Are You Promoting Your Employees Fairly?

 

If you have ever held a post at a company that seemed to promote everyone else but you, you know how frustrating it is to believe that the process is not fair. Many employees hold the belief that their managers promote team members that are their favourites, their friends, or those that suck up to the boss the most. Others may think that some only promote men, while others prefer certain races. To keep up a corporate culture where your staff believes that you are fair and consistent, evaluate your practices to make sure you treat and promote your employees fairly.

Keep Track – The best way to monitor your own habits is to keep track of them. Start by making a list of all the staff you have promoted over the years, and evaluate for any consistencies. Document the gender, race and age of the person to be certain that you are giving your entire staff a chance to further their careers, and not just a specific group. Then, write down how many years each person worked at your organisation and summarise the accomplishments they had. This will highlight your promotion tendencies to show if you value people based on their status at the job, or are more subjective and not totally fair.

Give Someone A Chance – As humans, we typically feel more comfortable with others that are more like us. This is why, don’t be shocked that when you review the promotion trends in your office, you find that you promoted more women if you are female, or more males if you are a man. Also, you can favour the employees that are closer in age than you, or are parents, etc. To stop this and be more fair to your staff, try giving someone else a chance. Go out of your comfort zone and pick a candidate, who, while worthy, may not be your first choice.

Hire A Neutral Party – A great tactic to employ to make sure you are not discriminating against any team members is to bring in a neutral party, such as an HR professional, to determine who is the best fit for the open position. This individual can look at the track records of the employees, from the years worked at the company, to accomplishments or write ups, to determine who the best fit would be. It is not always easy to be completely objective and fair when it comes to dealing with your own staff. This is why it’s important to keep track of your decisions; giving someone you wouldn’t normally consider a chance, or hiring a third party to help you with your choice.