employee capital and the quality of work
of each employee is essential. A lack of this can result in
a loss of interest. It is also very important to reward them
and test them with more responsibilities so that they feel
like an integral part of Cinemax," explains Hira Kanakia,
Executive Director - F & B, HR & Administration, Cinemax
Cinemas.
Getting nominated is good enough
AIG Life Insurance has a monthly program where employees
are asked to vote for the performers of the month. These votes
are then monitored by a committee (including the VP and HR
staff). This initiative has given employees the impetus to
consistently deliver, as all these achievements are considered
at the end of the year too. But is it fair to judge a person's
performance purely on the basis of votes? Let them field this
one. "As it is a recognition program and not a voting
program, employees are not rewarded purely on the basis of
the number of nominations. There is a panel comprising of
the Zonal Heads, the HR head and some department heads that
decides on who the deserving people are. So there is no scope
for any bias," clarifies Ashok Ramchandran, VP, Human
Resources, AIG Life Insurance Company Ltd. But does this practice
also lead to untimely promotions in case of exceptional performers?
"Promotions are based on the organization's structural
needs and on individual potential. If there is a need within
the organization and for a particular role, then we definitely
look at giving that opportunity to deserving candidates,"
explains Ramchandran.
Why promote people?
Why take so much trouble to pander to the whims and fancies
of employees, you may ask. Dr. Tanaya Mishra, Customer Care
Associate and Head-HR, Shoppers Stop explains exactly why,
"Promotions to show progression are essential as they
fulfill a plethora of human needs like motivation, compensation,
position and power, to name a few. Conversely, attrition,
which is a dreaded word in most organizations, would be a
logical outcome if employees see no growth opportunities and
promotions. Unmotivated employees can bring down an organization,
its profits and more importantly its market reputation."
Agreed, such practices can boost employee morale and reinforce
their trust and loyalty to the organization. But such promotions
need to be initiated proactively and not only when a person
decides to move out. Sample this, "When employees leave,
they carry with them years of experience and a wealth of information.
They also create a lot of negative energy around them which
spoils the environment, the cost of which is difficult to
gauge. Keeping with this, such initiatives should be the mission
of every organization rather than a knee-jerk reaction when
an employee is leaving," believes Reji Thomas, Head -
Human Resources, Zicom Electronic Security Systems Ltd.
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